Moving house with a grumpuss

[Jerryboree]

As in the title, we're moving house soon (same town about 10 mins drive away)
12 year old grumpy boy has only ever known this house and wondered if anyone has any tips on how best to coordinate moving him.
We are only moving into a 2 bedroom so it will be difficult to leave him in a room with all his things while we move all the furniture and I was worried the strange environment and noise would scare him. Do those diffusers help? He also hates the carrier so he will be traumatised enough just being put in that for a few mins

We and our cats are old pros at this as we’ve moved a lot at one point. What we do is clear a room at the “old” house. Either a spare bedroom or bathroom. Put all cat paraphernalia in there - beds, food, litter boxes, toys, transport boxes, scratching post etc. Shut cats in there (lock door so movers/DH/ me can’t let them out accidentally). They can shout the house down if they like - they don’t get let out under any circumstances. Move rest of house. Unpack a room in the new house - I usually do the spare room. (First thing I do anyway is make up a bed so we have somewhere nice and tidy to collapse exhausted at the end of the day). Once the movers have left new house, we go back to old house, collect cats & their stuff and move them and their stuff straight into made up room. And that’s where they stay while the rest of the unpacking happens. They only have access to rooms that are 100% unpacked. Their “new world” gets bigger slowly so they aren’t overwhelmed. I suspect though it would be more complicated if you have a house full of people - it’s just my husband and I and our pets so the cats can have exclusive use of the spare bedroom for as long as it takes! If we have nowhere to safely shut them in, I’d take them to (very responsible) family or even a cattery for moving day.

Re diffusers - didn’t help one cat but did seem to help others. We do put rescue remedy in their drinking water.

Thank you, that's so helpful.

We are moving from 3 to 2 bedrooms with 1 DC so can't allocate the cat a bedroom however I've just remembered there's a utility room in the new house which could be perfect as we won't need to access the room and it's quite small so he might feel a bit more secure.

I'm more worried about how he will adjust than the toddler. bI guess a diffuser won't hurt so might be worth a try anyway.

Could you pop him in a cattery for a few days, while you get sorted and the furniture moved in. Then he will come home to a calmer house and you can let him have one room.

We had the same thing and we kept him in our new bedroom with his food and litter tray til he felt more comfortable. He actually hid/slept in our bed for the first few hours so I think scent was quite important to him. Could be worth making sure he has a blanket or something with the scent of home on it to help ease him through the stress.

I did the cattery thing when I moved with my (fairly grumpy) cat a few years ago, and it really does give you time to sort out the house so everything the cat is familiar with is present, and no worries about cat being let out of safe space by removal men.. However my (fairly grumpy) cat did refuse to eat for the days she was there and bit the cattery people quite hard, so not a total success.

This is really helpful. I'm moving soon with Nico who will be 17 soon but is still healthy and active. He is an indoor cat currently but he used to have little trips outside until it became too difficult with the traffic on my street and territorial difficulties with younger cats. I'm moving to a house with a garden so I'll keep him in for a while when I move. How long for do you think? He will only be going outside when I'm at home as I can't fit a cat flap but he has never wandered far or been out for long. Currently his litter tray is in the bathroom but no room in the bathroom at the new house. There is an area under the stairs that might be nice and private for him.
I think I'll take him to the cattery during the move and the tenancy deep clean at my current property. They know him well there and he's usually quite happy.

Does anyone have any further advice? Thank you for any help.

Il be doing a house move this summer as well, literally across the road but new house is waiting on adaptations. Hcat is probably going to get in everyones way as will run between both houses and be underfoot, the new house has a bigger back garden so i am setting up the big soft dog crate and will put her litter tray (fresh every day needed), food, water, toys and she can watch everything and will appoint some friends children to play with her and dispense treats

I've booked the removal firm now! Good luck with your move smurfy2015

Best wishes to you too @ilovesooty