Moving house with pets - esp cats

My best advice would be to put them into a cattery for a few days/week, in my opinion worth the money. Our cat picks up that we are about to go away almost before we start packing, so a move would be so much worse. Not worth the hassle of having to find them, enough stress with the move anyway. Once in the new house a day or so just bring them back and confine them as you have already said.

Some years since we moved with cats. Tried hard to keep ours in, not caged, but within a day or two it hadn't worked! Walked out into our garden to have a gander and came back, got a bit more adventurous over a few days.  Personally unless yours are used to a cattery I wouldn't put them in.

I agree that I think the removal people arriving will be a bigger issue and that's when I'd 'contain' the cats.

Hope all goes well and the move us smooth ?

We've moved a couple of times with our cats and have never had to go to any great lengths to acclimatise them.

We've kept them in the new house for a few days, then let them out to have a look around just before they would normally be fed, so they were hungry and didn't go too far/could be enticed back

I would put them in a cattery for a few days before the move and then for a few days afterwards until you are more or less settled in the new house. That way they will miss all the trauma. Then keep them in the house for about a week or so until they are used to the new house and then let them out just before they are due to be fed..  My mother always used to say put butter on their paws which makes them wash it off and once they have had a wash in a new place they feel more settled???

I would just contain them in the house whilst the removal people are there and the same at the new house. I would make sure that they have a litter tray in a private spot at the new house as soon as possible. If the cats are not used to a cattery then I think it would be more traumatic for them than the move.

We've moved a couple of times with our cats and have never had to go to any great lengths to acclimatise them.

We've kept them in the new house for a few days, then let them out to have a look around just before they would normally be fed, so they were hungry and didn't go too far/could be enticed back

We have a house in France, and last year took our cat there for the first time.  We allowed her out of her box as soon as we arrived, and she wandered around happily.  That evening we sat in the sitting room, with the patio doors slightly open (on to a roof terrace) and she slipped through the open doors.  We thought that was it and we'd probably never seen her again........ but half an hour later she appeared, miaowing, outside the front door.  She had climbed over the roofs, and down a low wall at the rear, onto a neighbour's property, then down another low wall which took her to the back of the house, and from there had found her way around to the front and knew which house was ours!

Since then she's been with us in the caravan (free range on sites which allow it) and stayed in a variety of hotels and Chambre d'Hote without once seeming at all 'out of place' or frightened.  We've just travelled back with her via an overnight Chambre d'Hote and then my sons house in north London, and at no time (other than travelling) was she kept in a cage.

I think if you don't panic (which cats do pick up on) you may find you have absolutely no problem! 

Thanks folks - they have never been in a cattery so I think that wuld be quite stressful for them. We are still a long way off getting an actual date but I think when we do I will just get them all caged the day before the removals men come and then keep them confined during the move then gradually let them, have the run of the house then a week or so later let them out.

Cats do seem to vary a lot in temperament. Our current cat caravans with us, as have others, but not all, in the past. I wouldn't cage ours prior to leaving, but would shut him in a room. It's important that you always put your cats water, food and litter tray in any new location "before" relocating them. Personally I'd acclimatise a cat to a new house by keeping it indoors for two weeks before letting it out into the garden, supervised. But that also depends on the cat's temperament. Some hate being confined.