First, make sure you keep your cat crated and in a quiet, undisturbed area during the move itself. After all of the actual moving of furniture and boxes is completed, and the movers and other moving-day helpers are gone, then let the cat out of her crate and allow her to explore the main areas of the new home.

If the new house has a basement and/or attic, you might want to keep those areas closed off until you have a chance to inspect them and make sure there are no places where your cat can get inside walls, ceilings, or floors.

Depending on your cat's personality, she may hide in a closet or under a bed for days or weeks, or she may enjoy exploring and staying out in the open. Either way, I recommend allowing her to get comfortable with the new surroundings in her own way and in her own time.

If she does hide initially, put her food, water, and litterbox in her hiding place with her (or as close to it as possible). If she's comfortable walking around the new house, put her food, water, and litterbox wherever you please and make a point of carrying her to them several times a day until you're certain she can find them on her own. You might even want to put litterboxes in several spots initially just to make sure she can find one while she's getting her bearings around the new house. It might also help if you keep some of her poop from the litterbox in the old house to put into her litterbox in the new house so she can more easily identify it as her own litterbox.

Good luck with your move.

Laurie

I've moved with my 2 boys three times. First time we went from a small apartment to a 3200 sq ft house and one of them adjusted just fine with no prompting but the other hid for a week - he did come out for food and the litter box when we weren't there but otherwise he holed himself up in a spare storage room. He didn't come out until I had had enough and brought him out and from the safety of my arms took him from room to room of the house showing him the whole thing while doing the running commentary then he didn't hide ever again.

When we moved into our current home, we moved all our stuff in on the move day but the boys were left with DH's parents to be picked up the next day after we had the house pretty much in order. After we picked them up and brought them home, DH took one cat and I took the other and we gave them a tour of their new home, showing them each room, where the liter box was, where their food bowls were, where our bedroom was and their favourte furniture pieces for their afternoon naps - we showed them everything with running commentary (I do believe they understand when you talk to them), including new perches for watching the birds. They adjusted immediately, we had no issues with either of them hiding or marking, they just settled in - they had the tour so the house wasn't a big scary mystery. So I'd definitely suggest once you set up, put the furniture in place take your kitty on a grand tour to demystify your new home. I'd probably leave your cat with somebody to cat-sit during the move so that you don't have to worry about the disruption of the move; stress about how kitty is doing with the noise and craziness that inevitably ensues. Then pick up your cat when you are settled and ready.

tess

I recently moved. I confined my four to one small room and bath. This was also where I planned to feed and keep litter boxes. They hid for awhile but since it was such a small area I could find them and see that they were ok. After a few days I started leaving the door open. Gradually they all started coming out and exploring on their own. I like the idea of giving them a "tour" though. Even if this house is so small it wouldn't be much of tour.

When we moved about 4 years ago we had just one cat. She sat on the steps (inside) of the new house and cried for the whole first day. We just kept reassuring her that it was ok - I had no clue what else to do for her. Showed her where her food, water and boxes were.

The next day she was fine. If she had been an outdoor cat I would've really been afraid she'd have run away - we moved about 1 1/2 miles away and I think she would've headed "home".

I moved with six cats this summer. A few years before that move, I moved with two cats.

One thing I learned is that you need to get the cats sequestered or crated BEFORE the movers arrive. Both times (I should have learned my lesson the first time) my kitties freaked from all the noise of our furniture and belongings being moved. Because we were in such a rush the morning the movers came, we just kind of quickly herded them all into carriers and several of them were terrified. One even had explosive diarrhea everywhere.

If I were to do it again, here's what I'd do:

Put out cat carriers days before the move so that the cats know something is going on. (Although the moving boxes everywhere will probably clue them into this.)

The night before the move, sequester the kitties in a room with food, water, litterbox and some familiar items that you can move yourself--bedding, scratching post, etc. Keep them in this room until the movers are done.

If you can wait until the movers have finished unloading everything at the new house, great. Otherwise, sequester the kitties in a room at the new house (would be ideal if you could get it set up with some basic items beforehand) until the movers are done.

Once your release the cats from sequestering, try to get much loved items set up as quickly as possible so that the space looks familar to them. In our case, our cats love nestling in our bed, so we made sure all the bedding was on the bed the first night there.

If the previous owner had pets, try to get as much freshening up and cleaning done before the move as possible. In our case, the previous owner had lots of pets, so we refinished the floors and repainted the entire house.

Be prepared for problems--inappropriate peeing and pooping, hissing, fighting, acting more aloof, etc. It does take them awhile to adjust. We had one guy peeing on our mail (it gets deposited through a mail slot) several times a week for the first few months. Another peed on the bed one night. Our gregarious kitty turned very distant for a few months. I think this was all from the stress of the move.

My DD is young, still in college and has had to move several times for various reasons. She has 2 cats both are 13 and extremely attached to her. Whenever she comes home for holidays etc she brings the cats with her so they know my house and my 3 cats. So prior to a move she usually brings them home to me at least a week in advance. She moves in another week so I currently have them. This way they miss all the chaos of packing etc. When she picks them up and takes them to the new place they're usually so excited to have her back that they rarely even react to a new place.

I just went through this last spring. I isolated my kitty in an upstairs bedroom for the first couple of days after the move so he was not as stressed by all of the furniture arranging and unpacking. When I let him out, he took his time exploring the new house. I don't think he even ventured downstairs for a week. It took him several weeks to adjust. He was skittish at noises and we had some problems with him peeing in areas he shouldn't and marking his territory. He has now adjusted well and no more problems although we did have to compromise and put a second litter box in the corner of the dining room as he just would not stop peeing in there. The vet said that he likely chose that spot due to the neighbor cats possibly marking that corner on the front porch. Uggh!