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I am planning a move to Vermont, and one of the things I dread is making the physical move with my 5 fairly senior, indoor cats. It's a 5 hour drive from Brooklyn to my destination, and then my cats have to get used to a new place, with a new layout, new smells, new taste of water, etc.
What I envision is this: I will choose my Vermont veterinarian in advance. I will have copies of my cats' records sent over. Before I leave, I will get all the cats microchipped. I will make sure their rabies vaccinations are up-to-date. I will get instructions from my vet as to my diabetic cat's needs for the trip (he is on Glipizide, not, thankfully, insulin). I will get veterinary tranquilizers for the trip. Otherwise I will be listening to yowling for 5 hours and also, probably, smelling pee and poo. I will prepare a room in my new place to keep the cats when they arrive. I will probably not be alone in the car with the cats, so that if I have to make a stop the cats will not be left alone in the car. Once I get to my new home, I will confine the cats to their room for a while, until I am comfortable letting them out to explore the rest of the house. I will provide that pherimone product, whose name I can't remember, which is supposed to calm cats in stressful situations. Hopefully the house will have a foyer - if not, I may build one - so that I don't have to worry about cats running outside. I will have pet mesh screens on the windows - to keep the cats in and predatory wildlife (e.g. fisher cats) out.
Is this how it is done? Any suggestions for doing it differently?
Also, do cats, especially senior cats, tend to adjust well after a move, even if they have their familiar food and their familiar caretaker? How long does it take for them to get used to their new home? I really feel guilt for uprooting them and I feel dread about the car trip.
I share many of these same concerns as we will be moving our six cats to our new house. It's a thousand mile trip and will take us two days. After we get there, we will be moving our stuff in, so the cats will have to be contained some way.
Two of them have already been up there and back. The last time we went up, they were too young to go to the Kitty Motel with the rest of the family so we took them with us. It was really no problem, and they seemed to have a pretty good time. They even got to meet their new vet.
But, now they are big cats, and moving six big cats present some logistical problems. I am planning to modify the passenger seat space in my pickup truck into a cage and fix up places for them all to have privacy. There will also be space to have a litter box and food and water.
We plan to pull the truck into the garage to load them in, and do the same thing at the new place so we won't have to worry about them escaping and running off. Even though they are micro-chipped and have collar tags, we worry about that.
I would like to be able to make a space for them in the back of the truck, but since we will be moving in the summer, I'm afraid to put them back there. By keeping them up in the cab with us we won't have to worry about them getting too hot or too cold.
They won't need any tranquilizers, because, even though it has only been for short distances, they have all ridden before. They usually make a fuss for a few minutes then settle down. I'll probably spray Feliway pheromones around, as I have used that for years. I can't really say it really works, but I use it anyway.
Since they will have to be inside only cats at our new place because of predators, I have been keeping them inside to get them used to that. One of them can't be contained because he has always been an inside-outside guy and always finds a way to sneak out. The rest of them are domesticated ferals and have adapted pretty well to being inside, but once in a while they sneak out and really enjoy themselves for a couple of hours.
Before we move to the new place, I plan to have a pen or some type of enclosure with a roof built that they can go out into through a cat door. This will let them enjoy the outside and keep them safe from the coyotes and cougars. It will also be a good place to keep them while we have the house open to move our stuff in and get it set up.
Moving the cats is the part of our up coming move that weighs most heavily on my mind.
Everything you mentioned sounds good, the only difference I can think of:
Get your cats used to car and carriers now (you will be using carriers right?!). Just leave the carriers out and let them investigate on their own. Once they are cool with that, try taking them to the car, don't go anywhere, just sit in the driveway. Once they're cool with that, try a 5 minute drive and gradually increase it. Always giving them a yummy healthy treat afterwards and some extra love and praise.
I wouldn't suggest using tranquilizers. Kitty might be zonked during the ride, but they will be ultra-stressed when they come to in a forgein environment. It's better to let them experience the move and deal with it IMO. Feliway and flower essence (not essential oil - toxic to cats) can also help keep them calm. I get "Calm and Serene" and "Moves and Changes" from CatFaeries, and they also sell Feliway products. My cats yowled for about a half-hour and then settled down to sleep or stare out the window. I drove from Seattle to Alaska and back, and from SC to Seattle with them and this is always the pattern.
Make sure you have a cat tree in their new room... either one with their own smells already on it (if ALL the cats use it), or a new one with Feliway sprayed on it. Make sure there are a few high places that are easy to get to (ramps might be needed for senior kitties) and plenty of warm hidey places. With 5 cats, you're probably going to need 4-5 litterboxes in that room because moving causes all sorts of territorial upheaval. If any of your cats don't get along so well with the others, it might be necessary to put them in a separate room with a set of stuff.
I've had to move my cats quite a few times in the last ten years. I have one that adapts quite easily and one that is the typical 'fraidy cat'. My fraidy cat will hide and only come out at night for about a week, and she will investigate until she is comfortable. We are very careful about unpacking and putting out 'her' stuff (which to my cat is everything we own) so that she knows this is where we are living. She is getting up in age but we moved 600+ miles last year and she took it well.
I think you are doing a great job preparing. I just know my cats would be bonkers if confined to a room.
Feliway is the product I was thinking of, but whose name slipped my mind.
I forgot about collars. I have tags and collars I will use. If any of the cats don't have them, I'll get them.
For 5 cats, I have 3 litter boxes now. I also have a cat tree.
Do cats have difficulty dealing with water at their new location, which has a different taste than the one they are used to?
Fat Freddy, I can only imagine how difficult a 2 day, 1000 mile trip will be. I only have to go a little over 200 miles and it's about 5 hours. What do you plan to do with your cats on the overnight portion of your trip? Will you be switching off with the driving and driving straight through? Or will you stop at a motel or campground? Will you keep the cats in the truck or take them inside? Will you sleep in the truck with them? I'd be terrified to leave my cats unattended in my vehicle. They can take care of themselves, but I'd fear they would be frightened and I'd worry about someone stealing my car with my cats in it. (Remember, I'm from New York. I't's touted as a safe city, but my instincts were honed when it wasn't so safe. New Yorkers pretty much always secure their property. My New England friends practically laugh at me when I put the Club on the steering wheel when I am parked at their homes.)
I would set out the carriers or whatever cage your going to use and let them get used to it. If they have a favorite blanket put it in the cage or carriers.
My carriers sit out so my cats can play in them and they don't feel threatened when they are taken out to use for visits to the vet.
Another thing I would do is so encourage them to adopt a blanket or some old shirts of yours, something that will have YOUR scent on it and their scent on it so they can have it in their cage with them AND in their new home.
I'm sure your babies will be fine. They just need plenty of love from you and things to feel like they recognize, a favorite bed, blanket or toys.
After a fairly long history of moving with animals and discovering tranquilizers really didn't do anything except freak them out because they were so not themselves, a vet reccomended amitriptyline, which is a human antidepressant. This has been well studied. It worked so much better! It did make them drowsy but because it works specifically on anxiety and mood did not affect them in the negative way a tranquilzer did. Maybe the tranq's just mask the cat's anxiety but the antidepressant works to fix it.
Fat Freddy, What do you plan to do with your cats on the overnight portion of your trip? Will you be switching off with the driving and driving straight through? Or will you stop at a motel or campground? Will you keep the cats in the truck or take them inside? Will you sleep in the truck with them?
Those questions are the same ones I keep asking myself. I think I am driving myself crazy by worrying about it and over thinking the situation.
I would like to be able to drive straight through, but I don't know if that will be physically possible. Even when I was young and healthy, 500 miles a day was about my limit, but we may give it a try. We will be driving my pickup and my wife's VW Gulf. There will be three drivers so we can switch off if somebody gets tired. I am pulling a trailer full of stuff up there in the next couple of weeks, so I may try a straight through drive with little rest periods and see how it goes.
The last time we made the trip with two small cats, we stayed in a motel and it was no problem. We let them out of the carrier in the room, and put them back in if we opened the door or left the room. But with six big cats it might not be so easy.
My original idea of making a cage for the cats behind the seat isn't going to work as there isn't enough room. Now I am thinking of fixing up a big cage in the back of the camper shell for them. I just have to make sure it stays cool enough back there.
drove from Las Vegas to St Louis onetime with two siamese Cats.....Siamese howl/meow/ for 4 straight days.....add to that two kids under 7.....I will NEVER......repeat NEVER do that agin as long as I live......////good luck FF......take some tranquilizers.
I had a very similar situation -- drove 4 hours (240 miles) with my 4 adult cats. Oldest is 7, youngest are 3.
4 hours of MREWEWWOWOW. MREWOOEOWOWOwo. MREEEEEEOOWOWOWOW.
I have an SUV. I put down towels in the back. Put a towel in each cat carrier. Put 1 cat in each carrier. Put cat carriers in the back. Put dog in passenger seat. Put car in Drive and go. TURN RADIO ON!
They stopped howling for a little while and I was at the halfway point and thought maybe they'd died (seriously, I considered it for a second) - so I pulled over at rest stop (like I was going to be able to resuccitate them or something) and opened the back.
What happened??? I WOKE THEM UP!! MREEWOWOWOW. MREEOWOWOWOW. MREEEEEEOWOWOWOOWW.
Get in your car. Drive. Do not stop if you can help it. Do NOT open the door to disturb them if they get quiet.
Fortunately we arrived at 11pm, I put their carriers down in the living room, and set up t1 cat litter box (left the other one 'till the morning) put down food and water and opened all the carriers.
They were freaked out for 1 night. By the next afternoon they were lounging on the sofas begging to be pet. Unfortunately we are in a temporary location - so in 2 months when the house is done we will be moving them again (only 1/2 hour this time)...
Oh, one trick -- to cut down on the possibility of "accidents" --- I took their food/water away about 6 hours before the drive. 12 hours without water/food shouldn't hurt a healthy cat. Since one of yours is diabetic - you might want to check that with a vet. But for healthy cats, it helped prevent accidents (literally - there wasn't ONE accident, all the carriers were dry and free of waste) and was one bit of stress off my mind.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU!! Your kitties will love your new home once they get settled in.
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////good luck FF......take some tranquilizers.
