Please Advice needed about relocating country with an old cat.

[PhoebeSnow]

We are relocating back to the UK with our two dogs, which is another thread altogether, however we have our beautiful Tom who is around 17 years old and have no idea how he will cope with the travel and readjustment to a totally different place. He is a lovely boy with no real health issues, but I feel it would be stressful and not good for him to move.
At the moment he had the run of our garden and the golf course opposite us , on a very quiet road and we will be moving to flat.
What can I do?

Just to add I have asked around friends to see if anyone will take him, but to no avail and I don’t want to take him to a shelter.
We already have had our hearts broken by the loss of our Irish Wolfhound just in September and I can’t face losing another one of our wee family.

How far?

12 hour plane journey

Cats are very adaptable.

Putting his age aside, if he has no health issues I'd take him but discuss with your vet how to make his journey as stress free as possible.

Thank you all. I am speaking to the vet on Thursday to see what she recommends. He has flown before but that was only about 4 hours in total between the dropping off at the airport and the flight. He did go to a foster home for a few days so we could get settled in our new home.

It seems that you have to take him with you, so the best thing is to psych yourself up and be practical about it. I don't mean to sound harsh, as I know how stressful it is to travel with pets young and old, long distance, but he is your puss and he'll be fine. Give him some practice runs in his travel box, by taking him for short car journeys to get used to being in that situation. Put something in his travel box with your scent on it. Your vet will advise you as well. So many animals travel long distance and are very happy when they arrive. Speak with the airline as well. As he's now getting on in years, he might be ready to settle down to a quieter life. Good luck

Thank you Want2beme, I appreciate the advice. We still have his travel box from the previous move, so I’ve cleaned it up and going to just leave it open for him to sniff , also to pop in and out off.