Moving With Cats

by Bryan

11 comments

1 Anya { 05.30.10 at 3:55 pm }

MmYeah, this about where we’re still at. While Kaylee has settled right in like the veteran apartment-hopper she’s always been, Koshka still hasn’t come out of hiding. Boxes, however, have proved to be dangerous hiding places as they tend to fall over when you jump into them, making a loud noise to startle you even further.

For the humans, it’s like staying in a hotel during a trip for which you have forgotten to pack just about everything.

2 Bryan { 05.30.10 at 4:43 pm }

Toms are easier to deal with because they wander by nature, cats are territorial and don’t like losing an old territory and worry about having to do battle for a new one.

That’s another way of saying that Sox couldn’t care less, but Dot has made me pay in blood for moving.

3 Badtux { 05.30.10 at 6:59 pm }

Luckily both TMF and Mencken are male, albeit male-less males (if ya know what I mean 😉 ). They are clearly discombobulated by the fact that everything keeps moving around and disappearing into boxes, but thus far haven’t descended into full-bore freakout mode. They just demand a lot more lap time than usual, that’s all :).

– Badtux the Lap-occupied Penguin
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4 Bryan { 05.30.10 at 7:30 pm }

I hope you luck out and they adapt because no one needs all of the stress of cats “marking” new territories and having twice daily cat fits.

5 Badtux { 05.31.10 at 8:58 am }

Both of my guys were luckily “fixed” before they got the habit of spraying to mark their territory, the only place they take a leak is in their litter box. They’ve been through two prior moves, including a *very* stressful long distance move that had them staying overnight in the bathroom of a hotel room, and adjusted quickly. On the other hand, it’s been six years since their last move and they’d gotten sort of accustomed to the current place… so who knows. But given that both are fat, friendly goofuses whose typical response to stress is to a) demand more food, and b) demand more lap time, I’m hopeful.
.-= last blog ..Crashing halt =-.

6 Bryan { 05.31.10 at 5:03 pm }

Spraying is more along the lines of advertising than setting boundaries, but it definitely helps if a tom is neutered before they feel the urge. Toms are definitely easier to move.

I wish you luck, because as a military brat who was also in the military, I have had all of the moving I ever want to do.

7 Badtux { 06.01.10 at 12:09 am }

Yeah, I know how that goes. There was one decade that the longest I spent in any one city was 2 years. That’s one reason why I’m looking at buying a house, but the market is still way screwed up at the moment and it isn’t going to get any better until all the short sales and repos get out of the system. Thus the move into a larger duplex, which has the additional advantage of being cheaper than the upscale apartment I’m currently living in as well as being in a very convenient location…

8 Bryan { 06.01.10 at 12:34 am }

More room is always good when you have “stuff”, but I would think long and hard unless I was sure it was indeed my final move. Of course, that pretty much eliminates anything down here – too close to the water.

9 Badtux { 06.01.10 at 2:15 am }

I had an additional motivation to move in that my mother is advanced in age and cannot handle stairs anymore, and my apartment is on the second floor. So clearly I needed to move to the first floor if she is to come visit. The fact that the place I’m moving to is cheaper, larger, and in a more convenient location is just a few more benefits to that decision. I suspect I will live there at least two years, possibly more, until the housing market gets fully shaken out… that assuming we don’t fall into an outright Great Depression II, which is a decided possibility at the moment due to morons channeling the great neoclassical economists of 1929 who led the world into Great Depression I. At which point I have no idea what happens.
.-= last blog ..Crashing halt =-.

10 Mustang Bobby { 06.01.10 at 6:18 am }

I’ve never moved with a cat — having never been owned by one — but my dog Sam didn’t seem to mind the three moves in less than ten years (from Colorado to Michigan to New Mexico to Florida); any place was fine with him. That’s probably because most dogs are geared to the pack rather than the territory: he was just happy to be with me, I guess.

We found out about neutering a cat too late much to our distress; our porch furniture never recovered even after we re-covered it.
.-= last blog ..Short Takes =-.

11 Bryan { 06.01.10 at 3:06 pm }

My parents were never in my place in San Diego because of the stairs, so I can definitely understand that.

It’s a good time to build, because there is a lot of excess capacity around and contractors looking for any kind of work. A relative had everything ready when this mess hit, and has just started. Things are getting done on time and the next sub is ready to go as each stage finishes. Fortunately the money was resolved before the “fall” as you can’t get a construction loan in SoCal right now. The only things going are those that are self-financed or pre-arranged with a stable local bank.

There are a lot of “shadow” units that aren’t listed for sale, but are vacant. The prices can’t settle until everything comes to market.

There is nothing known to science that can successful deal with the odor of a spraying tom, especially if it gets to foam, Bobby.

You’re right about dogs, they go with the pack, wherever that leads.