We all know moving is a stressful time, but for cats, it can be a bigger upheaval than for their human counterparts. Your home is your cat’s territory. By taking them out of their familiar environment and into a completely new one can be extremely overwhelming for them. However, there are a few things you can do to make the move a more comfortable process for your feline friend. Creature comforts – establish the carrier as a safe, comfortable place for your cat to be as soon as you can. Leave it out a few weeks before the move for your cat to become comfortable with its presence. Putting blankets and the occasional treat inside will help your cat warm up to the carrier more quickly. Try to stick to normal feeding routines as much as possible in the days leading up to and after the move to give your cat some semblance of normalcy throughout the environmental changes. During the move – consider keeping your cat in a separate room while the moving process is taking place. This ensures not only that they won’t slip out any open doors, but they also won’t be underfoot or become stressed by the chaos of moving. Place a sign on the door to let everyone know that the cat is in the room. You will want to leave a litter box, food, water and their carrier in the room with them. Pack this room last and put the cat in the carrier before you begin packing up this final room. Stay safe – when cats are nervous they seek out small spaces to comfort themselves. To prevent your cat from getting stuck monitor them in the kitchen and other rooms with small gaps. You will also want to ensure that all window screens are securely in place. If you have an outdoor cat wait two to four weeks before allowing them to roam outside. Be sure to update your cat’s tag and/or microchip with your new address and phone number. Comfort zone – set up a safe room in the new house for your cat to stay in for the first few weeks after the move. Being confined to a smaller section of the new house will put your cat more at ease. Place their favorite toys and bedding in the room with them as well as food, water, and a litterbox. If you want to keep the litter box in a different room have two litter boxes, one in the safe room and one in the room you would normally like it until your cat becomes comfortable with the rest of the house and new litter box location. Cats are creatures of habit and drastic changes like a move can cause them to become distressed. By taking a few preliminary steps throughout the moving process like slowly introducing them to their carrier and creating a comfort zone you can ensure your cat enjoys your new home just as much as you do!]]>
Where to Relocate
As they say real estate is about 3 things: location, location, location. Finding the perfect city, town, or village to live can be difficult especially if you have a family to take care after. If you are still midst-career and not looking to retire you probably want to live close to work (maybe not too close) , family, and to what is important for you to live in town. The first tip is simple, you can use sites such as city-data.com to find out more about the area. City websites with a .gov domain can provide a lot of insight, but don’t forget to do a simple google search or look at the Wikipedia page of that place when they are available. You can find out just about anything these days: population, school systems, cost of the average house, and even average city income of the residents. Most of this information is available thanks to the census of course, so this is a great time to do research as the information was last collected in 2010 as part of a 10 year cycle. Google maps has a great feature called my places. Other maps offer similar features if you prefer another, but essentially what you do is create your own map. There is a link to take an interactive tour underneath the big red create map button if you need help. It is a very well made tour. After all of your important locations are marked and labeled you can zoom out a bit and see all of the locations clearly. There are certain exceptions such as highway access, but somewhere in the middle is generally a good place to start looking. Combine this with the town information you can find and suddenly you are well on your way to being an expert on the area. You can even generate driving directions and estimates to and from each location. This is great news of course, because the more you know, the better your decision will be.]]>