It's difficult moving house. The packing, cleaning, huffing and puffing and then the unpacking and associated dramas at your new home are as stressful for you as they are for your pets.
What problems will I face?
The most dangerous problem you will face is that your dog or cat will escape from your new house and become lost, as it is not familiar with your new surroundings.
For dogs, this means that you must examine the fences of your new home in detail to ensure they are dog proof. Any deficiencies should be repaired.
If you need to construct a fence, a chain mesh and pipe fence is the standard type of dog fence, and is probably the cheapest. A picket fence makes a good dog enclosure, though dogs often get their paws lodged between the pickets at the top of the fence. This is very dangerous but can be easily prevented by covering the gap between the top of each picket with a horizontal paling, running the entire length of the fence.
The best dog fence by far is a solid wooden fence. Just make sure the horizontal beams do not become a ladder to help the dog climb the fence.
Stopping your cat from roaming through your fences after the move is more difficult. Cat enclosures can be constructed and are available commercially. Alternatively, keep your cat inside the house and endeavour to ensure it is totally familiar with its new territory. This can take from a few days to a few weeks.
The priority for most cats is to eat and sleep, so work on these aspects of your cat's new lifestyle first. On the cuisine side, feed the cat small tasty meals four to five times daily. This will give it a 'fun focus' associated with its new eating spot. Let the cat hunt for its food by leaving small amounts of cat food in several locations or by scattering dry food over the floor in the laundry or a secure deck.
On the boudoir side, take some familiar article of bedding from your old home, complete with bits of cat hair, and leave that in what you feel is likely to be the cat's favourite resting spot. Let your cat set the location and place the bedding in that area.
Allow your cat to perch on furniture near an outside window so that it can view its new territory, without getting out just yet.
Smells like home
Another useful trick is to rub a warm damp towel over your cat's body and especially around its face to remove some of your cat's scent. Then rub the towel with the scent onto prominent surfaces around the house such as on corners of furniture and on doorways. This marks the new house with the cat's scent and helps the cat to realise that your new house is its home as well.
Alternatively, purchase some 'Feliway' from your veterinarian. The Feliway Diffuser contains a synthetic equivalent of the scents or pheromones that are found normally on a cat's body and especially around its face. These calming pheromones have been proven as an effective control for a range of behaviour disorders displayed by cats, such as urine spraying or settling cats in unknown or stressful environments.
For dogs, calming pheromones are available in the form of Adaptil plug-in diffusers for inside or you can fit your dog with an Adaptil collar. Ideally, the Adaptil collar should be placed on your dog a month before you move and it needs to be replaced on a monthly basis.
Releasing your pets
Releasing dogs into the garden is easy but cats are more difficult. One method is to place puss in a cage of some type in the garden. A cat transport cage is suitable. Place the cage in a shaded spot of the garden and let the cat view its surrounds. Don't leave it unattended though.
If this is done for several days, the cat can get its bearings more easily. The same can be achieved by placing your cat in a harness and walking it around the yard.
To prepare puss for its release, train it to 'come' for its meal. At dinnertime, bang a cat food can or your cat's food bowl with a spoon as you call your cat's name. Then, when you plan to release your cat, do so just before dinnertime. If the cat slinks off, it is more likely to return when you bang the food bowl and call its name.
In case they stray, be sure you have name tags on your pet's collar before they are released.
Moving near
If you are moving only a short distance away, rather than across town, you can have additional problems with your dog and especially your cat. It is common for dogs and cats to return to their old home if they escape.
Securely confining your cat or dog is one way around this problem. However, for added security confuse your pet by taking it to a boarding kennel or cattery, some distance away, for a week or so. When your pet is then taken to your new home, it will hopefully be disorientated enough to not try to get back to your old abode.
Lastly, if you are moving into a new area, you need to know about local dangers. Visit your local vet and ask if snakes, ticks, fleas, toads and worms are common in your area. Also ask if the viral diseases parvovirus and canine cough are seen regularly.
After that, sit down with a cuppa and a pet or two and enjoy your new home - you deserve it!