Moving with pets
25 June 2008
Moving home can be a stressful time for home owners, but imagine how confused the family pet may feel! For some animals, solutions such as micro chips and pheromones can help ease the pressure, but nothing beats old fashioned common sense and careful planning. With this in mind, Robinsons International has teamed up with the PDSA and compiled the following hints and tips for pet owners:
General advice:
Make sure your pets are identifiable in case they get lost en route or before they have settled into their new home. If they are microchipped, phone Petlog (tel: 0870 6066751) to get their records changed to your new address. Cats and dogs should have an ID collar or tag with your name and mobile phone number. Birds can be fitted with leg bands giving your name and destination address. Avoid putting the animal’s name on the tag, as this can make it easier for anyone who finds your pet and wants to keep it.
In the days leading up to the move, keep your pets to their usual routine as much as possible.
You may want to consider booking them into boarding kennels or a cattery or, for smaller animals, asking a friend or relative to look after them for the week of your move. This will not only prevent them from getting upset and possibly escaping during the packing and removal process, it will also give you the chance to concentrate on the business in hand.
But if you or the children would miss your pet too much or if this is simply not possible, make sure you keep them in a quiet room with their bedding and favourite toys while all the furniture and your belongings are being taken out of the house. Be sure to secure the door and hang up a "Do not open - pets in here" sign.
Try to get your pets used to traveling in a car by taking it on short journeys in the weeks before your move. On the day you move, don't feed them for 12 hours before the journey to minimise the risk of car sickness. If necessary, ask your vet about anti-sickness pills. Some dogs and cats suffer from severe travel sickness or anxiety in a car. Talk to your vet about medication to make the journey less stressful for them. NEVER leave pets of any kind in a hot, cold or poorly ventilated car.
If you need to find a new vet closer to your new home, ask the previous occupants or your new neighbours for recommendations. Remember to ask for your pet's records to be forwarded to the new vet.
Do not wash animal bedding for a couple of weeks after the move. Your animals will find the familiar smell comforting.
Advice for cat & dog owners:
When moving your cat, buy, borrow or hire a secure basket, measuring at least 50cm x 28cm x 28cm. Leave the carrier around for a few days, or even weeks, before your move, so the cat becomes used to the sight and smell of it. Put your cat inside the basket before the removal men arrive. When traveling, ensure the basket is securely wedged in the back of the car or in the foot well behind the seats. Don't put it in the removal van or the boot of your car.
Artificial pheromones such as Feliway (available from your vet) may be useful if your cat is not a good traveller. Similarly, a Dog Appeasing Pheromone (DAP) plug-in device that mimics the calming scent released by a mother to her puppies can be used before, during and after moving. The DAP will relax your dog and help them cope with the changes that come with moving house.
Don’t pack all your pets’ food in the moving van. If it’s a long journey, you may need to stop and feed them on the way to your new home. Similarly ensure that the cat’s litter tray is easily accessible and schedule in a half hour walk for your dog en route.
When you arrive at your new house, wait until everything is indoors and bedding and toys are ready before bringing your pets inside. Make sure that doors and windows are shut and fireplaces blocked to prevent cats from escaping. Leave them in a quiet room with food and water to recover from the journey. If it’s a cold day, they might find a hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket comforting.
When the removal van has left, and the exterior doors are firmly shut, let your pets out to explore a few rooms at a time, so they are not overwhelmed. Cats will rub their heads and bodies on furniture, walls, and doors to lay down scent from glands on their heads and bodies. Rubbing their own scent around the house increases their feeling of security. You can help this process by rubbing a soft cotton cloth gently around the cat's face to pick up its personal scent profile. Then dab this, at cat height, around the rooms where it will initially be exploring. Repeat this daily and widen the areas where you leave the scent and your cat will soon feel confident and at home again.
Keep cats inside for the first two or three weeks to give them time to learn the geography of the new home and to become accustomed to the smells. When you decide the time is right to let your cat out, don’t feed it for about 12 hours, so it is really hungry. If it already associates a particular sound – for instance tapping a bowl or rattling a bag of biscuits - with food, so much the better. Choose a quiet time to let it out in the garden, firstly ensuring that there are no other cats about. Go out with your cat and let it explore for a little while before calling it in for food. Repeat the exercise several times, allowing it to go a little further and for a bit longer each time.
If you are moving a short distance you may find that your cat regularly returns to your old home. This is simply because it has not bonded sufficiently well with the new home and has picked up familiar routes during exploration of its new territory.
Ask the occupants of your old house and the neighbours there to discourage your cat by chasing it away or calling you to collect it. In this way your cat will begin to recognise the new house rather than the old one as a source of food and shelter. If all else fails and your cat refuses to accept the new home, you may have to consider asking the people living in your old house or one of the neighbours to adopt it permanently.
Dogs adapt quicker than cats to their new surroundings, but can be very excitable. For a while keep them on a lead when you take them out in the garden. Check your boundary fencing to make sure that it is secure, high enough and free from escape gaps before letting your dog run free. If the fence is not escape proof, keep your dog on a lead until you’ve blocked the gaps.
Be patient with your dog and make allowances for any 'accidents'. Don't make a fuss, punish your dog, or draw attention to it, as this may make the problem worse. Quietly pick up the mess and clean the area with a biological solution, or special cleaner from the vets or pet shop designed to properly remove the smell. Once your dog has settled it should stop. Always praise your dog when it goes to toilet in the correct place - outside! - so that it knows where to go.
As you settle into your new home, remember to walk your dogs regularly to help them adjust to the new surroundings and give both cats and dogs sufficient but not excessive amounts of food and attention. A regular routine will help during the adjustment period and small frequent meals will give you more contact in the first few weeks, helping pets to relax.
Ask neighbours about the local cat and dog population to find out if there are any difficult animals in the area or any people who maybe unkind to them.
Advice for owners of small animals, fish and birds:
Guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits and other small mammals are best transported in well-ventilated, chew-proof containers made of metal or rigid plastic. Make sure they have plenty of water in a spill-proof container, a little food and lots of bedding.
NEVER try to move a fish in its tank! Fish should be transferred into a proper container designed for their transport, which can be bought from any good pet shop or specialist fish retailer. Alternatively, you can use a clean, strong, polythene bag, part filled with water from the tank but make sure that it has a decent sized air pocket above the water level and that the bag is placed in a protective container. Bear in mind that fish are particularly vulnerable to extremes of temperature.
The tank itself should be emptied, dried and wrapped in polystyrene packing for the journey. Talk to your removal company about these details before the move starts.
When you arrive at your new home, treat your fish as though they were new and de-chlorinate the water in the tank. Make sure the bag and tank water are at the correct temperature before transferring your fish.
Small birds travel best in a well ventilated box, with subdued lighting. This has a calming effect. If your bird is traveling in its own cage, take out any articles that might become dislodged. If possible, put their cage in a position in the new home as similar as possible to the old one. Caged birds will normally travel quite well and will be happy with you in the car for short journeys as long as you provide food, water and ventilation.
Moving overseas:
There are specialists in the field of animal transportation that work closely with BAR moving companies. For example, Robinsons International works with worldwide pet relocation specialists, Airpets (www.airpets.co.uk). A professional moving company will have moved all kinds of pets. Make a point of asking for advice if you have prized collections of fish or birds to be moved. If you have household pets, telephone the company in advance if you want to make special arrangements for their transfer. If in doubt, contact the PDSA (www.pdsa.org.uk) for specialist information.
