Advice needed on successfully rehoming cats, please
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:33 pm
I have two cats that are about two years old, a male and a female. Because of Life and Circumstances, I am unfortunately selling my current home and am moving into a place where I cannot take pets. Luckily, my father-in-law has graciously offered to take our two moggies in.
The problems with this arrangement are twofold:
* His house is less than a mile from where I am currently staying, the place these cats have grown up. My concern here is that they'll not realise their home has moved, and try make their way back. Ignoring the obvious danger of them crossing roads and so forth, while I don't expect the new owners of this house to be hostile, the cats will not be fed or taken care of, and will have to contend with the new owners' three dogs. This is obviously something I am hoping to avoid.
* My father-in-law already has two cats, both are approximately 7 years old. While they are quite friendly to humans, they will not necessarily be very welcoming to the two new arrivals. Our male cat is quite confident and boisterous, and can hold his own in a fight - I'm not particularly concerned about him as he will likely be able to stick up for himself. The female, however, is very skittish and generally a nervous creature, and regularly runs away at the first sign of conflict. Her being in a strange environment, it's entirely possible she bolts from my father-in-law's cats, hops the fence and is never seen again.
What is the best way to successfully rehome these cats? Are there any tricks to getting them to accept that "I live here now, no longer at that other place"? How likely are they to want to make their way back to where they grew up, given that it's such a short distance away? What's the best way to peacefully introduce these two to the cats at my father-in-law's house?
The problems with this arrangement are twofold:
* His house is less than a mile from where I am currently staying, the place these cats have grown up. My concern here is that they'll not realise their home has moved, and try make their way back. Ignoring the obvious danger of them crossing roads and so forth, while I don't expect the new owners of this house to be hostile, the cats will not be fed or taken care of, and will have to contend with the new owners' three dogs. This is obviously something I am hoping to avoid.
* My father-in-law already has two cats, both are approximately 7 years old. While they are quite friendly to humans, they will not necessarily be very welcoming to the two new arrivals. Our male cat is quite confident and boisterous, and can hold his own in a fight - I'm not particularly concerned about him as he will likely be able to stick up for himself. The female, however, is very skittish and generally a nervous creature, and regularly runs away at the first sign of conflict. Her being in a strange environment, it's entirely possible she bolts from my father-in-law's cats, hops the fence and is never seen again.
What is the best way to successfully rehome these cats? Are there any tricks to getting them to accept that "I live here now, no longer at that other place"? How likely are they to want to make their way back to where they grew up, given that it's such a short distance away? What's the best way to peacefully introduce these two to the cats at my father-in-law's house?