Top 10 Things That Can Poison Your Cat

Cat poison No. 1: Medications for people. Pets have a much greater sensitivity to many of the common over-the-counter and prescription medications that may be in your home.

Some of the medications that often poison cats include:

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, such as ibuprofen or naproxen. The most common cause of pet poisoning, these painkillers can cause ulcers in the stomach and intestines, and kidney damage.


• Acetaminophen is particularly toxic to cats, resulting in red blood cell damage. Just two extra-strength tablets may prove fatal to felines.


• Antidepressants, which may cause vomiting and, in more serious instances, serotonin syndrome - a dangerous condition that raises temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, and may cause seizures.


• Methylphenidate. This attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug is a stimulant for pets, raising heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature.

Cat poison No. 2: Flea and tick products. Poisoning can occur by ingestion of a topical product or overzealous application. In addition, certain flea control products manufactured for dogs can be lethal if used on cats.

Cat poison No. 3: People food. It is important to take care that your cat doesn’t ingest foods that might cause pet poisoning or stomach upset. Foods to keep away from your cat include:

• Chocolate. Experts don’t recommend giving chocolate, caffeine, or coffee to your cat.


• Onions, garlic, chives. These plant foods can irritate the stomach and damage red blood cells.

Cat poison No. 4: Rat and mouse poison. Rodenticides, if ingested, can cause severe symptoms and may be fatal.

Cat poison No. 5: Pet medications. Just as we can be sickened or killed by medications intended to help us, cases of pet poisoning by veterinary drugs are not uncommon. Some of the more commonly reported problem medications include painkillers and de-wormers.

Cat poison No. 6: Household plants. Cats are notorious for noshing on houseplants, and the habit isn’t just bad for your potted treasures. Many common, beautiful houseplants contain cat poisons that can cause serious harm, and even death. Some of the plants toxic to cats include:

• Lilies. Ingesting even small amounts of Easter lilies and related plants can cause severe kidney failure in cats.


• Azaleas and rhododendrons. These pretty flowering plants contain toxins that may result in vomiting, diarrhea, coma, and sometimes even death.


• Tulips and daffodils. The bulbs of these plants, if ingested, may cause serious stomach problems, convulsions, and damage to the heart.


• Sago palms. Eating just a few seeds may be enough to cause vomiting, seizures, and liver failure.

Cat poison No. 7: Chemical hazards. Not surprisingly, chemicals contained in antifreeze and paint thinner, and chemicals for pools can act as cat poisons. The symptoms they may produce include stomach upset, depression, and chemical burns.

Cat poison No. 8: Household cleaners. Just as cleaners like bleach can poison people, they are also a leading cause of pet poisoning, resulting in stomach and respiratory tract problems.

Cat poison No. 9: Heavy metals. Lead, which can be found in paint, linoleum, and batteries, can be poisonous if eaten by your cat. If ingested, lead can cause gastrointestinal and neurological problems.

Cat poison No. 10: Fertilizer. Products for your lawn and garden may be poisonous to animals that ingest them, perhaps by grooming themselves after walking or laying in a recently treated area.

What to do for suspected cat poisoning

If you think your cat has been poisoned, try to stay calm. It is important to act quickly, but rationally.

First, gather up any of the potential poison that remains - this may be helpful to your veterinarian and any outside experts who assist with the case. If your cat has vomited, collect the sample in case your veterinarian needs to see it.

Then, try to keep your pet calm and call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) at (888) 426-4435. Experts at the APCC are available to answer questions and provide guidance 24 hours a day for a $60 consultation fee.

Poison Protection: Pet-Proofing Your House

The best way to reduce the chances that your beloved cat will be the victim of pet poisoning is by preventing exposure to dangerous substances.

• Keep all medications, even those in child-proof bottles, in cabinets that are inaccessible to your cat. If you inadvertently drop a pill on the floor, be sure to look for it immediately. Supervise anyone, such as the elderly, who may need help taking medications.


• Always follow guidelines on flea or tick products, and never use products formulated for dogs on cats.


• Although you can give some “people foods” safely to your pets as a treat, others are toxic. If you have any questions about what is safe, ask your veterinarian. Or, err on the safe side and give treats made specifically for animals.


• Be sure any rodenticides you use are kept in metal cabinets or high on shelves where your pets can't find them. Remember that cats can be fatally poisoned by eating an exposed rodent, so always be very cautious about using these products. Tell your neighbors if you put out rat bait, so they can protect their pets from exposure, and ask them to do the same for you.


• When buying plants for your home, opt for those that won’t cause problems if your cat happens to nibble on them. The ASPCA has an online list of toxic and nontoxic plants by species. If you choose to have toxic plants, be sure they are kept in a place where your pets can't reach them.


• Store all chemicals and cleaners in pet-inaccessible areas of your home.

Vaccine-Associated Sarcoma in Cats

A sarcoma is a cancer of the connective and soft tissues. Sarcomas are not a new form of cancer in cats. But in 1991, veterinarians began to notice a higher than expected number of sarcomas occurring in places where vaccines are commonly injected.

Subsequently, an association between vaccine administration and sarcoma development has been established. FeLV and rabies virus vaccines have more frequently been implicated in sarcoma development than have other vaccines. Both subcutaneous and intramuscular sites have been affected. Injections other than vaccines may also be implicated.

The increased appearance of these sarcomas roughly coincided with the change from using a modified-live rabies virus vaccine to an adjuvanted killed virus vaccine. At about the same time, an aluminum-adjuvanted FeLV vaccine was introduced. Adjuvants are added to vaccines to increase the immune response-especially in vaccines that use killed versions of a virus. Adjuvants in general, and aluminum adjuvants in particular, were therefore thought to be the culprit. However, researchers are no longer certain this is the case. It is believed that these vaccines cause some kind of inflammation at the vaccination site that, in some cases, is associated with sarcoma development, but an exact link has not been proven.

Nonetheless, vaccine manufacturers are developing recombinant vaccines that do not use adjuvant and that cause less inflammation at the vaccination site. Many modified-live virus vaccines are available for other viral diseases and some of them do not contain adjuvant. New vaccination guidelines try to minimize the number of injections given over a cat’s lifetime, as well, and also recommend specific sites on the body for injections to be given.

It’s important to remember that vaccine-associated sarcoma is still a very rare form of cancer. The occurrence rate varies from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000. The wide range seems to be associated with a genetic predisposition to this problem in certain cats and lines of cats. For instance, some geographic areas show an increased rate.

These cancers may show up months or even years after a vaccination. Although a fair number of cats have a small lump after getting a vaccination, the lump should be gone within a month. If it is not, have the cat examined by a veterinarian.

Because so much is still unknown, the Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force was formed as a joint effort of the American Association of Feline Practitioners, American Animal Hospital Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, and Veterinary Cancer Society. This group is working to determine the true scope of the problem, the cause, and the most effective treatment for vaccine-associated sarcomas.

Treatment: This is an aggressive cancer that tends to spread in and between muscle layers, making it very difficult to remove all of the cancerous cells surgically. Surgery, with radiation done either before or after the surgery, seems to be the most successful treatment plan, but most of these cancers recur, nonetheless.

Does My Cat Have Fleas?

The ordinary cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is the most common parasite on the cat’s skin. All cats can be affected except for those living at higher elevations, because fleas do not live above 5,000 feet. Cats living indoors can have fleas year-round.

Fleas survive by jumping onto a host animal, cutting open their skin, and feeding on the blood. In most cases, they cause only a mild itch; but a heavy infestation, especially of kittens or older, ill cats, might cause severe anemia or even the death of the cat. Fleas also are an intermediate host of tapeworm. Some cats experience hypersensitivity to flea saliva. This produces intense itching and a localized or generalized skin reaction.

Flea infestation can be diagnosed by finding fleas on the cat or by seeing black and white, salt-and-pepper-like grains in the coat. These particles are flea feces (the “pepper”) and flea eggs (the “salt”). Fecal material is made up of digested blood. When brushed onto a wet paper, it turns a reddish brown.

The adult flea is a small dark brown insect about 2.5 millimeters in size and can be seen with the naked eye. Although fleas have no wings and cannot fly, they do have powerful back legs and can jump great distances. Fleas move through the hair rapidly and are difficult to catch.

Look for fleas on your cat’s back and around the tail and hindquarters by running a fine-toothed comb through her fur. Fleas are sometimes seen in the groin area, where it is warm and there is less hair. Itching is most pronounced in these areas.

New Methods of Flea Control

New products such as Program, Advantage, and Frontline have practically replaced the use of dips, powders, sprays, and shampoos to treat and prevent fleas. The new products are more effective and safer than the traditional insecticides. They are also easier to administer.

Program (the brand name for lufenuron) was the first and remains one of the most popular agents for controlling fleas on cats. Program is a tablet or liquid given once a month with a meal. There is also an injectable form that is given every six months.

The active ingredient accumulates in the cat’s subcutaneous tissue and the flea must bite the cat for Program to work. Program works by inhibiting flea eggs from growing and hatching. This leads to a steady drop in the number of new fleas in the environment. Its effect is limited to the hard outer shell of the flea, making it completely harmless to mammals. However, because mature fleas are not affected, it can take 30 to 60 days or longer for the adult fleas on the cat to die of old age before you notice a reduction in itching and scratching. All pets in the household must be on Program for it to be effective.

Advantage (imidacloprid) is a once-a-month topical liquid that kills fleas by direct contact.

Following application, 98 to 100 percent of adult fleas are killed within 12 hours. Thus, any new fleas that infest the cat should be killed before they have a chance to lay eggs. This breaks the flea life cycle and eventually eliminates fleas in the environment. Advantage is not absorbed into the cat’s system, and therefore is nontoxic. Humans do not absorb the chemical after petting a treated cat. Advantage can be used on kittens 8 weeks and up.

Frontline and Frontline Spray contain the active ingredient fipronil, which kills fleas on contact within 24 to 48 hours. The fleas do not need to bite the cat to be killed. Frontline is a topical liquid that comes in tubes and is applied as described for Advantage.

Frontline Plus has S-methoprene, which is labeled to kill adult fleas, flea eggs, and larvae. It also treats chewing lice and is used as part of a program to control sarcoptic mange. Frontline Plus is labeled for kittens 8 weeks of age and up.

Revolution (selamectin), a heartworm preventive, is a once-a-month topical liquid that is applied to the skin of the cat’s neck between the shoulder blades, as described for Advantage. It also controls adult fleas and prevents flea eggs from hatching. Selamectin can also be used to control ear mites, roundworms, and hookworms, as well as some ticks.

How to Choose Cat Litter

Your new cat is coming home from the animal shelter tomorrow. Busily you shop, checking off the items on your list, including cat food, toys, a scratching post and myriad other goodies.


And at the very top of the list are litterbox necessities. You head to the nearest pet supply superstore, and are faced with row after row of “all things litter.” Pastel-colored clumping litter, good old clay litter, some that’s made from pine and some that’s made from newspaper...What to choose, what to choose? Whether you are an experienced owner or a novice, the multitude of choices could prove daunting. But this was not always the case.

Pay Dirt

Prior to World War II, most cats lived indoor/outdoor lives and their toileting areas were neighborhood backyards and gardens. For indoor needs, some families kept boxes of sand or ashes from the furnace for their cat’s use in the cellar. Housewives of the 1940s were none too enamored with cats tracking ashes or sand through their homes. So an ex-sailor named Ed Lowe suggested that his neighbor try absorbent clay, which was a popular product for cleaning up industrial spills in wartime factories and happened to be made by his father’s firm. Kitty Litter was born.

Granulated clay litter offered improved odor control over ashes or sand by siphoning urine to the bottom of the pan and controlling ammonia smells until the litter reached a saturation point-usually within a week in a box used by a single cat. Today, most folks either scoop solids daily and completely replace the litter once a week, or use less litter in the box and dump and clean daily. The granules of traditional litter are fairly large and do not tend to cling to a cat’s paws, so there is little tracking of litter outside the box.

To Clump or Not to Clump

Granulated clay litters remained unchallenged for nearly 40 years, with little change or refinement until Thomas Nelson, Ph.D., needed a way to supplement his income while in graduate school. The biochemist began to raise Persian cats, and ended up developing clumping litter. Quoted in an October 1996 article in Cat Fancy magazine, Dr. Nelson explains, “I hunted around and found clays that were dried but not baked. They were very absorbent and would form a clump when the cat urinated on them. The clump could then be removed, thereby getting rid of the urine. I had a box of litter I did not change in 10 years-I just added more-and it had absolutely no odor at all.”

The removal of almost all urine and feces does produce a better-smelling box area for weeks at a time without completely throwing out the old litter and starting from scratch.  But we should point out that if more than one cat uses the box, there is usually a fairly pronounced odor in 4 to 6 weeks, even with scooping and litter replacement. It is necessary to replace the approximate amount scooped out with fresh clumping litter, for if it is allowed to go below a certain volume, urine will tend to pool and cake in corners and odors will arise.

To Clump or Not to Clump

The variety of clumping litters offers several options beyond the traditional scented and non-scented choices found with most granulated litters. Most cats prefer non-scented litter, an especially important point for owners who plan to use covered litter boxes. There are multi-cat formulas that form more cement-like clumps that will keep their form even when tread on by extra cat traffic; these are definitely not flushable! There are also less-tracking formulas, which offer slightly larger granules that are more likely to fall off of the cat’s paws before he leaves the box. And there are clumping litters developed especially for flushability, a quality most clumping litters don’t have due to their expansive properties. Each year the list of varieties grows.

A few years after clumping litter first came out, an article in the now-defunct holistic cat magazine Tiger Tribe questioned the safety of clumping litter if ingested, especially for neonate kittens who often eat litter when it is introduced to them during the weaning stage. While there has been no proof to claims of problems in scientific literature, caretakers may wish to delay introducing kittens to clumping litter until 3 to 4 months of age. Any cat older than that detected eating litter should be taken to a veterinarian, since this behavior often indicates anemia or other dietary deficiencies.

Scoopable cat litter continues to be a hot topic on the Internet, with some claiming that it is toxic and causes respiratory illness in cats. Many scoopable cat litters contain bentonite clay, a naturally occurring clay mineral that is considered to be biologically inert when ingested, and/or silica. Silica is also a physically and chemically inert substance, and is a major component found in ordinary sand. Silica is also used as a moisture-absorbing agent in the little packets found in shoe boxes, medications and some foods.  According to our experts at the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, pets ingesting small amounts of silica gel may develop only mild gastrointestinal upset, if any signs develop at all.

Cats may ingest small amounts of litter when grooming themselves after using the litter box, and these amounts pass through the digestive tract easily without problems. However, if an animal consumes a very large amount of litter (as can happen when a dog "cleans out" the litter box), gastrointestinal upset, constipation or, in rare cases, intestinal obstruction could potentially occur.

Alt.Litter

The field of cat litter doesn’t end at granulated vs. clumping clay. The shelves at local pet supply emporia also hold an array of litters made from eco-friendly materials, including recycled newspaper, corn cobs, peanut shell meal, processed orange peel, wheat, pine sawdust and shavings, and hardwood and cedar chips. All promise to be superior odor controllers, long lasting and earth-friendly. What to choose, what to choose...?

Alt.Litter continued...

In 1990, Dr. Peter Borchelt, an applied animal behaviorist, ran three 10-day tests to determine feline litter preference using a comparison of 14 types of commercial litter as well as topsoil mixed with clay litter and playbox sand. Each cat had 6 boxes to choose from; midway through the testing, the boxes were moved to prevent placement preference from overriding litter type preference. In test after test, fine-grained clumping litter was used more than twice as often as its nearest competitor, with boxes of wood chips, grain litter and recycled paper litter going completely unused. Borchelt concludes, “These data support the clinical observation that an important factor in cats’ preference for litter material is its texture, granularity or coarseness. Everclean, a finely textured clay, was preferred to clay with larger particle sizes. But playbox sand, which is also finely textured, was not preferred much more than coarse clay, perhaps because of the weight of the particles.”

What to choose? You control the purse strings, but the ultimate choice is up to your feline friend. For if he does not like the smell and feel of the litter, he will take his business elsewhere.

This article was written by Jacque Lynn Schultz, C.P.D.T., Companion Animal Programs Adviser, ASPCA National Shelter Outreach. It originally appeared in the Spring 1997 issue ofASPCA Animal Watch, and was updated in November 2006.

Did You Know?

Many scoopable cat litters are processed in such a way to remove as much of the fine dust as possible. If you find that you or your cat is particularly sensitive to airborne dust particles, you may wish to consider using an alternate form of litter.

Lapsed Users

One in every 10 cats will have a litterbox lapse in his or her lifetime. The 20 most common reasons are:

1. The cat is suffering from a medical problem involving the urinary tract.

2. The cat experiences a bout of geriatric constipation.

3. The caretaker does not keep the box as clean as the cat wants it to be.

4. The owner changes the brand or type of litter.

5. The owner changes the location of the litterbox.

6. The owner switches to deodorized or perfumed litter.

7. The owner buys a new box and throws out the old one.

8. The owner cleans the litterbox with too harsh a cleaning product.

9. The location of the litterbox is too busy or not private enough for the cat.

10. The home is too large for just one litterbox.

11. The cat inadvertently gets locked out of reach of the litterbox.

12. The cat is kept from using the litterbox by another animal in the house.

13. There are too many cats and not enough litterboxes.

14. There are too many cats and not enough territory.

15. Stray cats can be seen/smelled near the cat’s territory.

16. The unneutered male cat has come of age and is marking his territory.

17. The unspayed female is in heat and advertising for suitors.

18. Over time, the cat has developed an aversion to the texture of the litter.

19. The cat was never properly trained to use the litterbox in the first place.

20. The cat is stressed by a change in routine or environment, including a new baby, new furniture, work schedule changes, vacations, overnight guests or a move.

When Should I Spay/Neuter My Cat?

An estimated 5 million to 8 million animals are euthanized in shelters across this country every year. Many organizations are trying to decrease that number by opening low-cost spay/neuter clinics that will prevent more litters of cats that need homes.

One such organization is LifeLine Animal Project, an Atlanta-based nonprofit shelter and clinic where more than 25,000 spay/neuters have been performed since 2005. WebMD talked to executive director Rebecca Guinn to find out about some spay-neuter myths and facts.

A: Yes, as long as she’s at least eight weeks of age and weighs at least eight pounds. Pediatric spay/neuter is widely accepted. Those ideas about needing to wait are really antiquated and the evidence is to the contrary. Even the American Veterinary Medical Association supports early spay/neuter.

And cats can go into heat very early. They can have a litter at six months of age, and they can have three litters a year. Also, if you’ve ever been around a cat in heat, you know it’s miserable for people. They yowl loudly and continuously. They want to get out. It really alters their behavior. And every unneutered male cat in the neighborhood will be at your house spraying the outside of your house, spraying your front door, spraying under your crawlspace. Your whole house will reek of cat spray. It is a really, really regrettable experience.

Q: It can cost more than a $100 to get a cat spayed or neutered. I can’t afford that. What can I do?

A: There are a lot of low-cost options all over the country. The ASPCA keeps a database of low-cost options on its web site, where you can put in your zip code and it will give you all your options within a certain radius of your zip code. It’s at aspca.org. Click on the “pet care” tab and look for the low-cost and free spay/neuter database.

here usually are more low-cost options for cats than there are for dogs. That’s because it’s a much easier procedure in cats than in dogs. At our clinic, we neuter cats for $35 and spay cats for $45. There are some clinics that do nothing but cats. So there are a lot of options available for cats.

Q: Don’t cats get fat once you spay or neuter them?

A: It goes back to portion control and exercise. I recommend cats be kept indoors, and you have to have enough environmental enrichment to keep your cat happy. So have vertical spaces, climbing trees, things like that. Have places where they can hide, places where they can play, places where they can just be cats. But portion control is the main thing. If you have a cat that won’t stop eating, don’t free feed your cat. That’s something you can control and have a responsibility to control.

Q: There’s a statistic that says one unspayed female cat can lead to 420,000 cats. Is that true?

A: Stray cats are a huge problem. But it’s not close to half a million cats per female. If it were, we’d be hip deep in cats.

Q: Why should I have my cat spayed or neutered?

A: Shelter euthanasia is the number one killer of companion animals, and spaying and neutering is the only way to reduce or eliminate that. It’s also better for your pet’s health. And it’s better for you because it will make your life easier if your pet is spayed or neutered.

There’s also a financial side. It varies by community, but it’s about $100 for animal control to impound and euthanize a cat. Just in the Atlanta area alone, more than $15 million in tax dollars is spent annually dealing with stray and unwanted pets.

Q: Shouldn’t I let my cat have a litter before I spay her?

A: No. You shouldn’t for several reasons. It greatly reduces the risk of certain cancers if you have her spayed before the first heat and certainly before she has a litter.

And most places are overrun with kittens, particularly in the south. Overrun. And there is simply no excuse whatsoever to allow your cat to have kittens. There are millions of cats and kittens out there that need homes and millions more that are abandoned or handed out at places like Wal-Mart. There’s simply no good argument to have a litter of kittens.

There are shelters in the Atlanta area that can have 40 to 50 moms with litters in their shelters on any given day during the spring and summer. There simply aren’t enough homes for all the cats that get born every kitten season. And in the south, kitten season is almost year round. And there’s a kitten season everywhere.

Q: Should I let my cat have a heat before I spay her?

A: There’s no reason to do that. It’s a myth that animals should have a litter first or a heat before they are spayed. There are no health benefits to that at all, and it’s a much easier medical procedure if you spay before the first heat. All the benefits you get from spaying or neutering your pet are magnified by spaying or neutering before the animal reaches puberty.

Q: Is it OK to spay my cat when she’s just a kitten?

Technically, I suppose it’s possible. But it assumes that the cats are having the largest possible litters, that all the kittens survive, and that everything goes along just fine and none of the cats ever die or are altered. But that’s just not the reality.

Obviously, many cats are spayed or neutered. And stray or feral cats, free roaming cats, don’t have that kind of survival rate for kittens. It’s more like 25% to 40% survive. Those figures have been examined and they just don’t hold up. It’s more like an unspayed female can lead to 100 more cats out there, which is still too many. But it’s not that crazy number. That’s not realistic.

Q: Will my tomcat stop running away from home if I neuter him?

A: We don’t recommend having free-roaming cats. And if you have an unaltered male cat, you’re probably not seeing much of him anyway.

Usually, neutering a tom will curb its desire to roam, although cats are a little different than dogs and wander for reasons other than reproducing, such as hunting. So neutering will reduce the instinct to roam, but it won’t eliminate it.

Unaltered males also are more at risk for feline leukemia [FeLV] and FIV [feline immunodeficiency virus]. That’s because they fight, and deep bite wounds are the leading factor in the transmission of those diseases.

Q: My cat sprays all over my house. If I neuter him, will that stop?

A: More than likely it will. It will certainly take away that hormonal urge to spray. Neutering early is your best bet to avoid that urge altogether. If you have a neutered cat that is still spraying, you should see your veterinarian. It could be a behavioral issue, or it could be a health problem. But the first step in controlling spraying or marking territory is neutering.

Q: Will spaying or neutering my cat prevent future illnesses?

A: You’ll have a lower incidence of mammary tumors. We see a lot of unspayed cats come into our clinic with pyometra (an infection of the uterus), which can be a life-threatening disease for them.

For male cats, you eliminate testicular diseases, and for females, you eliminate the risk of uterine diseases. Generally, spayed and neutered pets live longer, happier lives.

Socializing Your Shy or Fearful Cat

Cats can develop a fear of people they don’t know for many reasons. Companion felines have unique personalities, and some are just more outgoing than others.

However, if a cat is calm and friendly with his family but afraid of visitors, it’s often because he didn’t have enough experience meeting new people when he was very young. To be social and comfortable with all kinds of people, a cat must have frequent opportunities to meet numerous new and different people in low-key, pleasant circumstances while still a kitten, especially between the ages of two and seven weeks. Cats who didn’t spend much time with people as kittens-for example, former stray cats-might remain skittish around people their entire lives.

Moving With Your Cat

Most cats are not big fans of change. If they could chose, they would prefer to stay where they’re already comfortable and settled in.

But, at some point in their lives, most cats must move on to a new location. Making the transition as stress-free as possible for your feline companion can have big benefits, including reducing the risk of fear-based house soiling, excessive meowing and crying, hiding, escape attempts and aggression.

Moving a cat to a new house involves three basic aspects: pre-move preparations, the move itself and settling into the new home. All three sections below apply to a move with a resident pet. The third section is most important if you’re only trying to integrate a new cat into your existing household.

Preparation

• Allow your cat time to get used to his carrier. Leave it sitting out with the door open and a comfy bed inside. Occasionally leave a couple of cat treats in it so your cat can find them on his own. Start feeding your cat in the carrier. If your cat is reluctant to enter the carrier to eat, start by just placing his dish next to it. After a few days, put the dish just inside the carrier, right near the opening. Then, over a week or two, gradually move the dish toward the back of the carrier so your cat has to step a little further inside each day. Eventually, place the dish at the very back of the carrier to your cat must go all the way into it to eat.


• Put out your moving boxes a couple weeks before you need to start packing so your cat has time to get used to their presence. If your cat is nervous while you’re packing, he’ll probably be happier closed in a quiet room, away from the activity and noise. It’s also a good idea to confine your cat if you think he might try to hide in one of the boxes.


• Try to keep your cat’s daily routine as stable as possible. Stick closely to his regular schedule for feeding, play and attention. A feeder with a timer can be helpful to make sure your cat eats at the same time each day.


• If your cat is very skittish, nervous or easily stressed, speak to your vet about using anti-anxiety medication to make the moving process easier on him.

The Move

• To prevent your cat from dashing out the door while movers are going in and out, close him in a bathroom with food, water, a bed and litter box. Place a sign on the door asking the movers to keep the door shut.


• Feed your cat a very small breakfast on moving day to reduce stomach upset.


• While in transit, resist the urge to open your cat’s carrier to soothe him. A scared cat may try to dash out. Only open the carrier in a secure area and when absolutely necessary.


• Carry a roll of packing tape in case the carrier needs emergency repairs along the way.

Settling Into the New House

• First, cat-proof the new house. Tuck away electrical cords, plug up nooks where a cat could get stuck, make sure that all windows have secure screens, remove any poisonous houseplants and confirm that no pest-control poison traps have been left anywhere in the house.


• Immediately take your cat to a room that will remain relatively quiet. Before opening the carrier, set up your cat’s food and water dishes, litter box and bed. Place some cat treats around the room to encourage your cat to explore.


• Keep your cat in this one “home-base” room for his first several days in the new house. This will allow him to gradually get used to the sights, sounds and smells of his new home without feeling overwhelmed. Keeping your cat in one room will also make it easy for him to find his litter box, food and water. If you’re adding a new cat to a home where there are existing pets, please see Introducing Your Dog to a New Cat or Introducing Your Cat to a New Cat.


• Spend time with your cat in his home-base room, at first doing low-key activities like reading or watching TV. When he begins to explore, offer your cat attention, treats and playtime.


• When the flurry of unpacking is over, gradually give your cat access to the rest of the house, one room at a time. If it’s not possible to close doors to limit his access, closely supervise your cat during short exploration sessions.


• Provide a second litter box where you’ll want to keep one permanently. Keep the box available in the home-base room for at least a few weeks. Once your cat has settled in, you can remove that box. Alternatively, you can keep the home-base litter box but gradually transfer it to a preferable location. To make sure your cat doesn’t lose track of where it is, move the box just a foot or so away from the home-base room and toward your preferred location each day.