Tips on moving home with our cat

[SaveAHorseRideAHighlander]

Hi, we have a 4 year old female cat, who has been with us in our house since we adopted her as a kitten from CatsProtection. She's very confident, lives to be outdoors but loves to chill in the house - she's amazing with our two kids and isn't very skittish. We are moving in October 5 hours away from where we are now. We will be renting for the first 6-12 months in the new village before buying a different house in the same village. Please could you share your best tips for moving, but in particular ideas for the transition from the new rented to the new owned house. I initially thought about keeping her inside for the 6 months in the rented to avoid confusion but to be honest I think she'll hate being inside. Thanks.

My late cat was very skittish anti strangers but he did really well with multiple moves and in fact the older he got the more mellow he was with our moves,surprisingly! We just let him explore new homes at his own pace and he did fine. He was so happy in our family van once he was out of his carrier sitting next to our son

I moved back up to London with my 2 young cats and we got them a mild sedative from the vets for the journey so they didn’t stress out. The vets advice was to keep them in one room initially with their cat litter tray and food for the first few days and then start letting them out to roam around the house and to not let them outside for at least 4-6 weeks.

What @MellowMelly said. Most important to let me adjust to any new home before letting them out

Let them out first time when they're hungry so they don't hopefully stray too far and also put collar with name barrel on and make sure micro chip details are up to date with phone numbers and addresses because a new cat on the block will be noticed so you need to take all measures that some kind hearted person won't assume she's a stray and get a rescue to catch her.

Good luck in your new home.

Thanks everyone - if we only plan to rent for 6 months would you recommend keeping her indoors for the six months, moving to the new place (which will now definitely be a good few miles away from the one for the first 6 months) and then letting her out once settled, or do you think it will be fine to let her out in both new places?

I had to move twice within 6 months recently with my sweet 19 year old. She's spent all her life in my old home but I had no choice as it was a divorce move.
She was an absolute angel, so good, all she cared about was being with me not the house.
I kept her in at the rented unless I was home, she stayed in while I was at work because she is deaf and I was really concerned she'd get lost.
When I bought our home she stayed in for a few weeks and now pops in and out of the cat flap and is very good.
Now she's really made herself at home here. It's amazing how they adapt.

@madcatladyforever thank you, I know I'm probably overthinking but I'd hate for her to get lost or worse, so trying to look at options now rather than waiting til we move! I've just bought her a large cat tower thinking if we keep her in she will have something to do, it turned up today and I set it up, she's literally walked in an turned her nose up at it