Moving to a new place & your pets

[Radpops]

Moving living arrangements is stressful for humans, but especially for pets.
Moving is often a very necessary part of human life, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do what you can to make it less stressful for your animals.
Here's my story, you don't have to read it, but it does show how different animals are!
Last week I moved down the street. I downsized from a two bedroom 2.5 bath to a one bedroom one bath. My old apartment was 1200 square feet and now I am living in a 580 square feet apartment. During the whole month, I did small packing here and there, moving a little bit of boxes at a time, hoping my cats wouldn't notice. My old roommate left a month early, leaving her cat into my hands, and he can be very emotional with change. On the actual day of the move, I had the cat stay in my room with my furniture, as well as my other cat Lily because I know she would try and walk outside if we kept the door open.
We made sure to get all the other furniture except my room's. Then we finally had to move the animals. For Lily, it was a piece of cake. I had to walk down the street, so I just held her. Getting Tux in a carrier was almost impossible. I had my boyfriend help me, and without him, I wouldn't know what I would have done. Moving my rabbit was simple and we put his large cage in the living room.
After the move was finished, Lily adjusted pretty well. She was snuggly and making biscuits all over the blankets on the couches and beds. Tux however, was so stressed out. He started hiding in cabinets, and he still does sometimes. He doesn't have a big apartment to hide in when guests come over (he doesn't like strangers). So we locked up the cabinets with food and chemicals and left a couple without things. If we find him in one, we put water and leave the door open (usually if I pet him he ends up coming out anyways XD ). They havent had litter box problems thankfully.
The rabbit is doing so well now. He gets double the attention, and a lot of the stress with having him is reduced, as my boyfriend pitches in with playtime and general giving him attention.
Overall it went well. I wish I didn't have to move, but life is crazy, and I'm just glad my pets were okay with the process.

What is your story?

[hawkass]

Luckily, the last time we had to move went pretty well. The dogs adjusted to the new house with ease.

Of course, moving now would be a hassle. We've gained two more dogs, a snake, a fish, and a rat (more coming. XD )
We actually adopted this rat the other day, the owners "couldn't take her" with them since they were moving. Rather poor excuse really.

[Radpops]

Nancy Explosion

Luckily, the last time we had to move went pretty well. The dogs adjusted to the new house with ease.

Of course, moving now would be a hassle. We've gained two more dogs, a snake, a fish, and a rat (more coming. XD )
We actually adopted this rat the other day, the owners "couldn't take her" with them since they were moving. Rather poor excuse really.

At least the rat is in a better home! biggrin

[Henrika]

I've flown Rolo to and from University in Ontario, from BC. (5 hour flight, if you're not canadian wink
Rolo stopped eating solids for a few days cuz of stress... he was still playful & bouncy despite living off of catmilk... SIGH silly ferret. The second flight didn't phase him at all.

[Sparkling Anon]

We moved from one state to another with two cats on a plane, it wasn't that bad. We were very lucky though, the vet gave us pills to keep them mellow. To me, it was a good idea but, the side effects on our cat Victoria took a little longer then Bella. So, Bella wanted her sister, Victoria was not really all there. It all worked out really well over all, we had to stay at a hotel for a few nights because of the family messing up and not moving out of our house in time. Our cats thought it was our new home, and they weren't to bad with that. Then, we moved into our house. They weren't freaking out like everyone thought, they were so good, we were all so lucky. They got use to things really fast for cats. More shocking to me, we lived with them in a apartment sized place, top a nice sized house. How they reacted so well, I'll never know.

[zombie amoureux]

Oddly enough, moving a few years ago was super easy for my pets. Our yard now is HUGE and amazingly, our dog decided he liked grass so much he would not crap on it. And I only had my (formerly outdoor only, and unsocialized) cat, also named Lily, for about a month before I moved, so she didn't really care. She even stays inside or in the yard constantly now because we have a patio and big windows.

My duck Andi, on the other hand, is still upset (3 years later) that she can't leave our back yard any more. We even had to clip her wings, sadly. She used to be able to wander the area because we knew all our neighbors and they let her pick bugs from their lawn. But now, we actually have cars going by constantly and too many stupid people in the area, so it's totally not an option.

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

I'm moving soon. It should be.. interesting..
Zoe doesn't like new places. Grandpa's house (where we're moving) isn't completely new to her, but she doesn't really relax any time we've gone over in the past. She's only ever been in half the house, and so far won't even go near the rest (she hasn't even been through the whole of our current house and she's been in it for over a year). My biggest concern, though, is her outside when we're not there, that she'll learn to get out of the yard and 'run away' (go home if past experience is anything to go by).

Bella should be fine and will probably love living there. She'll get to see more people more often, and she'll be at grandpa's house (she loves visiting). I'm a little worried about her sneaking out under the gate to terrorize the neighbour's cats, though.

But, other than Zoe, I think the biggest challenge will be training everybody that the gate has to be kept closed "at all times".

For Bella and I, though, it'll only be a temporary living situation there, before we move to our own place just down the street. It may be an adjustment for her there, because she'll go back to being the only dog.

[Erin puppy]

From my own experience.. full grown cats have always been terrible at any kind of change in their environment.. I had a couple of cats this year.. I used to tote them around when they were kittens, it was a lot of fun and they would even get to come over to my bf's house and play with the kittens there, I even took them to the park once. But once they got older.. I couldn't take them anywhere.

I moved recently, so I gave one away, and took one with me, but sadly she got out of the house when I was gone and was hit by a car. She never would have run out of the house or into the road like that before I moved. sad

Now I have a 6 month puppy and she'll be moving with me this month to a whole new city. I've taken her up there a couple of times, just not to the place I'm moving. I think she's going to really great with the move. =)

[Erin puppy]

letter on the clouds

Oddly enough, moving a few years ago was super easy for my pets. Our yard now is HUGE and amazingly, our dog decided he liked grass so much he would not crap on it. And I only had my (formerly outdoor only, and unsocialized) cat, also named Lily, for about a month before I moved, so she didn't really care. She even stays inside or in the yard constantly now because we have a patio and big windows.

My duck Andi, on the other hand, is still upset (3 years later) that she can't leave our back yard any more. We even had to clip her wings, sadly. She used to be able to wander the area because we knew all our neighbors and they let her pick bugs from their lawn. But now, we actually have cars going by constantly and too many stupid people in the area, so it's totally not an option.

Oh my gosh you have a duck. I've always wanted another one.
I had a duck when I still lived with my mom so after he got older, we gave him away to a place out in the country. I miss him and I wish I had gotten closer with him.
What is it like keeping the duck in the yard? He's upset still ?, but that's because he'd gotten used to his old life I guess. What kind of duck do you have?

[zombie amoureux]

Eri fox

Oh my gosh you have a duck. I've always wanted another one.
I had a duck when I still lived with my mom so after he got older, we gave him away to a place out in the country. I miss him and I wish I had gotten closer with him.
What is it like keeping the duck in the yard? He's upset still ?, but that's because he'd gotten used to his old life I guess. What kind of duck do you have?

She's a Muscovy, aka quackless~ we got her in 2001. Andi honks like a duck, chirps, and sometimes barks. She's actually my moms. Her sister was mine, but one neighbor hated her and purposefully ran her over. I got another duck that I was told was quackless too, a little black one with an afro, but it wasn't. Spike was super loud so we had to give her to my uncle. She stays in the kitchen at night in one of these.

Oh, and she craps everywhere. It took us 4 years to potty train her, but when we moved, she magically forgot everything. My puppy has actually gotten into the habit of herding the duck back into the kitchen every time I say "Andi, off the carpet!". I don't know how she learned it, but I'm thankful haha.

But despite the crap, I love her because she bites everyone and everything that can't outrun her except my mom and I. Especially my cousin, she goes out of her way to attack him. And I hate my cousin. So it's all good. (:

Here's a pic.