Cats moving home - advice

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Paulone

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Hi All,
Two country cats are coming from their rolling-fields home in the sticks to live with us in suburban semi-d land.

This pair of furry sisters are about 4-years old, spayed, housetrained (please God), healthy and seem to have friendly dispositions. They have not had much human company for a while and are a bit wild in their outlook but have never forgotten their owner on weekly visits.

They were born in the country and have had the run of fields since birth. Now they are to be resettled in suburbia, where their owner will be present. They will have a postage stamp garden and they will be expected to spend a large portion of their day outside.

Have you any advice for us as to how we can best ease their transition to this alien environment? All we know to do is to put butter on their paws and make sure to keep them in for a fortnight.

all advice appreciated
 
Hi Paulone,

We are just after doing similar. I never heard of the butter on the paws thing?

Have they anything that the sleep on in their first home? If you can bring up something that has their scent on it and place it in your home its a good start.

Try and get their current owners to put them on a feeding routine that you then continue. If they know that their dinner of their favourite food is being served up at a certain time theyll come for it.

The big problem with cats is that they often try to make their way back to their previous location. If they feel safe, with their scent near them (ie on old cushion/rug) they will be less likely to roam. But I would keep them in for approximately 8 weeks (2 is much too short).
 
Never heard of the butter thing either!

But definitely keep them in for the fortnight. We made the opposite kind of move (town to country) - an easier thing, but our cat settled in quite quickly - they are less emotional than dogs about 'relocation' I think.

We kept our cat to the same pattern - out all day from 8 - 6. As another poster said, I would try to take as much familiar items/bedding etc as is practical.
 
The butter thing is just an old wive's tale, so don't bother with it. Certainly keep them indoors for a few weeks if you possibly can. During that time try and win them over so much that they won't want to roam (because, as mentioned earlier, they may try to make their way "home"). Win them over by providing really lovely food on a regular basis, making sure that it's at the same time/s every day, and giving them plenty of attention and affection and comforting. When you are putting out their food, bang on the tin (or on something noisy) with a fork or spoon. This sound, coupled with the fact that you are putting down the yummy food, will give them a reason to want to respond to that sound. Then, later on when they're out and about, if you make the same noise every time you want them back in the house, you have some chance of them responding because they will have been conditioned to associating good things with that sound. I think you have to do your best during the first few weeks to give them every reason in the world to stay home and to come home whenever they've been out.
 
I don't know about keeping them in for weeks. When we moved our vet told us to wait two weeks before letting the cat outside. After one day cat had not gone to the toilet, and was going mad. She had never used an indoor toilet and was not about to start for us. (She has no problem in the cattery though!).
So my husband let her out into the garden and she stayed in the garden with him and came back when she was done. We did keep her in the house as much as possible but had to let her out for toilet breaks. Luckily she was okay.

I suppose what i'm saying is don't force the cats too much. Every cat is different and if these two moggies are used to being outside you might distress them more by forcing them to stay indoors. Put something in garden that has their smell on it and they are used to... an old blanket or bed so that they will recognise the garden if they roam.

Mind you, it might be easier if they do use an indoor cat loo...then that's a big plus for keeping them indoors. Try to move them when you are there for a couple of days...collect them on a Friday so you will be there most of the weekend for example.

Good luck.
 
You can introduce your cats to their new garden by putting a collar and lead on them (I kid you not!) - this allows them to get familiar with and mark their new surroundings without the danger of them running away. I did this with my cat when he came to me as a 3 month old kitten (from a farm to a semi-d) and again as a 6 year old cat when I moved house 2 years ago, never had any problems with straying.

I have heard of the buttered paws tale, have been told it works, but never tried it myself!
 
Cats. Evil creatures of the devil who make my allergies run riot. Leave them in the countryside with cans of Whiskas and a tin opener. Tell them to go figure............
 
Ancutza said:
Cats. Evil creatures of the devil
Click to expand...
:D
Well put. My answer is don't let them out at all as you don't know what small animals the cold eyed soulless little monsters will dismember when they are out. If anybody wants to keep animals with the personality of a hairy lizard that's their business but don't inflict the evil creatures on the rest of us.

By the way, I don't like cats.
 
Oh dear!
Apologies to everyone who has allergies/intense dislike.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Any further tips will be helpful.

The buttered paws thing was explained to me by my granny who told me that cats are fastidious about their paws, and if they have muck or water on them, will make sure that they are completely clean before moving again.

The butter tastes v.good, so they have a good positive association by sitting in their new location, getting their paws sorted and getting great flavour at the same time.

Knowing these two, it'll just give them the energy to start ganging up on the neighbourhood dogs. We have a high back wall and effective fencing, but they'd be up, over and away before you could look round, so I like the idea of the lead.

We'll be feeding the birds, but will do so at a great and inaccessible height - it's like cat-TV, they sit and watch it for hours but can't do much to get to the birds.

There seem to be many more dogs in this area than cats, so hopefully they'll get a decent feline run of the place while managing to avoid canine jaws.
 
May all those who don't like cats come back in the next life as a mouse !

Seriously, the most important thing is not to wash their bedding before leaving, let them have that bedding in the new home even if it means them deciding on an inconvenient spot which you could then move after a while to its final location. The indoor loo is also good and the 2 weeks rule is very widely held as important.

One of the biggest problems they might face in suburbia ( non-cat lovers apart ) is likely to be existing local cats who might have marked their territory already and might atempt to show their "superior" position by marking your cats area too. There may be a few scraps with the locals but they should settle after the few weeks. Remember that food is closest to a cats heart than your affection so keep theem to a rigid mealtime when they know they have to be around for it.

Incidentally Ankutsa, the age of pull top Whiskas has largely made can openers redundent so even the least dextrous of moggies ( is there such a thing ? oh yeah its called a mutt ! ) can still get into them !

On the butter issue, what you said makes sense alright. The only thing I'd be unsure about would be whether to use full fat Kerrygold or Lo Lo !

And, on a final note, who thinks cats & cat care should have a separate sub-class in AAM , yeahayyy ! ( now look what I've started )

Best of luck with the move, may it all go well.
 
Purple said:
Well we agree on something! ;)
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Oh yes, never doubt that most cat owners know their place in the universe that is their cats domain. Once you accept that, you both get along fine. NOw i better go plump up the pillows, behead a few hors d'oeuvres and see that the milk is at the correct temperature !
 
Graham_07 said:
Oh yes, never doubt that most cat owners know their place in the universe that is their cats domain. Once you accept that, you both get along fine. NOw i better go plump up the pillows, behead a few hors d'oeuvres and see that the milk is at the correct temperature !
Click to expand...

:D
 
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