How to Keep Your Cat or Dog Calm During a House Move

Two to four weeks before

Start bringing cartons into the house early and leave them open so they become dull rather than alarming. Feed near them so the boxes carry a positive association.

This is also the point to register with a vet near the new address and request your records be transferred. Ask your current vet about a pheromone diffuser if your animal is anxious because those work best when started a fortnight ahead.

Carrier and crate training

A carrier that only appears on vet days is a signal for stress. Leave it out with a familiar blanket inside and feed treats in it for two weeks so the carrier reads as a safe den rather than a trap.

• Leave the carrier out open and unthreatening
• Put in bedding that already smells of home and do not wash it
• Feed a few meals inside it with the door open
• Do a short car trip if your pet rarely travels

What to do on moving day

Front doors stay open for hours during a load. That is the single biggest risk of the day so the animal needs to be behind a closed door or out of the house altogether.

• Best option: a friend, a sitter, a day at kennels or a cattery
• Next best: one empty room with a clear sign on the door telling the crew not to enter
• Keep water, a litter tray, bedding and a favourite toy in that room
• Pack a pet bag of food, bowls, medication, lead and poo bags in the car
• Pets travel in your car in a carrier or harness never in the removal vehicle

Settling a cat into a new home

Set one room up first with the litter tray, food, water and unwashed bedding and let the cat out of the carrier in there with the door shut. Let it explore the rest of the house room by room over the following days.

Keep a cat indoors for at least two weeks so the new house becomes the place where food arrives. When you first let it out do so before a meal and just before dusk so it has every reason to come back in.

Settling a dog into a new home

Walk the garden boundary before the dog goes out and check fence gaps gates and pond covers. Put the bed and water bowl down first in a low traffic corner and keep the walk schedule identical to the old house for the first fortnight.

Some unsettled behaviour is normal for a week or two. Toilet accidents, clinginess and night whining nearly always fade once the routine holds steady.

Legal admin you must not forget

Updating a microchip record is a legal requirement for dogs in the UK and it takes five minutes online. Do the collar tag at the same time and tell your pet insurer the new postcode because premiums are address based.