# Moving house and renovation, what to do?



## Simonetta (Jan 31, 2015)

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, as I need advice and am hoping that someone can help. We have two cats, brother and sister, who are nearly 2 years old. They're happy and playful indoor cats who get a lot of love and attention from us. However, they're little scaredy cats and don't even go outside if we leave the door open. If they hear the doorbell, Loki, our girl, runs upstairs to hide under the covers. They especially dislike builders... We just bought a house which will need complete renovating. First we're planning on moving into our second flat whilst the top floor of the new house is being remodelled. Then we will need to sell the flat to be able to renovate the downstairs. This will probably take about 6 months whilst we live on the first floor and will include a side return, new kitchen, moving walls, literally everything. I now worry about my two babies, how they can possibly deal with two moves and then 6 months of renovations. I have so far thought of two options:

1) We could keep the cats during the renovations in a safe room upstairs, where we put food, toilet, toys and use Feliway. Maybe they'll get used to builders in the house and we could let them out in the evening and the weekends. 

2) We could potentially put them in a cattery for 6 months but they all seem to have really small cages for cats and I think it's cruel to lock them up for 6 months. 

I'm now wondering what the best option would be for them and would appreciate and advice and/or stories from others who had a similar situation.


----------



## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi and welcome to Pet Forums

It's never easy when you have cats to have house renovations done. By their love of routine and fondness for an untroubled existence, cats don't mix well with noise, dust and builders traipsing in and out of the house day after day. 

If it was me I definitely wouldn't put the cats in a cattery for 6 months. Not only would it be very miserable for them cooped up in a pen all that time, without your company, but you would be exposing them to all sorts of germs which are prevalent in catteries and Shelters, due to the large numbers of cats coming and going. 

Some cats in Shelters do, sadly, spend 6 months in pens, or even longer in some cases, but it is unavoidable. It is far from being good for the cats to spend so long a pen, and they will in many cases suffer from stress, anxiety, boredom or depression.

The other alternative you mention is keeping them in one room in the house during the day whilst the builders are there, and letting them out in the evenings at weekends. This seems a much better option than the cattery, but as you say they are very timid cats, how do you think they will they cope with the noise ? Renovating a house is a very noisy business as I know only too well. 

Have you considered maybe having your cats fostered for a few months whilst the worst of the work is completed? Your vet may be able to recommend someone reliable possibly. 

My OH and I are currently in the early stages of considering putting an extension on the side of our house, and have been discussing how feasible it is in view of our cats. We think we may decide first of all to build a log cabin or Summer House in the garden on the other side of where the extension will be, well away from the house. I'd equip it with cat trees, chairs etc, so the cats could spend their days in there whilst the builders were in the house. It would be less noisy and disruptive for the cats that way. The cats would of course come back indoors in the evenings and at weekends with us. 

Or if you wanted something more temporary than a log cabin/summer house you could buy a small second-hand caravan and park it in the garden for the cats to use. When the house is finished sell the caravan!


----------

