Moving a cat

DublinWriter

Cutting a long story short, my Mum died last year, moved back into her place, she had a Jack Russel and a semi-Ferrel cat for about 8 years.

Both cat and dog got on like a house on fire for many years. I recently moved back into my own place. The dog relocated without any problems, but now I'm thinking of bringing the cat too as they are so close and gf wants a cat.

My problem is the cat is quite skittish and is a semi-house cat. Trapping and caging said beast would be problematic to say the least.

There are also a number of Ferrel cats in the area. Although my late-Mum's cat was a Tom, he's quite soft and I'd be worried about him getting ripped to shreads.

Should I even consider relocating the cat? If so, is there anything I could give him to calm him down for the capture and subsequent journey?

cotton

Could you try keeping him indoors & trying feliway?

Garth

We have an ex-feral cat living in the house. She's a happy girl, I wonder do feral cats appreciate indoor comforts even more than domestic cats?

Lorrs33

DublinWriter wrote: »

There are also a number of Ferrel cats in the area. Although my late-Mum's cat was a Tom, he's quite soft and I'd be worried about him getting ripped to shreads.

I had a Tom cat who was quite soft, always coming home battered and bleeding, sometimes he'd be missing for days on end. But there's a cure for that - neutering. Trust me, cats become so lazy after that, they never bother going out.

Ado86

A mild sedative from the vet would be a good idea- probably doesnt seem like it, to drug the cat, but for everyone it would be best, if the animal is slightly sedated he should be relatively stress free.

When you do manage to move him, putting butter on his paws when he goes outside will help him find his way back, the scent and the trail will be even more pungent to him than us - cats have a great sense of smell !

MsFifers

I think you'd be better taking a stage by stage approach to it, if thats possible. Could you try to build up the cat's tolerance of being handled by bribing him with his favourite food/cat treats? Try sitting on the floor with the food close to you at first, then propped on your lap or chest and see if he'll climb onto you to get to the food. Work up to picking him up for a moment while holding food. It might take a while for him to be comfortable with it (if he ever does!)

I'd second the Felliway idea as a way to get him calm once inside and the neutering idea to stop him straying.

Ado86 wrote: »

When you do manage to move him, putting butter on his paws when he goes outside will help him find his way back, the scent and the trail will be even more pungent to him than us - cats have a great sense of smell !

I never heard of that one before!! The usual advice when moving a cat is to keep him inside for a couple of weeks and gradually let him out under supervision until he is used to the area.

If the cat is happy inside, you could even consider having him as an all-indoor cat. My tom cat refuses to go outside the door at all! Cats can be perfectly happy inside all the time as long as you give them plenty of things to play with, and make sure you are set up properly with litter trays & hidey holes etc!

Trev M

cotton wrote: »

Could you try keeping him indoors & trying feliway?

The feliway stuff really works , we've had to move two cats while work was done on our house over 3 months. One of them is pretty jumpy at the best of times and cant cope with strangers etc at all

Anyway when we moved we kept them in for four weeks and had those feliway plug in things , they seemed to chill the pals out no end... that said the mad one still hides under the bed covers if she sees a stranger.:) We let them out and they have a ramble and come back no problem.

Will have to do it all over when we move back to our own place so will get the aul plug ins again. Pricey but seem to work.

Lauragoesmad

My cat hates her crate but doesn't mind being moved if she can lie at your feet below the passenger seat. She had a freaker attack the last time we had to put her in her box. Its only been used once. I should probably give it to a shelter because its not going to get any use in my house!:D
You should really get him neutered and chipped for your own peace of mind.