How do outdoor cats do when you move?

princess75 asked:

One of the neighborhood cats had a kitten. We have been feeding it and playing with it and it has gotten very used to us. It is about 7 months old. We are thinking of moving and taking the cat but are afraid it will run away or not be happy. It would have to stay an outside cat where we move. Our neighbor is also moving and said they would take it (as well as about 4 other neighborhood cats) and make it an indoor cat. The mother would go too. What is better for the cat?

Evil Cat attack

8 thoughts on “How do outdoor cats do when you move?”

  1. Cat on Toilet

    I have moved a number of times with cats. (I’ve kept cats and kittens as pets for fifty years.) The best thing for a cat is to be an indoor cat, anyway. But if you want to make it an outdoor cat, you must keep it inside for several days to a week after you move to the new place. I start letting them outside to explore a while for a day or two with me right there with it. After that, it’s mostly been fine. Unneutered and unspayed animals will tend to roam. It’s best to have them altered. Male cats will get in fights, and can become expensive to take care of what with abcesses and wounds. Female cats will often become pregnant, have a litter and then disappear while their kittens are still too tiny to survive without mom, and mom will come home pregnant. Even altered cats may be injured by cats or other animals or be hit by cars. Two of my “indoor/outdoor” cats were killed by dogs and four by cars when I was younger. I couldn’t take that any more. Every cat I’ve had the last 20 years has been confined to the house. They just do better.

    Reply
  2. Cat Ticks

    If you’re going to take the cat, put it in your garage or in your house to get used to your scents for a while (week or something). Then put a blanket or towel with the entire family’s scent on it outside the door. Hopefully it will return to the scent and stay around where you’re at. Also, when you feed it while it’s inside, say EEEEEAAAAATTTT in a high toned voice. That way when you feed and and yell eat, it will recognize the voice. Good luck..

    Reply
  3. Cats With Fleas

    When people move and have an outdoor cat they need to let the cat out a little at a time and watch it. This has to be done for a while until the cat gets the idea that the house is his home. Even then, they sometimes wander.

    Girl cats do best indoors. Neutered males may be ok indoors. Unneutered males want to go out, and its really difficult to keep them in.

    The cat is probably better off if it is now with its siblings and mother to just stay with them. I have seen from experience how cats do attach to other cats.

    I can’t imagine how/why your neighbor would be willing to keep four or five indoor cats. Is there any chance they aren’t telling you the truth about that? Also, when you mention “neighborhood cats” are you sure they don’t belong to people? Male cats go out and around for quite a distance, but they often have people and homes in spite of that. The same for female cats, although they may wander less

    Cats a year old or younger are more likely to get lost outside than older cats. Maybe its that they wander more or investigate more, but I have found that older cats seem to get lost less.

    Reply
  4. Fleas On Cats

    If you can’t take the cat with you and make it an indoor cat, let your neighbor take it. I have a cat sitting on my lap at this moment that was an outdoor cat and the people that owned it moved (they lived behind us) and took it with them and it came back to it’s old home. Not unusual for an outdoor cat to do. They didn’t want him, so I took him in. He is a great cat. He is now an inside cat only. Contrary to what people think, cats do not need to go outside and are very happy to stay indoors. Too bad you can’t keep the cat in your home, you sound like you really like the cat.

    Reply
  5. Very Funny Cat Pictures

    Cats actually are very good movers. It’s the people they adopt not the places! You will have to keep it indoors for the first three days. But after that it should be fine! Let it out for a few minutes at a time after the first night so it can get adapted to it’s new surroundings! Happy Moving!

    Reply
  6. Cheap Frontline Plus

    Let the other people take it. I was going to respond that when I have gotten a new cat or moved with cats I already had, I would keep them in usually over a month until they felt at home inside the new place. I would go out and watch them every time they went out for an even longer period so I could see where they went and what other animals were in the neighborhood. It isn’t fair to move the cat and just leave it outside. It will get freaked out and run or be chased away by a cat that already staked out that territory. There are too many homeless cats in the world.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Susan M Cancel reply

CatLovingCare.com