House move and indoor cat advice

[Ilovemycat13]

Hellooo

We will be moving house in the next few months. My lovely cat is 4, and we are currently in a flat where he is (and always has been) an indoor cat.

When we move, we’ll be going to a 3 bed house and there is so much more room for him to play - fabulous. But quite nervous about how to introduce him to it, do I place the litter tray where it always will be or keep him in one room initially? He never was a runner but worried he’ll get scared and panic and run out you know?

Also, the house were buying has a dog and it really, really smells. We’ll put him in the cattery whilst we move until we’re ready and in and try and clean as much as we can before he arrives - but will a dog smell be a problem for him?

Thank you allllll 😻

Congrats on your new house :)

While he settles,keeping him to one room is a good Idea and then let him explore at his own pace. He'll soon figure out where his safe hideaways are.

Are you planning to let him go outside? If so wait until he is well settled in at home...The standard advice is to keep cats in for 2 weeks following a move to prevent them trying to return to their old house but id leave it longer than this in your case.

A good deep clean will help, plus your own scents as you start to live in it. You might feliway or equivalent helpful.

Hello @TaraR2020 thank you!

I will let him out in the one room initially and go from there. Shall I put his litter where it will always live, or in that one room?

He won’t be going outside so no probs there

Will do lots of cleaning and definitely get some feliway! And make sure he has our blankets with smell on etc ☺️

Is there a reason why you don't want the cat to go outside?

When our cat arrived, we just showed him where the litter tray was (in the downstairs loo at the far end of the house) once and he remembered where it was when he needed it.

@Tambora he’s always been an indoor cat. He also now has a heart problem so worked out nicely (if that’s the right word). He has never been an outdoor cat

I was in your position . I moved from a flat to a 3 bed house with my indoor cat. A smelly pug had lived there before and had seemingly weed all
Over the place .Even though we had cleaned / replaced carpets before moving in , it still
Smelled for a few weeks after. Unfortunately the poor cat got stressed and developed a UTI :( - the first thing the vet asked me was whether he had been subject to a change of surroundings so I guess it must be quite common !he was fine after a few days of medication but I think if I moved again I might keep in him one room with all his things for a day or so and slowly introduce him rather than just letting him loose ! Lessons learned :)

When I moved from a flat to a house I settled mine in one room with all her bits during the move itself and once everything was quiet & it was just us, I put her litter tray & food where it would live and let her explore.

Thankfully (for a nervy rescue cat) her nosiness outweighed her terror of the world and she had no problems with it and the house. Feliway has a great effect on her so definitely one to try.

Not sure about the dog smell, I'd just try and eliminate that as much as possible and keep lots of things with familiar smells around.

Good luck, I'm sure he will be fine

@Ilovemycat13 Ah, that makes good sense then. Mind you, you might find that he likes to find a quiet sunny patch to have a snooze outside when you are in the garden.

I had a blind cat who couldn't fend for herself against interlopers, so we only really let her out into the back garden when we were around to keep watch. She was happy enough to blunder about for a few minutes, and then return inside.

I'd have cat in cattery for a few days so house starts to smell off you before he moves in. Do scent swapping, so rub soft cloth on cats head / checks then run cloth onto walls and furniture at carry head height in new house. If also move cat onto 1 room with all they need to start with so they gave a safe space to explore from. I used kitchen as dcat had habit of marking by weeng on floor when stressed! I'd also use feliway on the room to reduce stress and give xylekene in did for a few days before. I have a v anxious cat though!