Moving house… and cats
Tips to avoid stress and anxiety
As you know cats are animals that enjoy routine and predictable environment. Moving house can be really stressful for them. I’d like to explain how to deal with this kind of situations and give you some tips that can help during this process.
When moving house, we tend to clean everything, buy new furniture, and try a fresh start. But for cats, this is the worst that we can do, because as you know, “the scent” our smell, our house smell is really important for them to feel comfortable and safe.
Let’s start reminding you cats environmental needs
and key resources:
- Environmental needs: safe place; multiple and separated living areas, predatory stimulation, consistent and predictable interaction with humans, respect cat’s smell.
- Key resources: food, water, toileting, scratching, playing, resting and hiding.
We need to cover the environmental needs and of course, the key resources, in the new house, but also during the moving time.
Moving is always a stressful time, good planning will help ourselves and our furry friends to handle better the situation, I've prepared a FREE
moving-checklist to help you organise it, you will find it here; just subscribe to our Meowsletter,
to access Subscribers zone.
Each situation will be different, but if you can have both houses at the same time for a week or so, will make the process much easier.
Let me divide the post in “old house” and “new house”, but in real life will be a dynamic situation happening at the same time.
If your cats are happy to stay in a friend house, may be a good idea to leave them there, during the moving; but if they are not willing or not happy there, it may increase the stress.
To move house is important to choose a safe room, in this room we will need to fit all key resources, and we should try to avoid new stuff (we should move our old scratcher post, bedding, litter box, food and water bowls, old toys…). The room will need to be calm, but at the same time stimulating. This room will be “the same” in the old house and the new house. I mean, all the stuff in the room will need to be move to the new house, in a closed room.
The safe room will help a lot during the process, for example, when the removal people will come home to start moving furniture, the cats will be safe in a room, apart from strangers and will be safer for both parts, to avoid escaping or stepping on them.
Also will help when arriving to a new place, because this room will preserve their scent.
Before this process will start, we need to make sure that our cats are comfortable using the cat carrier, it will help to reduce stress. We will post further about this, because it is really helpful in many other situations, not only moving house.
The old house:
Cats will notice that something is going on at the first move. If your cat is specially shy and anxious, it may be good to contact your vet when planning moving house.
Probably, I’ve already mentioned before the synthetic feline facial pheromones: plug in in all the rooms, to prevent or to help with stress.
Depending how do you plan the moving, you may want to keep the cats in the safe room for a few days or just for “the big day”.
Remember to avoid washing cats stuff before the moving, because these things, with their scent, will be very helpful in the new place, to help them to settle down.
The new house:
At the beginning all will start with the safe room, and the pheromones too. If you have the new home at the same time that you have the old house, it is quite important to start leaving your scent in the new place. Take with you your bed sheets, your clothing without washing it, and start wondering around the house to leave your scent. If you don’t have access to the new place at the same time, start doing this the firsts days, while you are keeping the cats in the safe room.
You will need to do the same with the cats scent, try to place blankets with their smell around, try to have another used litter try to distribute in the new place, scratcher posts, sofa covers… Everything that can remind them home, familiarity is the key for cats.
If your cat is specially shy, may need a bit of time to be comfortable to be able to wonder around the house, let them decide. If needs or wants to stay in the safe room for a bit more, just make sure that you spend some time with he/she, that you cuddle and play normal, that you try to maintain a routine. And also keep an eye that they are eating, sleeping and toileting normal.
If you decide that your cat will have access outdoors, please keep them inside the house for 3–4weeks before letting them go out, to make sure that their smell is present in the house and they can come back.
Before letting them out, make sure that their microchip details are up to date with the new direction and telephone number.
Outdoors access should be also progressively, at the beginning with you just in the garden, and later wondering alone for the neighbourhood.
I wish you all the best during the moving, if you need professional advise, visit my website.
TIP:
I prepared a couple of videos of my moving from UK to Spain with 2 cats, you can check it in the subscribers zone, for free
(you just need to subscribe to the Meowsletter).
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Hello Catlover! You wanted a post about homemade diets (including BARF, raw, cooked...) and I tried to avoid it, because I don't have experience with this kind of food; but I'm here to help you understand cats and their needs, so there we go.
BARF means Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, and it was proposed in 1993 by the veterinarian Ian Billinghurst . But I would like to include as alternative diets, those homemade (including cooked and raw meat sources). 🥩In the lasts years, the interest for this kind of diets is growing because of some potential benefits to our furry friends, such as healthier coats and skin, cleaner teeth, reduced faecal odour, etc. and the aim to move to a more natural diet. Although changes may be anecdotally reported by pet owners and veterinarians, potential health benefits have not undergone scientific evaluation (1). Hopefully, as it is a growing practice, further studies will come soon.
😈But not everything is good from BARF diets or Homemade diets, there are many potential risks: 🦴Nutritional concerns: Poor balanced commercial diets of raw food (2, 3). ⚠️Safety risks: risks of contamination with pathogens, such as salmonella, and many others (1, 4, 5). Shedding of these organisms by pets is a risk factor for infection of humans (zoonosis), especially those with immunity problems, elderly people or children and pregnant women (1) 🛑Other risks from diets containing bones: fractured teeth and gastrointestinal injury.
✳️Cooking destroys potential pathogens, but also some nutrients from the food! Alternative diets with cooked meat will ALWAYS need supplementation.
✅If you decide to feed your pet an alternative diet based on meat and bones, do it right: - Always consult with a nutritionist or veterinary nutritionist for a personalised balanced diet according to your cat's lifestyle, life stage and requirements. - Use products intended for human consumption; if possible, use food from your region (Km0 or proximity food). - Hygiene is extremely important when feeding raw food! Wash your hands, surfaces, knives, food bowls, etc. before and after touching the food. - Freezing food can kill some parasites, but it doesn't kill bacteria (it only stops the growing): cooking the food kills pathogens, but it also destroys nutrients and vitamins! If you cook it, you will always need supplementation! ❗️Although AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) doesn't recommend it ; and recently in the UK, cats with TUBERCULOSIS from eating raw food have been reported! I’d love❤️ your feedback about this polemic post! What do you feed your cats? Let me know in comments! Do you know anyone feeding their cats “alternative diets”? share the post! Please leave all the questions in comments, and everybody can see the answer ☺️ References: 1.Freeman LM, et al. Current knowledge about the risks and benefits of raw meat–based diets for dogs and cats J Am Vet Med Assoc 2013, Vol. 243, 11: 1549-1558 2. Sarah A. Wilson et al. (2019) Evaluation of the nutritional adequacy of recipes for home-prepared maintenance diets for cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc 254:10, 1172-1179. Online publication date: 30-Apr-2019. 3. Freeman LM, Michel KE. Evaluation of raw food diets (Erratum published in J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001; 218:1716). J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001; 218: 705–709. 4. KuKanich KS. Update on Salmonella spp contamination of pet food, treats, and nutritional products and safe feeding recommendations. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2011; 238: 1430–1434. 5. LeJeune JT, Hancock DD. Public health concerns associated with feeding raw meat diets to dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001; 219: 1222–1225. If you want to know more about feline nutrition you can have a look at this posts: - What's best wet or dry food? - How to choose the right wet food for your cat? or the right diet for strict carnivores - How much should I feed my cat? - How do you feed your cat ? - Senior cat diet or kittens and food - Choosing a cat feeder
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