I find with my cats that as long as there's stuff with their scent on it, and my scent on it, then they are OK. Definately one room at a time though, and not until you unpack and have everything set up so it doesn't change again.
I agree with the others. Start in a small room that is comfortable and unlikely to give her any nasty surprises. The bathroom may not be the best room if she is likely to find showers, flushing toilets etc a bit scary but think about it in the context of your house. Gradually open up the amount of space she has access to depending on how she seems to be coping. Give her some dark hiding spots and keep the travel cage available for her to hide in if she wants to. Keep food/water/litter available all of the time so she can come out when she feels most comfortable. Make life as predictable as possible while she is adjusting. Make yourself available to her for pats but let her come to you on her terms. You can find a pheromone spray/plug in from the vet if you think you may need it called Feliway. It can help settle anxious cats.
You must be so excited to see her! Hope she settles well.
Is she an anxious sort of cat? If so I would probably confine her for a few days...If she is not a skittish or anxious cat, probably the first day and night in the one room, then let her explore under supervision the house just so she doesnt go hiding where you cant get to here. You really have to play it by ear with cats, she might surprise you and be really cruisy with it all....we had a cat we brought back from NZ with us many years ago, we just kept him inside for about 3 days then let him explore the outside. He promptly disappeared for another 3 days little bugger....but came home again, he was just checking out the neighbourhood I guess.
She is a bit skittish, but that is due to her having cats move into her local area who are bigger and meaner than her so she was getting harassed a bit over the last 6 months or so.
I've made sure that her scratching post is being moved here, it seriously needs to be thrown out but I got it for her before I picked her up as a kitten. There will only be one or two new pieces of furniture. Everything else she's known since she was a kitten or in the last few years.
She is used to the bathroom because that is where her kitty litter has always been, so will continue that in the new place. She also grazes on dry food, but while she's been at the vets I'm not too sure if they've allowed that or restricted her to wet in the morning and dry at night (she had gingivitis starting so the vet put her on science diet for it while she was staying there).
Yes Kaz I'm getting very excited.
Thank you everybody for your help. I can't wait for kitty cuddles.
I didn't lock my cat in a room when we moved, I just put her in the house and she had a bit of a wander around. She lay under my bed for the first few days. She hated the new house, she didnt move and didn't eat for a while. One day she perked up and was back to her normal self.
When we moved we just let the cats have the run of the house. One of them spent 2 weeks in my bed only coming out when it was dark but the other one tended to just stay in the area where we were until she got brave enough to go elsewhere. We made sure they had their toys and knew where the litter was.
OK she's here. She complained the whole way from the airport in the car, she's in the bathroom right now but she has had a wander around, she's eaten, gone to the toilet (wee) and had a little bit to drink. She's lost weight while she's been away, so will be watching her food intake for the next week or so to see how she goes.
I have a 10-15cm scratch from her as payback, which hurts like nobody's business but at least it has stopped bleeding.
She is banned from the bedrooms, especially the spare room because it has boxes in there that still need to be unpacked and she could hurt herself. She is also banned from the main bedroom as she is moulting and I'd rather not have cat fur on everything.
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