Conference misery::feline_v1

The first thing: if she has any area that's "hers," see if you can replicate it
in the new environment.  When I got married, my wife's couch, which was "haven"
for her Sammy was the link that gave him security (there's more to a security
blanket than a few Peanuts jokes).
	second, if she's a poor traveler, ltalk to your vet about trtanquiliz-
ing her for the trip.
	Finally, show her a lot of love and attention after the move.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

   It's also a good idea to limit her to a small area of the house at first
to give her a chance to adjust to that before letting into more and more
of the house.  Spend lots of time with her.  Make sure she has her favorite
toys. Wait until all the moving has been done before you bring her into the
house. 

   (I'm a fine one to talk!  When I moved, the cats were the first thing
that I moved into the house.  I spent the night on the floor with them as
a matter of fact.  I let them explore the whole house right away.  They loved
it!  Of course my cats are not exactly delicate flowers.  I worry more about
protecting things from them than the othe way around!)

tlh

	I wasn't able to do any of the sugested things when we moved. (And 
Cinamon is somewhat of a "scaredy cat".) What I did do was close her in the 
bathroom at the old house when the movers came (don't forget her food and 
box!) where she stayed until the movers had finished loading. I then took her 
to te new house (about 4 miles away) before the movers arrived (they went for 
lunch first). She got a chance to explore for a little while with nothing in 
the house while I got her box and food into the new bathroom. When the movers 
arrived, she was again shut in. It took her a while (about a week or two) to 
look like she felt that it was HER house, but we had no real problems.

	/s/	Bob


p.s. Don't keep going to look in on her in the bathroom while the comotion is 
going on! She's better off being left alone!

    These are all really fine suggestions... 
    
    ...One more I can add from experience: check all the cubby-hole
    areas in your new home to make sure there are no holes your
    cat can climb through...Thunder and Lightning spent the first
    day and evening in the innards of my new home...and needless
    to say, I spent the first day and evening trying to entice them
    out from what I thought was sure death...
    
    Marge
    

As .4 suggested, check carefully for openings where the cat can get into
the "innards" of your house.  When we moved into a condominium about five
years ago, we lost track of one of our cats, and then heard this meowing
coming from in the kitchen.  We looked in all of the cabinets, behind the
refrigerator, etc., but couldn't find T.D. anywhere.  After deciding that
the noise seemed to come from inside the wall above the cabinets, my
husband thought to stick his head into the corner of the counter space
and look up.  Sure enough, the builder had left the corner area between
the cabinets open - it connected to the walled-in area above the cabinets.
T.D. had jumped up and was prowling around inside the wall, but he didn't
want to jump down again!  My husband saw T.D.'s very unhappy little black
face peering down at him, complaining loudly!  We managed to coax T.D. to
jump down again, then we wedged a box up into that space so that T.D.
couldn't repeat his little trick.

Jane

    One of our cats routinely gets into the space between the basement
    ceiling and the 1st floor floor.  Confuses the devil out of the
    other cat, who stands up on the bar in the basement looking up
    at where the scratchy noises are coming from and meowing!  I'm
    thinking of blocking up the opening, however, since there are
    sharp nails in there and I have no idea how we'd get to her if
    something happened while she was in there.
    
    --Louise

    We moved recently and the cat seemed to "adapt" very well. Shadow
    is very curious so he found a new playground. I went to the new
    house while my husband stayed with the movers. I had the cat and
    the dog. Being there early allowed me to let the cat roam around
    the house. I spent some time with Shadow going with him through
    the house so he didn't feel as if he was just left there. I talked
    to him and patted him, then started the jobs I planned to do. When
    the movers came, some 4 hours later, the cat was put into our dog's
    travel kennal, which was plenty big enough. Since my linen closets
    are in the bathrooms, I couldn't leave him in a bath or let the
    boxes crowd the hall ways. Shadow wasn't real fond of the fact that
    he could no longer roam around the house and was confined but it
    was only for about 2 hours while the movers unloaded the truck.
    When they were gone, Shadow had his reign of the house again. I
    made sure his toys, bed, box, etc were all out for him and not packed
    in a box to be found later. I think giving him the time to roam
    around the house be himself with me right with him, let him know
    that we were here together. That night he slept peacefull and
    didn't roam.
    

    We moved ~1 1/2 years ago with our 8 yr old Saki and at the time
    3 month kitten. Both are indoor cats so we did not have that challenge.
    
    Our kitties are real family members so we try to keep them safe
    (read that over protect) from harm.
    
    Our choice was to board them from the day the packers came until
    the day after we moved in ~4 days.
    Results: Kittens dont seem to care about anything except the moment!
    Saki, however, seemed very pleased that we had not abandon her and
    did not seem to even notice that her furniture had moved to another
    house!
    
                                    Tom

    We moved just a few weeks ago.  Since we went on vacation just before
    we moved (vacation was planned before moving was!), we left the cats
    with my mother while we were gone, and just left them there the extra
    few days until we were in the new house.  I thought it would be better
    for them to come to the new place when there were familiar belongings
    there.  And also, of course, I didn't want them to get frightened or
    lost in the frenzy of moving.

    They seem to be quite at home now.  Jasper adapted almost right away --
    all he did was sniff around a little, then make himself at home on the
    carpet (he likes to roll around on his back).  Chayna, who is very
    neurotic, cowered in corners for a few hours, until she determined that
    we weren't going to leave her there alone and that we really were there
    to stay (she wasn't too happy at my mother's).  After about two days,
    she was much less nervous and started exploring without too much
    timidity.  Now she seems at ease, though the noise of the dryer buzzer
    (which goes off when the dryer cycle is finished) makes her jump -- I
    think she equates it with the door buzzer at our old apartment, which
    always caused her to run and hide when somebody rang it.

							-- Nina

    Maggie has moved quite several times in her 12 years.  She enjoys
    supervising actually. However, when the boxes start going out the
    door she _always_ climbs up to the top shelf of the linen closet
    and quivers [meanwhile the dogs always trotted out to sit in the
    car]. When I go to get Maggie down she hisses at me and bats at
    my hands, but once in the car settles down to glare.  She continues
    to glare until _all_ the boxes are un-packed at the new location.
    
    This is the routine. These are the rules.  I get the feeling that
    Mags would feel like she was letting me down if we didn't do it
    this way.
    
    Annie

    In the old days, I moved a lot.  My Missy would know that we were
    going when she saw me start to pack up.  She always handled the
    situation *so* well.  Got to the point that she associated "home"
    not with a place, but with me.  I once lived in a very friendly
    neighborhood.  We would visit neighbors all the time for coffee
    or just to watch TV.  If I was visiting around when Missy wanted
    to go into our house to eat or sleep, she would come and cry at
    the front door of the neighbor I was visiting.  She didn't want to come
    in.  She wanted me to go to our house and let her in there!  Also,
    one time when Missy and I were on the road, the chamber maid had
    let Missy out of the Hotel room.  I had just gotten back to the
    Hotel from work (probably a trade show).  I was just getting changed
    and had not noticed that she was missing, when I heard Missy's
    scratching at a door.  At first I had assumed she had been closed
    into the closet, but then I realized that the maid had probably
    let her out hours before, and she was just lerking in the hall waiting
    for me to get "home" to let her in.  She saw me enter the room,
    and then scratched to get in!  Smart pussy-cat, no?
    
    Marion
                  

    
    
    Sound good to me :-).  You might want to give them a blanket and
    some piece of clothing that smells like you while they wait in
    the basement.  Good luck.
    
    Carole
    

                                                        
    	Well, the kids (Bandit and T.K.) are all happily settled into
    	out new condo.  When the movers came to my old apartment I
    	let the two kittens roam around, keeping a close eye on them
    	so that they wouldn't get underfoot but T.K. started to freak
    	out.  He darted all over the apartment, not trying to hide
    	or anything but he seemed quite upset.  So I put Bandit and
    	T.K. in the bathroom but they yowled in there.  So I asked the
    	movers to get everything out of one of the bedrooms, then I
        put them in the bedroom and they were quite content to sit on
    	the window sill and watch the leaves.  When it came time to
    	drive to the new condo I took them out of their box once we
    	were in the car.  T.K. has ridden in a car before and he just
    	roams around the car peering out the windows.  Bandit on the
    	other hand was upset.  He sat on my lap and purred and kneaded
    	his paws and meowed.  I think he was a little confused.  He
    	kept crawling up my chest towards my face meowing.  But why
    	he was purring at the same time is beyond me.  He settled
    	down though once T.K. was in my lap too.
    
    	At the condo I put them in the basement until the movers were
    	done.  When I finally came to let them out, they were both
    	curled up on the top basement stair, waiting patiently.  And
    	since then everything has been fine.  They roamed around while
    	we were setting things up.  And T.K. explored the basement
    	furthur and then came flying up when I called them to dinner
    	and he fell up the stairs!!  What a clutz!!  But then, it was
    	his first day on stairs.  It was also his first day with blinds
    	and he decided that he wanted to get in the window sill so he
    	stuck his head between two slats of the blinds, then the rest	
    	of him slowly followed!  I don't know why he couldn't go around
    	or under the blinds!!   Bandit keeps out of trouble though,
    	thank god.  I have enough to do keeping T.K. in line.  T.K.
    	has been very affectionate since we moved.  He may be a little
    	bit insecure about the whole thing.  Both nights so far that
    	we've spent there the two kittens have slept at the top of 
    	the stairs, right outside my bedroom door.  They usually sleep
    	on the couch but for some reason they seems to want to be near
    	me instead of on a comfortable couch.  This morning they even
    	wanted to be in the bathroom while I took a shower so I left
    	the door so that they could open it if they wanted.  Unfortunately,
    	Bandit didn't realize that he could get out so he started yowling.
    	And boy can he yowl.  And each yowl was louder than the last
    	one - I think he was getting histerical!!  
    	
        But they seem to be adjusting pretty well.  Now if only I can
    	get them to sleep on the couch, instead of the floor.
    
    	And they somehow knew where the kitchen was, before I even fed
    	them.  Smart cats!!
    
    	Karen
    	

    Re: .14
    
    You're lucky one of them didn't settle down under the brake pedal.
     That's what my Pussycat did when I first took him somewhere in
    the car.  Now my pusses travel in thir carrying cases.