Moving house with pets: the calm way to do it
Cats, dogs and small pets don't get a vote on moving house, so the plan has to be yours. Moving with pets is mostly logistics: what to sort beforehand, how to remove the escape risk on the day, and how long settling in really takes — for cats, longer than you'd like.
Last updated: August 2026 · 4 min read
Moving with pets: what to sort before the day
Two admin jobs first: ask your current vet for the records (or have them sent to a practice near the new home), and update the microchip database — the full who-to-tell list lives in thechange of address guide.
Then the behavioural prep. Bring the carrier or travel crate out days before the move and leave it open in a normal room — a carrier that only appears on bad days is a trap; one that's been a nap spot all week is furniture. Pheromone plug-ins (Feliway-type for cats, Adaptil-type for dogs) are widely recommended for stressful transitions and need starting a week or so early to matter.
Finally, decide moving day now: either book a pet sitter, a daycare or a friend's spare room — genuinely the calmest option — or plan the one-quiet-room method below. Slot all of this into themoving house checklisttimeline alongside everything else.
Moving day: the one-quiet-room method
Empty one room the night before. On the morning, the pet goes in with water, food and familiar bedding — plus a litter tray for cats — door shut, with a sign on it: "PET INSIDE — DO NOT OPEN". Tell the crew at the start of the day, out loud.
Here's why this matters more than it sounds: removal crews prop the front door open all day — that's the job — and an open front door plus a stressed cat is how pets go missing on moving day. A closed, signed, spoken-for room removes the whole risk, and a goodhouse removals crew will happily load around it and take that room's contents last.
For the drive: cats and small pets travel in secured carriers in your car — never the removal van — and dogs get a proper walk before setting off, then travel restrained in your car as usual. At the new house, repeat the quiet room in reverse: one ready room, pet installed, door signed, before the unloading starts.
Settling in: cats
Cats bond to territory as much as to people, which makes moving house with a cat the hard case. The standard welfare advice is2–3 weeks indoors before any outdoor access — long enough for the new house to smell like home before the neighbourhood gets mapped.
Help the smelling-like-home part: unpack their bedding, blankets and scratching post first, unwashed — scent transfer beats new-everything. Put the litter tray somewhere quiet, away from food bowls and busy doorways, and keep it in the same spot while everything else changes.
When the first garden visit comes, make it supervised andbefore breakfast — a cat with an appetite comes back for it. Keep the first outings short and build up over a week.
Settling in: dogs
Moving house with a dog is usually quicker — dogs anchor to their people and their routine, so keep the routine: same walk times, same feeding times, same bed, even while the boxes tower. The consistency is the message that everything is fine.
Before any unsupervised garden time, walk the fence line yourself: gaps behind sheds, loose panels, gates that don't latch — previous owners without a dog had no reason to notice. And update the collar tag: a dog in public must wear its owner's name and address, so the old tag stopped being legal the day you moved.
Moving abroad with pets
Taking pets overseas is its own project: health certificates, vaccination and treatment timings vary by destination country, and some sequences have to start months before travel — so begin the moment the move is likely, not once it's booked.
Specialist pet couriers exist and are worth pricing for long or complex routes; for the household side, seeinternational removals. And because the rules change, treat the destination government's official pages as the source of truth on dates and paperwork.
Moving with pets FAQs
How long should a cat stay indoors after moving house?
Two to three weeks is the widely advised window — long enough for the new home to smell like their territory before they map the neighbourhood. Make the first trip out a supervised one, before breakfast, so an appetite brings them back to you.
Can pets travel in the removal van?
No — and a good crew will refuse, kindly. The back of a removal van isn't ventilated or temperature-controlled, things shift in transit, and nobody can check on an animal mid-motorway. Cats and small pets travel in secured carriers in your car; dogs travel with you, walked first.
Is it normal for pets to behave differently after a move?
Yes — hiding, extra clinginess, being briefly off their food and over-grooming are all normal settling behaviours in the first days. If eating, drinking or toileting hasn't returned to normal within a couple of days, or anything seems painful rather than nervous, call a vet — you'll have registered with one in the first week anyway.