Tips For Moving With Pets
Allison Logan
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
"It is best to remove your pets from the house BEFORE you start moving your possessions. Allowing your pets to roam free in the house while the front door is propped wide open, and people are rushing in and out lugging boxes and furniture – just creates a recipe for disaster."
Moving can be hard on everyone involved. Adults, kids, and yes...even your pets!
While your pet may not understand exactly what is going on, they can sense the stress (good or bad) that the whole family is experiencing. Add to that the fact that animals are creatures of habit and do not like changes to their usual routine, and you can understand why they become so confused. They also become quite anxious when all of a sudden, they see their human family busily throwing everything around them into boxes.
Naturally, we always want to keep our pets happy and healthy because we love them...but we also want to decrease the chances of their “acting-out”.Animals, just like people, can behave rather badly when under stress, and so we need to do all we can to help them feel secure throughout the moving process.
What we really need to know is: when faced with an upcoming move, how do we reduce the amount of stress that our pets are going to experience, and what can we do about the unavoidable disruption to their daily routine?
Tip #1: During The Packing Process
• Try to keep your pet’s daily routine as close to normal as possible. Adhering to his usual feeding, exercise, and bedtime schedule is important.
• When packing, leave your pet’s belongings to last. If possible, allow your pet continued access to his same food dishes, litter box, pet bed, and toys right up until moving day.
• Lessen the chances of there being any "mistakes" by keeping your cat’s litter box in the usual spot, right up until you load him into the car – or until you confine him to a "transition room".
• Leave a couple of empty packing boxes open on the floor for your pet to explore. Allowing your pet to familiarize himself with these new, strange objects will prevent him from being afraid of them.
For more tips including:
- During the packing process
- Moving day
- Introducing your pet to their new home
- Small pets
Please visit our special report,
Pet Owners: Tips To Make Your Move Easier On Your Pets to recieve full details!