Siamese Cat

　　When preparing to leave the old home, the should be locked in a safe room or inside a box before the moving company staff arrive. Cats dislike seeing changes or disturbances in their home environment and often “run away” to avoid enduring the chaos during furniture packing. Therefore, it is best to lock the cat in a room while packing to prevent it from escaping and from crawling into packing boxes to sleep and be moved with the furniture.

　　The cat should be safely secured inside a dedicated carrier when transported by car, as many cats panic and try to escape during car rides. After arriving at the new home, the cat should only be released after the movers and visiting friends or relatives have left and the house has settled down. At this time, all doors and windows should be closed, and if the home has no heating stove, the chimney should be covered because frightened cats often hide in chimneys. Then the cat should be confined to one room, and you should stay quietly with it for a while to allow it to explore. For several days, this room should be the cat’s exclusive space, with its litter box, food, water bowls, and sleeping blanket all placed there. The cat will explore every corner of the room and will rub its body against furniture to mark its territory with scent. There is a superstition that putting butter on a cat’s paws will help it settle in the new home. If really done, the cat would sit and lick its paws, spending time cleaning itself. But this measure is not reliable.

　　If your cat is used to outdoor activities, keep it indoors for at least two weeks after moving to help it bond with the new home before allowing it outside.

　　Before moving begins, put a collar and identification tags on your cat with the new home’s phone number. This way, if the cat really gets lost, it has a chance to be reunited once found.

　　Cats have very strong territorial instincts. Your new home’s yard may already be considered territory by a neighbor’s cat. When you first let your cat into the yard, stay with it. Continue this for several weeks until you are confident your cat has bonded with the new home. Your cat will need to establish territorial ownership of your yard, which may require some confrontations with neighbor cats, though cats usually settle these disputes on their own.