Moving House
By Faith Maloney
Like millions of people all over the country, I recently moved to a new home. To say my dogs and cats acted like the end of the world was upon them is not an exaggeration. Even the Guinea pigs got grumpy - and their home moved with them.
Most of us will move at least once or twice in our lifetimes. What can be an exciting new start for humans often is terrifying and disorienting to animals. Some people just toss their animals in the car and go. But if you really want to make a smooth move for your animals and aid their adjustment, communication and preparation are the order of the day.
Your animals will see you box all your belongings and disassemble rooms. As the familiar goes, insecurity and fear can set in. Will they be going too? To reassure them that they're part of the deal, make them part of the process. Animal communicators suggest creating a mental picture of the new home, stressing its new and improved features. (Even if you are moving from a mansion to an apartment, highlight the positive aspects, like great new views from the bedroom window.) Taking the time to communicate will help ease your pets' anxiety. And even if you don't believe in this sort of thing, it doesn't hurt to go over your plans with your animals anyway to make sure you haven't forgotten anything. After all, they do make attentive listeners.
Planning ahead is also vital. But even the most careful planning can sometimes go scarily wrong.
Kirsten arranged her move with her four cats with military precision. After having safely moved them and all the furniture out of the old house, she put the cats in an upstairs bedroom in the new house and tacked a notice on the door warning that animals were inside and forbidding entry without her presence. She put a huge X in tape across the whole door, like a police barricade.
It was going well until right near the end of the move. The front door was wide open and the last of the boxes were being moved in. Kirsten went to do a kitty check only to find the door wide open and a box marked "clothes" pushed in the doorway. Three cats were still inside; one was missing. Everything came to a dead halt! For the next four hours she searched for the missing cat, refusing to let the movers leave lest he was curled up in an unseen place in the moving van. Eventually the cat was found safe inside and the movers were released. I don't think those particular guys will ignore a notice on a door ever again!
Here is a suggested checklist for your move:
- Communicate your moving plans to the animals.
- Prepare a new ID for each of them before the move with the new address and phone number, if possible. If you don't have a new phone number yet, use a temporary emergency number.
- Get your animals used to being in a crate, if they are going to be transported that way, before the day of the move so that it won't be a frightening or stressful experience.
- Don't dispose of the familiar. Even if your pets' ratty old blankets don't quite go with your great new dйcor, they're familiar and comforting to them. Once they adjust to their new digs, you can swap the old blankets for the snazzy new LL Bean numbers. The same goes for their food and water bowls. Bring plenty of both from the old house.
- Select a safe room for the newly arrived animals, with their own food and water dishes and familiar bedding already in place, and put notices on the door to warn movers not to open that door.
- Check doors and windows. When the movers have left, make sure that all the doors and windows are secured before letting any animals out into the rest of the house.
- I don't recommend letting cats outside, except into a fully screened porch, cattery, or a yard with special cat fencing. But I know some people like to let their cats out for some supervised garden time. Experts suggest keeping your cat inside for a minimum of one month before even attempting an outside trip. After that, the first few outings need to be brief and well supervised. Cats are very place-oriented, and there are numerous stories of cats trying to go back to their old homes.
The transition from old to new will not happen overnight. There will be times when you will fear that they will never forgive you for uprooting them. But they always do. That's the beauty of animals. It's quite likely that your kids will still be complaining about the new school and missing their old friends long after the animals have settled in.
Source:
Movers Pomona
Movers Calabasas
Moving Companies in Calabasas
No comments:
Post a Comment