How to move with cats

“How are you going to move the cats?” my friends and neighbors are asking. We are a couple of weeks out from shifting houses and I feel like a new parent – all plans and no follow through.

I know my cats’ personalities, fears, and whims, so I created a plan to accommodate them as much as possible. I want to keep the cats at ease while I prepare to move.

Maintain routines as much as possible leading up to the move;
bring out the dreaded cat carriers well in advance;
move half the cat bedding a few days early to scent the new place;
crate the cats as early as possible on the day and release them after the chaos is over;
keep the cats inside the new house for the first three days;
and when they go outside for the first time, butter their paws and put them in dirt.

I am failing at step 1. Though I continue to feed the cats at their regular time and offer laps and cuddles, I have also moved my yoga studio up to the new house so our morning routine is off. Maybe it is a new routine?

Maura’s injury meant trips to the vet, so he is wary of the carrier. It is going to be challenging to get him into the car. I need to add “buy catnip treats” to my To Do list.

The Kawasakis suggested taking a circuitous route in the car so that cats are confused and won’t be able to run back to the old house. Except I think they navigate by smell, so that might not work. I will still do it, just in case.

I am also invoking the old wives’ tale of buttering the cats paws so they taste the ground where they will be living. My family did it with Spooky in 1975 when we moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. It worked, but I don’t think she could have found her way back several hundred miles.

Despite butter, I am betting that Beryl will be the first one back at the old house. All her friends and frenemies are here. Tod’s going to be using the office a while longer, so we’re keeping the cat door and he can collect the wanderers to bring them home.