Due to some unpleasant weather issues, we had to move from our home to a rental. Of course we brought our pets with us and one of them is old, senile and blind. Moving him to the rental was a nightmare because he was so confused and lost. We try to keep his world small to avoid this issue and we can use baby gates to keep him in safe areas.
When we moved in here, I brought used linens and blankets for our bed to help it smell familiar and used kitty litter for the litter box. Lucky peed around the litter box for about a week after the last move. We tried those Feliway diffusers which didn’t seem to make much difference.
We are going to be moving into our new home and there will be many different smells and things to run into. I don’t want to stress him as much as we did last time, so any suggestions will be thankfully considered. We love our old guy and want to keep him as comfortable as possible in his twilight days.
Edit: completely misunderstood your post, so I deleted my first reply, sorry!
It sounds to me like you’re doing everything right. You can’t make a new home change completely seamless for an elderly pet, so you can only minimize the fear. I would use the same strategy you did before and just be patient with him.
Yes, I agree that you’re doing everything right … I’m sure you’ve given Lucky extra attention and cuddling …
However, I don’t think the “old, blind and senile” are in play here … I’ve a 7 yo cat and after three months in our new home, he’s still nervous and panicky …
My first thought was who would rehome this cat? Then I realized, you’re moving him to your new home.
Sounds like you’re doing everything right - lots of familiar smells, small space to start. What about sounds? Or the feeling beneath his feet? Can you get a small rug that he can get used to now, and then transfer that to his new space?
We couldn’t rehome Lucky, we loves our old dude. Besides that, nobody else would want him. He yowls at the water fountain in the middle of the night. (He does it during the day too, but its easier to ignore then. He doesn’t look like he’s got any meezer in him, but his yowls proves otherwise. This isn’t a result of his senility, he’s always done it. First he “digs” it up with his front feet, then he gives his fierce hunting cat victory yowl. Sometimes he starts drinking before he is finished yowling and sounds like he’s drowning. Cats evolved in the desert, being able to stalk and kill water was a very important survival skill. ;))
There are some good suggestions here. Your idea of a rug is a good one. Our new home has all wood or tile floors and I had been planning on getting rugs after we moved in. Buying the bedroom rug now so Lucky can get used to it here is an awesome idea, thank you.
Lucky is already used to listening to music during the day. We tried the radio, but the voices confused him. He’s very much a people cat and wanted to find the person he heard talking so he could get ear rubs and scratches. I have been mixing the music up so he won’t get bored, but I think that maybe I will start looping the same CD all the time.
That’s also why we don’t want to cage him. It worked for Steve because he wanted a safe place away from humans. Lucky wants to be with his pride. During the day, the other cats and the dogs spend most of their time with him, so he’s content being locked up but he starts yowling to be released as soon as we walk in the door.
Lucky is a happy guy. He’s so old and sick (kidney failure and hyper t) that our vet won’t prescribe pain or anxiety meds. She’s amazed that he’s still hanging around and doesn’t want to risk tipping him over the edge. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and he purrs and finds his happy places. I’m quite sure that the only reason he didn’t use the litter box when we got here was because he was so confused.
The other 3 cats and one of our dogs seem to understand that he’s fragile. Buttercup will watch out for him if he manages to escape and will corner him with nasty ol’ sloppy dog kisses and then will lay in front of him to keep him where he is safe. He usually just climbs up on the nice warm hound and takes a nap.