# Moving my cat 500 miles **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780 "2020-08-22T23:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/81 "2021-08-07T21:15:07Z")
Explore cautiously, Mickey! – was he rescued from being lost outside? Some cats who were out and unable for some time to find a house that anybody would let them into will, if they do manage to get inside, be very reluctant to ever go out again. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/82 "2021-08-07T21:32:30Z")
from Craigs List. I think he was too young to be taken from his mother looking back on it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/83 "2021-08-07T21:45:59Z")
Ah. Yes, that can mess them up; a lot of people think they’re ready to leave as soon as they can eat solid food, but they really need to stay with mama at least six weeks and eight’s a lot better; longer yet if they’re going to be the only cat where they’re going, because there are things about being a cat that they need to learn from other cats. He might also be terrified of the outside just if he’s never been outside. Outside is a big and strange and scary place if you’re not used to it. But maybe being moved from one indoor place to another and then to a third and the world still not ending has led him to think maybe strange places are survivable. Be careful with him being out, though – he also won’t know what’s genuinely dangerous to him, or how to find his way back if he wanders a bit too far. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/84 "2021-08-07T21:48:43Z")
I’m on the second floor. I will not let him go down the stairs and I’m positive he will not want to. Not without me going with him and that is not happening ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/85 "2021-08-07T22:00:42Z")
Ah. That should be all right then. I’ve known cats to jump from second floors; but this one seems less likely to. (Young healthy cats; they weren’t hurt. An older or otherwise frail one could be a different matter; and I’ve seen a feral cat land wrong from a one-story jump and run off limping badly.) ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/86 "2021-08-07T22:07:26Z")
speaking of feral cats that reminds me - when I was in NYC one was sitting on the stoop of an apartment building. Someone came down the street with a German Shepard and when he saw the cat he started barking ferociously and went up to the cat. The cat did not run away but leaped off the stoop like a leopard onto the dog’s head. Poor dog didn’t know what hit him ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/87 "2021-08-07T23:25:57Z")
Yeah, a cat who knows what they’re doing can generally stand off any single dog, presuming they see it coming; though multiple dogs would be a different matter. And of course a lot of cats don’t know that trick, and many try to run – which only works if they can get up a tree or into a space too small for the dog before the dog catches them. I expect the feral cats who get it wrong don’t live long, however. – Discourse thinks I shouldn’t be talking to you so much. Discobot, you’re being an ass. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/88 "2021-08-08T00:36:01Z")
who is Discobot and why does he care? ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/89 "2021-08-08T01:57:01Z")
@Discobot, who are you? ---
**Author:** ![discobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/discobot/32/570_2.png) [@discobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/discobot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780/90 "2021-08-08T01:57:03Z")
Hi! To find out what I can do, say `@discobot display help`. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-my-cat-500-miles/918780.md?page=4)