Moving cats from a rural home to a village home WWYD

[Rowreach]

I have two neutered male cats, aged 10 and 6. They are meant to be yard cats, but they spend all day every day asleep on the sofa, and get put out at night. My current house is landlocked, completely surrounded by acres of farmland, and the driveway is 1/3 of a mile long. One of the cats is seen quite regularly down on the road, which is a fairly busy A road. When traffic comes he squishes himself into the hedge, so seems to be quite savvy. The other never goes more than a couple of hundred yards from the house.

We are moving in the New Year to a house in a village. The front of the house butts onto the village "street" which is narrow but busy, especially morning and evening. There is a substantial garden, behind which is an area of private woodland, and behind that is a large field, and behind that a huge area of yard and woodland belonging to a sawmill. However all this is in the middle of the village, which is a busy place.

Am I absolutely mad to relocate my cats to this environment? I've never had to think of this before, having always been rural when I've had cats. I can't leave them here as the new owner won't be living here, I don't think that is fair on the cats anyway, and any tenant who moves in won't necessarily be here forever. Equally, I absolutely dread the idea of them being squashed on the road if I take them with me, when they are not used to traffic. What are the chances of them being sensible enough to go out the back of the house where there is masses of cat friendly space, and not out the front?

I could rehome them somewhere more rural, but then they have to get used to a new family as well as a new environment.

Anyone any thoughts or experiences? I really want to do the best thing by them, whatever that is. Thanks in advance!

 

[TheresaW]

We moved at the end of last year with our cats who are older than yours. 15,13, and 11. At the old house, we lived at the end of a dead end with woods and fields around us, and the cats were always out and about. Since we've moved, we now live in the middle of a long street. The cats were kept in for a few weeks to settle, and since they've been allowed out, I don't think they've ever gone round the front. They seem to spend all their time either indoors, or snoozing in the garden. They have ventured next door a couple of times, but that's it really.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

If the new home is close to old home [less than 10 miles] chances are you will need to keep them in for a very long time, I would build a cat house and run so they can be outside during the day,, they will take about three months to re think their living arrangements.
See my post about SOS rescue, for a day by day diary.

 

[TheresaW]

If the new home is close to old home [less than 10 miles] chances are you will need to keep them in for a very long time, I would build a cat house and run so they can be outside during the day,, they will take about three months to re think their living arrangements.
See my post about SOS rescue, for a day by day diary.

Good point. We moved about 120 miles, so didn't have that worry, but years ago, one of mine went back to the old house about 6 months after I'd moved. Luckily my ex still lived there and let him in and called me.

 

[hackneylass2]

Build a catio!

 

[Rowreach]

Thanks all. It's not much more than ten miles so that is a concern. The catio is a great idea but I don't think they'd be terrible impressed by it

My main worry is not moving them as such, but moving them to a more traffic laden environment than they are used to. Mind you, the last cat I moved house with escaped on day one, to my horror, but he never went anywhere at all.

 

[chillipup]

When you move, it may be wise to leave the new tenants and the owner your contact details OP just in case one of your cats does decide to go back to their old home. I'm sure as they are pretty savvy they'll settle OK just keep them in for a few weeks and accompany them into the rear garden when you let them out initially.

Just wondering, why do you put your cats out at night?

 

[Rowreach]

When you move, it may be wise to leave the new tenants and the owner your contact details OP just in case one of your cats does decide to go back to their old home. I'm sure as they are pretty savvy they'll settle OK just keep them in for a few weeks and accompany them into the rear garden when you let them out initially.

Just wondering, why do you put your cats out at night?

Luckily my one remaining livery and her sheep farming husband will still be keeping animals here, so they will notice if the cats reappear, and the new owner is a friend of mine too.

They go out at night because otherwise they wake me up at 2am wanting to be let out, and besides they are meant to be yard cats haha and should be working However they have cat hole access to warm and dry sheds with beds in, and I suspect they spend most of the night there.

At the new house they will have access to the cellar from outside, which is warm and dry

 

[chillipup]

Luckily my one remaining livery and her sheep farming husband will still be keeping animals here, so they will notice if the cats reappear, and the new owner is a friend of mine too.

They go out at night because otherwise they wake me up at 2am wanting to be let out, and besides they are meant to be yard cats haha and should be working However they have cat hole access to warm and dry sheds with beds in, and I suspect they spend most of the night there.

At the new house they will have access to the cellar from outside, which is warm and dry

Thanks R...waking you up at 2am? cheeky little blighters! and you have a cellar at your new place, how fab. If they were my kitties they'd have to find a space to sleep amongst the many wine racks

 

[Tyssandi]

I have two neutered male cats, aged 10 and 6. They are meant to be yard cats, but they spend all day every day asleep on the sofa, and get put out at night. My current house is landlocked, completely surrounded by acres of farmland, and the driveway is 1/3 of a mile long. One of the cats is seen quite regularly down on the road, which is a fairly busy A road. When traffic comes he squishes himself into the hedge, so seems to be quite savvy. The other never goes more than a couple of hundred yards from the house.

We are moving in the New Year to a house in a village. The front of the house butts onto the village "street" which is narrow but busy, especially morning and evening. There is a substantial garden, behind which is an area of private woodland, and behind that is a large field, and behind that a huge area of yard and woodland belonging to a sawmill. However all this is in the middle of the village, which is a busy place.

Am I absolutely mad to relocate my cats to this environment? I've never had to think of this before, having always been rural when I've had cats. I can't leave them here as the new owner won't be living here, I don't think that is fair on the cats anyway, and any tenant who moves in won't necessarily be here forever. Equally, I absolutely dread the idea of them being squashed on the road if I take them with me, when they are not used to traffic. What are the chances of them being sensible enough to go out the back of the house where there is masses of cat friendly space, and not out the front?

I could rehome them somewhere more rural, but then they have to get used to a new family as well as a new environment.

Anyone any thoughts or experiences? I really want to do the best thing by them, whatever that is. Thanks in advance!

personally

Do what is best for the cats

I would either build a catio or re home them, by the sounds of it it is much busier where your moving too, and the cats won't take that into consideration and it is a very high risk they get injured or worse.


Speak to a yard near you or maybe the new person having your house would keep them

 

[MagicMelon]

OP, try not to let the "savvy" cat you've seen on the road lull you into a safe sense of security as we had a very very savvy outdoor cat who basically was a farm cat so lived outside since a kitten and regularly used the road to wonder up to my mums house every day for months before eventually deciding to move in! He came and went as he pleased for years and we never worried about him on the road. I came home to find him dead on the road one day.

Personally, we've lost too many cats on the road - its just horrible. When we moved to where we are now which is very rural BUT also has a narrow road along the front where the odd car flies past, we put up a big 6ft high chicken wire fence round our back patio (with a hedge on the inside so its hidden a bit!) and I only let my 2 cats out there when I'm here to keep an eye on them. They love to lie around on the patio, ferret about in the sheds (which they can access) and mess about in the hedge. Mine are Bengals so would be utterly useless with things like roads and wouldn't last a second if I let them roam free sadly. So I'd suggest doing this if you possibly can. I really think you'd be risking your cats if you let them out at your new place You'd think cats would have the sense to go for the woods etc. but they don't. My mum also had a "cat pen" which was a wooden frame fully enclosed by wire mesh with a cat flap which they could get to from the house. The cats ended up using it mostly as a giant cat litter tray but it could be another option (she filled it with stuff like big branches etc. too).

 

[Meowy Catkin]

My sister has a cat that lived here in rural Wales for a bit and now lives in Bradford. She adjusted straight away and goes out in their little back yard quite happily, she doesn't go near the road. However my sister has another cat that stayed here with us because he has no traffic sense, so I would say that it depends on the cat. If it's a sensible type then it'll just stay in your garden or head off to the woodland/field behind, if it's not, then it could risk being run over.

Really you are going to need to weigh up the options and your individual cats and decide what's best with your specific situation.

 

[Doris68]

We moved (in April) from a very rural environment, surrounded by fields, on a lane (not that busy). Our 2 cats had lived there all there lives (they're now 11) and were free to wander. Although we're still rural, the road is much busier and there are more houses around. We kept our cats in for 5 weeks, putting them outside in a large puppy cage for a few hours each day. After 5 weeks, we decided we'd let them wander around the garden. Oh dear!! One of them climbed up the fence and ran straight across the road!! The other one disappeared. We were distraught, but managed to re-capture them. We knew we could no longer let them have the freedom that they'd always known. A neighbour recommended Freedom Fence as the property was already "wired-up". We were very concerned about putting collars on older cats and also about the little shock they'd get when trying to escape. We decided it was better than the alternative! They're absolutely fine and got used to the collars within a couple of days. They don't make any attempt to "escape" and we have peace of mind. Not ideal, but our beloved cats are safe and happy.

 

[Rowreach]

A neighbour recommended Freedom Fence as the property was already "wired-up". We were very concerned about putting collars on older cats and also about the little shock they'd get when trying to escape. We decided it was better than the alternative! They're absolutely fine and got used to the collars within a couple of days. They don't make any attempt to "escape" and we have peace of mind. Not ideal, but our beloved cats are safe and happy.

Thank you Doris. I've had a Freedom Fence for the dogs for years, and will be setting it up at the new place. I have spoken to the company about getting collars for the cats, and I will add them to the system here, before we move, so they get used to the idea. Or if they don't get used to the idea, I will see about rehoming them.

 

[Doris68]

I hope they take to them! As I said, we were really concerned that they would find the collars very distressing. Myrtle is very precious and when she first had the collar put on, she went into reverse mode for about a minute, had a quick scratch and then looked disgusted! Muscat just looked bemused and fell asleep. We put the collars on for trial periods of, say, a couple of hours over a few days and then began the "training". We found it best to supervise the "training" initially, but then left them to find out for themselves - it didn't take long!! I hope your cats to get used to their collars and that you don't have to re-home them - good luck!