LostWoods Blog

Nope, not moving in the sense you’re probably expecting! Instead, I’m talking about packing up and moving to a new home with your cats.

Rangashrii asked for advice on this topic, so I’ll first write some practical words of wisdom, then at the end of the post I’ll paste most of an email I wrote in March of 2006 after we moved 800 miles from Castle Rock to Helena. I think it’s humorous – although factual — and hope you will, too.

Some things you can do as you anticipate your move is try to get your cat used to being in a vehicle. Short little trips around the neighborhood, trips to the pet store to buy cat food, a visit to a friendly neighbor… all those can be fun and a chance for your cat to learn that the car is not a horrible place where they spend time only on their way to another horrible place — the vet’s office. Few cats are going to be happy with the first outings. Keep them short at first. Reward them for being in the car and then again when you get where you’re going and back home again.

But some cats will never like being in the car — especially older cats who have never been anywhere except to the vet. If, after trying to acclimate them to being in the car, your cat is one of those, consider talking to your vet about Composure. It’s a natural compound to calm pets that is available only by prescription. For some cats it works wonders - and even better, some of them love the flavor and will lick it right off a spoon. It works best if you start giving it several days before you need it. Another option is chamomile tablets. NOT capsules with the dried chamomile. Instead, these are usually found in health food stores or online, marketed as teething or calming tablets for infants. The ones I’ve used are Hyland’s Chamomilla 30x tablets. They, too, work best if given for several days to allow the effect to build up a little. Note that I consider “drugging” your cat to be a last resort, but given the choice of a yowling, drooling, stressed out cat and one that is a little sleepy, I pick sleepy.

Next thing to consider is how the cat is going to travel. That depends a lot on how far you are going. An adult cat in a carrier — with room to move around and a small dish of water — will be fine for several hours. But if you are going more than five or six hours, you might want to look into a larger crate of kennel so you can put a bed, litter box, food and water in it and your cat can be more comfortable. I have both a steel framed large dog kennel — good because if the car is crowded I can put things on top of it safely — and a pop-up nylon tent-like (rectangular, not a teepee) kennel for trip when I have plenty of room in the car and know I won’t need to stack things on it. The first kennel will cost about $150; the second about $25 if you decide to go that route. Take your cat with you in the vehicle you are riding in. Do NOT put them in a truck with all your furniture and belongings. (I know, I don’t have to tell you all that. You love your fur babies. You’d never do such a thing.)

A note about food on the trip… Some cats do get car sick and throw up. Usually they do it fairly early in the trip and that’s it. But if I have a cat that tends to do that — and you’d probably find out on your adventures attempting to acclimate your cat to being in the car — I’d withhold food for a couple hours before you start out and during the trip unless you’re going to be spending more than 10-12 hours en route. If it’s a long trip, feed them, but make sure you’re prepared to stop and clean up the mess if they do get sick. Always, always provide them with water. One way to provide a supply of water without making a big mess — well, sometimes this works — is to put ice cubes instead of water in the bowl. They will have a supply gradually as they need it, but if they spill it, it won’t make quite as big a mess.

Some things you’ll want to have in the car and easily accessible: food, a bottle or two of water, trash bags, litter scoop, some spray cleaner (in case of a yucky mess) and paper towels. Some air freshner is also nice for those times when your cat leaves a smelly deposit in the litter box while you’re driving down the road.

It is much safer — for you and your cat — if the cat is confined when you’re on the road. However, if you insist on letting him out in the car, use extra care any time you open a door or window. And any time you’ve stopped and gotten out of the car, double check to be sure he is still in there before you head on down the road.

Now for my comments about my own moving experience (only partially cat related)…

No matter how good of a housekeeper you think you are, when all the furniture is moved out of your house after seven years, you’ll think you’re the worst housekeeper on the planet and be distressed at the condition of the house. Trust me on this. However, trust me again when I say that despite the condition of the floors and baseboards, you’re not living like pigs.  

Kittens will think any change to their environment is a new and fun game. Older cats will be dismayed at the disruption to their home. They will get over it.

The Queen of Everything will be severely distressed at the loss of her favorite closet, hate the ride to the new home, and be wild-eyed at the thought of having kittens HERE! However, the Queen of Everything will calm down if given enough loves, cat treats, and time. However (again!), she will become a Velcro kitty every time she sees her lisa-mom because her lisa-mom has had the nerve to abandon her every day to go to work after staying home for almost a year.   

Stressed out older cats will stay in their litter boxes the entire ride and cry at random times. They will refuse to eat, drink, or be comforted. They blame you. Luckily they will also forgive you.

An 821 mile drive is long and boring, especially across Wyoming and part of Montana. The drive will be even longer and more boring when your husband insists you stay behind him and he is driving a loaded down U-Haul truck towing a Jeep.

Boxes half filled with paper will become boxes completely filled with paper once the items packed in the paper are removed. No paper will be added to the box – just returned after the unpacking. It is a great mystery of life how the paper expands to fill all available space.  

The trash service will not pick up boxes filled with paper left beside a dumpster, even if a special pickup is arranged. They will, however, pick up BAGS filled with paper. They will also take boxes filled with paper if placed inside a dumpster. We have not yet figured out how to get a box that once held a coffee table that is now filled with paper into the dumpster. And so it sits…  

A two car garage cannot hold all the boxes of stuff carried out of a 2500 sq ft house with a two and a half car garage, plus an 8 x 10 storage unit. A 1400 sq ft house cannot hold all the stuff carried out of a 2500 sq ft house along with all the furniture from said house. Attempts to make space for all the stuff will result in throwing away random items as you unpack. You will still have stuff sitting around on counters, on dressers, and in boxes weeks after the move as you attempt to find a place for necessary items. The definition of necessary will become narrower over time. 

Two additional 36” wide cupboards (one upper, one lower) do not add up to the space in a six foot wide pantry. Attempts to stuff small appliances and pantry items into the new space will result in throwing away random items and a resolution to never buy two packages of stuffing when one will do. For the matter, why keep stuffing on hand at all if you only make it at Thanksgiving?   

You will say “bless you” when the driver for the moving company tells you he sold half your stuff and wish he hadn’t been joking. As long as he’d shared the proceeds, you’d have been happy. A week after the move, you wouldn’t have even cared if he’d shared the proceeds, you’d just be happy you didn’t have to unpack and find a place for those things. 

When you have a walk-in closet and move to a home with only a standard closet, you will make a resolution not to buy any new clothes until at least half of the things you now own wear out. You will discover that, despite having given the Salvation Army four big boxes of clothes before the move, that you still have things that can be donated.  You will no longer hang up t-shirts, instead stacking them on the closet shelf. You concede that you will have to iron said t-shirts should you decide to wear them to work, but since you have plenty of time in the morning, you can do this.  

You will decide that the place you are renting, despite its limitations, will be just fine until you can buy/build a bigger home. You are not going to move again unless it’s permanent. (or as permanent as things get these days!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 11:14 pm and is filed under NFCs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.