I am planning a 500-mile move to the States in the next few months, and I’m not entirely sure what to do with my cat.
Right now, I’m living with my mother and brother, and while the cat is technically mine, he’s completely adopted my mother. Waits by the door for her to get home, sleeps on her bed, that sort of thing.
My options are, obviously, to bring the cat with me, or to leave him here with two people who love him (and someone he can’t seem to live without, but maybe that’s just because she gives him tuna). I’d miss him terribly if I left him, but I’m worried about what it would do to his health if I took him away from home. Would I have to worry about him trying to sneak out and find his way home? Would he hide and mope and stop eating?
How do animals cope when a family splits up? I guess it’s probably different for each animal, but any advice or stories you can share with me would help make my decision easier.
Most pets have very short-term memories. While they might mope for a little while, chances are good that it won’t last long, and that they will adapt to any new situation relatively easily, as long as lots of love and attention are involved.
My husband and I went to France for a year and left our cat with his parents. Our cat never learned to get along with their cat, but my in-laws say that as long as the other cat wasn’t around, our cat was perfectly happy with them, and very lovable.
My brother recently did foster care for a friend’s dog while the friend’s wife was in the hospital across the state for a couple of months. My brother has two dogs of his own, but they adopted the foster dog as one of the pack. While it wasn’t really “home,” he got more attention than he would have had he stayed at the kennel, and he was happy for the most part.
I think that it would be better to look at your mother’s feelings here, than just to focus on the cat. How does your mom feel about you taking the cat?
A friend of mine lived alone with a cat for a number of years. Then. one day, she got a new job, near(er) where her parents lived. While she tried to sell her house, she and the cat moved in with her parents. The cat loved it. The cat had people around much more often than when living with one person.
A few months passed. The house was sold, a new house was purchased. The woman and her cat moved to the new house. Cat prowled around the new house, sniffing suspiciously. Until suddenly, cat realized “Hey! That’s Me! and my Owner!” Cat then relaxed(though cat kept exploring for a while). If leaving the extra people beyond traumatized the cat, no evidence has been forthcoming.