# Nervous cats and building work



## Lucyh (Dec 30, 2010)

Hello

Just wanted to ask some quick advice from those who understand very nervous cats...

My two were born as strays, and although now are very attached to me, are generally completely terrified around anyone else, with any loud noises and hate going in the cat box to new places. (so before anyone suggests, a cattery is out of the question).

I am currently having my loft converted and the builders have agreed to use the scaffolding for as long as possible, so there is noise from upstairs but no people in the house except when they use the loo.

The cats are currently in my room while the noise is going on, when it is very loud they go under the bed but then realise it's not so bad and have been sitting on the bed, even if they still look a bit unsure.... I'm not letting them out as I'm worried they will stay out all day in the cold.

next week the builders have to come in the house to put the new stairs in. It will be noisy and there will be several people in the flat all day.

the problem is that my bedroom is right next to where the work is happening, so it might be too much for them to be in there.

I have another room which is further away from the noise, but as the cats don't generally go in there they are not so familiar with it.

So my question is, are they better off in a familiar place but with the knowledge there are people on the other side of the wall, or in a slightly strange place a bit quieter? 

Any advice?! I know it's not going to be great for them either way, but I suppose it depends whether the familiar smells of my room will be more comfort than a slightly quieter place....


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Although they hate the carrier, I don't see that that rules out a cattery. A nice quiet one with no dogs around. It's not as if the building work will be done in a day, and you can be sure they are safe and sound at a cattery.

Part of why they hate the carrier might be that they only ever go to the vets in it, and nasty things happen there. Do you leave the carriers out so they become normal not dangerous?


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

If you have another room you can use further away from the noise I'd use that for the sake of a day. Put something familiar in there like a blanket that they use and they should be fine.


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## Lucyh (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. The thing is, it's not just the carrier, I think the new environment and strange people would be too much for them. They really are miserable with new people and one of them goes back to being properly feral when he goes to the vets. At least here they are in a familiar environment and I'm here in the evenings.

Good idea about the blankets though. I can prepare it so that they have familiar smells in the spare room, of course!

It's not perfect either way, but I think they would be far more traumatised with strangers in a strange place for a week.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

When I have had building work done in my house I put the cats in a room as far away as possible from the noise. They managed to settle OK. 

The only thing I would never do is keep the cats at home when some ear-shatteringly noisy work was being done e.g. breaking through an outside wall to create a door way to a new extension. This kind of noise can be heard throughout the house and can make the building shake!  For those occasions I would put the cats in a quiet cattery for a day or two.


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