First of all, before you relocate, please do not forget to update the identification information on your pet’s collar I.D. tag. For assistance, visit vettags.com or petdriverslicense.com.

Also, whenever possible, scout your new neighborhood for the nearest veterinarian.

It is important that you realize that your pet may get just as stressed as you during this transition, if not more. We have found the following article about moving with your cat to be very helpful.

MOVING WITH YOUR CAT By Don Vaughan

CATS, AS A RULE, DON’T LIKE TO TRAVEL. A quick jaunt to the veterinarian can traumatize a sensitive kitty for days; a cross-country trek can be enough to put both of you in the loony bin.

But sometimes moving is unavoidable. A new job, for example, or retirement from an old one can mean packing everything you own schlepping to another state with your beloved cat in tow.

Anyone who has moved with a cat, whether it’s across town or across the country, will tell you it’s no easy feat. The key to success, say the experts, is advance planning and consideration for your cat’s needs.

“A LITTLE PLANNING GOES A LONG WAY WHEN YOU PREPARE YOUR CAT FOR A MOVE AND FOR AN ADJUSTMENT TO A NEW HOME.”

Create a Plan
“One of the most common mistakes people make when moving with their pets is not planning ahead,” confirms Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., a certified applied Animal Behavior Associates in Colorado.

“For example, don’t wait until the last minute to get your cat used to staying in a carrier or riding in a car. That’s not going to work.”

The degree of trauma a move can inflict on a cat depends on the animal, Hetts says. Well-socialized cats that have been exposed to environmental changes as kittens and are generally outgoing will usually handle a move with little difficulty. In fact, they may find it tremendous fun, playing in moving boxes and snoozing in empty drawers.

“But for other cats that weren’t well-socialized or that are inherently shy and timid, anything new in their environment is going to upset them,” Hetts says. “There is a lot of individual variability; it all depends on what kind of animal you have.”

Don’t assume your cat won’t know what’s going on when you start bringing home boxes and filling them with household items. Cats are astute about their surroundings and quickly sense change. Some don’t care, but others can become stressed and depressed. The result: sudden behavior problems, most commonly urination outside the litter box. “Change in litter box habits is just one of the many ways cats seem to declare their stress or unhappiness,” explains Michael Abdella, D.V.M. ,a veterinarian at Viejo Animal Hospital in California. “It’s usually a temporary problem. Once the cats adjust to their new surroundings, things should return to normal.

Sometimes we recommend a course of sedation just to take the edge off, so they can settle in a little easier. Most cats seem to do pretty well with that.”
But before agreeing to sedate your cat, make sure you discuss potential side effects and risks. Older cats, for example, don’t tolerate strong sedatives as well as younger cats. Ask about alternatives.

Getting a cat used to the move early in the game can make things easier for both of you.

Start Early and Slowly
If you’re driving across-country and your cat rides in the car only twice a year, getting it acclimated to spending long periods in a carrier is essential, Hetts says. She suggests taking it on longer and longer rides before the move and talking to it soothingly so it sees riding in the car as a pleasant experience. Do this routine as far ahead of the move as possible.

The same goes for a plane trip. This is often a traumatic experience for a cat, especially if it must be placed in the cargo bay away from it’s reassuring owner. Getting the cat used to spending time in a carrier beforehand can make the journey much more tolerable.

Dr. Abdella suggest waiting until you move to move your cat. Don’t send it ahead with the furniture; your absence, even for a little while, can cause your cat to become increasingly stressed and anxious.

“If that isn’t an option, you might want to consider boarding it during the move,” Dr. Abdella says. “That way the cat doesn’t know what’s going on at home and all the stress and change won’t affect it as much.”
Sometimes, however, you have no choice; you pack the cat and go. Sunny Parsons, a newspaper editor in Washington, traveled there by car from Florida with her friend, Kim Dorothea, and their cats, Sibyl and Agnes. They did everything they could to make the eight day trip easy on their pets, but problems still arose.

“IT’S IMPORTANT, TOO, THAT ALL ESCAPE ROUTES ARE ELIMINATED AND ALL WINDOW SCREENS ARE SECURE.”

“The most difficult part of the trip was smuggling the cats into motels,” Sunny recalls. “We tried to arrange reservations at motels that allowed animals, but sometimes you’ll never know where you will end up after a day on the road.”

In South Dakota, Sunny and Kim stayed in a motel that had a beautiful picture window with vertical blinds, which intrigued the cats to no end. Fearful the management might see their feline contraband, Sunny first tried to tape the blinds closed, then finally shoved a suitcase against the window to block it.

And in Montana, Kim’s cats, Agnes, took refuge deep inside a bed and wouldn’t come out. “At first, we thought she had gotten out of the room and was lost in the wilds of Montana,” Sunny says with a laugh. “But after looking around outside, we realized that really wasn’t possible, so we ransacked our motel room looking for her. We finally found her in the box spring and had to tear the bed apart to get her. We took off the mattress and turned the box spring upside down so she’d come out.”

Sunny’s cat, Sibyl, was coping with kidney disease at the time of the move, so every time she cried, Sunny would pull over and put her in the litter box they kept in the back seat. “She caught on after a while,” Sunny says. “Every time she wanted to get out of her carrier, she knew to meow. But she would never go to the bathroom.”

It’s essential that your cat be allowed to stretch its legs during a long move, Dr. Abdella notes. Don’t keep it cooped up in a carrier 24 hours a day.
“During long car trips, a lot of cats need to be sedated,” he adds. “They’ll talk and cry the whole time and everyone kind of goes stir crazy in the car. It all depends on your cats disposition and whether or not they’re going to be stressed by something like that.”

Tips from the Pros
Officials with U-Haul, one of the nation’s largest do-it-yourself moving companies, offer the following tips for moving long-distance with your cat:

Terry Ginn, a program manager for SRI International in California, found out the importance of the latter tip the hard way. He and his girlfriend, Maryann Hutchison, were moving from LA. to the San Francisco area, and Ginn ended up making the final trip by car alone with their two cats, Mischief and Midnight.

“They don’t like to travel in the car, especially Midnight,” Ginn notes. “He goes berserk if you try to take him to the veterinarian.” Midway through the six hour trip, Ginn’s worst nightmare became reality - Midnight escaped from his cardboard carrier. “He didn’t go bananas as he had before, so I thought everything would be okay,” Ginn says. “I decided to keep driving and see what he did.”

After exploring the back seat, Midnight sneaked between Ginn and the driver’s door and lay on the dashboard in front of the steering wheel. “It wasn’t really a problem because I could see,” Ginn recalls. “Then he moved over to my right side and stepped off. What I didn’t realize was that in doing so, he turned off the ignition. The car just stopped. I had just had some transmission work done on the car, so I was worried there was something really wrong.”

After pulling over to the right lane and expecting the worst, Ginn started feeling around. It was then that he realized the ignition key had been turned off. He restarted the car and continued to drive. “The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful,” Ginn says. Be sure to provide your cat with a secure carrier for the move. Cats roaming free in the car may appear more at ease but can endanger the driver as well as themselves in a crisis situation.

Intorducing New Surrondings
Introducing a cat to its new home can be as difficult as the move itself, say experts. Like the trip, it’s best to approach things slowly and cautiously.
“It’s very much like what you would do if you were bringing a new cat or kitten into your household for the first time,” says behaviorist Hetts. “Get them used to one room first by putting out all their necessities, such as food, water, litter box and scratching post. This is especially important if movers are coming in and out. You don’t want your cat to get out and become lost.”

Hetts adds: “Don’t force your cat to explore the new house. Let it do whatever it wants to do. If it wants to hide out for a week, then let it. If it wants to get into everything, let it. It will handle things on its own terms.”
It’s important that you watch for signs that your cat is not adjusting well, such as lack of appetite, continued house-soiling or hiding out long after an acceptable period, Dr. Abdella says.

“If this happens, have your cat checked by a veterinarian to make sure it’s in good health. If it is, you’ll just have to accept the fact that it’s going to take a little longer adjustment period,” Dr. Abdella says.
“Another thing: When you let the cat out of its carrier for the first time, make sure all doors and windows are closed because when they run and hide, you don’t know where they are going to go.”

When Terry Ginn woke up the morning after his late -night move, he couldn’t find Mischieh and Midnight anywhere. After tearing the house apart, he finally located them inside a kitchen cupboard, huddled together. They had apparently learned how to open the door in the middle of the night, and climbed in for security.

Familiarity can help a cat quickly adjust to its new surroundings, notes Hetts. If your pet sleeps on a favorite blanket, bring it along unwashed so your pet will feel more at home. The same goes for toys and other favorite items; the less the change the cat experiences, the easier it’ll cope.

If your cat is a indoor/outdoor animal, check your yard and neighborhood thoroughly for hazardous such as pesticides, wandering dogs and busy streets before you let it outside. Hetts suggests keeping it in for several weeks before its first outdoor visit, then watching closely.

“Personally, I don’t like to see cats outside unsupervised. I just think it’s too dangerous for them,” Hetts says. “But if that’s what someone wants to do, I suggest they build an outside enclosure for their cat and let it get used to the yard slowly. Follow the cat to make it can’t get into trouble.”

Safety-proofing your new home is equally important, say the experts. Check for toxic chemicals, frayed extension cords and anything else within paws reach that could endanger your pet. “You should also be careful of second floor balconies and windows,” warns Dr. Abdella. “Make sure the animal is introduced to things like this slowly so it doesn’t go diving off by accident. That isn’t common, but I have heard of it happening.

“It’s important, too, that all escape routes are eliminated and all window screens are secure,” Dr. Abdella says. “If your cat gets outside and doesn’t know where its new home is, that can be a problem.”

In addition, Dr. Abdella suggests closely examining the carpet of your new home, especially if the previous owners had pets. “If they did, and you think there may have been urinary problems, those carpets need to be cleaned very, very well, because otherwise it could encourage your cat to start house-soiling, too,” he explains. “If necessary, have the carpet replaced. House-soiling is a cycle you don’t want to start.”

Once you’re moved in and your cat has become adjusted to it’s new surroundings, it’s time to find a new veterinarian (unless, of course, you’ve just moved across town).

The best time to do this is before you move. Ask your current veterinarian if he can recommend someone in your new town. If he can’t help, ask your neighbors or co-workers who they see and if they’re happy with the service.
“Don’t forget to get a copy of your cat’s medical records from your previous veterinarian before you move,” Dr. Abdella notes. “If your new veterinarian has to request them, it can take a long time for them to arrive.” Most veterinarians will give you the documents for free, though some may charge a small copying fee.

Armed with your cat’s current records and a plan to accommodate your feline friend’s needs, a move across town or across the country should be easy for you and your cat.