Caturday: Why do cats hate moving?

 rjam

Murjan in window at his new home.


Why Cats Hate Moving: A Tale of Territorial Trauma

When we decide to change homes, we humans focus on logistics: packing boxes, scheduling movers, and updating addresses. For our feline companions, however, relocation represents something far more traumatic—an existential crisis that shakes their very sense of security and self.

Territory is Identity

Cats are fundamentally territorial creatures. Unlike dogs, who attach primarily to people, cats form deep bonds with their physical space. The walls, furniture, smells, and hidden nooks of your home aren't just familiar comforts to your cat—they're extensions of their identity.

This explains why our neighbor's three cats cried continuously for nearly three weeks after moving into their brand-new home. Despite having their same family, same furniture, and same feline companions, they experienced a profound sense of displacement. Their territorial maps—mental frameworks developed through months of exploration and scent-marking—had suddenly become useless. In cat psychology, this is equivalent to waking up one morning with amnesia.

The Protest of Murjan

Our alpha cat Murjan's reaction to our move years ago illustrates this feline perspective with remarkable clarity. His repeated escapes weren't attempts to run away—they were protests against an unwelcome change imposed without his consent.

When Murjan rolled in mud until his white fur turned black, then shook himself clean inside our new living room, he wasn't being malicious. He was actively rebuilding his scent profile in the new space. Cats communicate and navigate primarily through smell, and Murjan was essentially saying, "If I must live here, then this place will carry my signature."

His unauthorized "field trips" leading our other four cats away from home demonstrated his continued resistance to the move. As the alpha, he clearly felt responsible not just for his own territorial distress but for the whole feline family. Their confusion and desire to return home showed the others had begun accepting the new territory, even while Murjan continued his protest.

Helping Cats Through Transitions

Understanding why cats hate moving can help us ease their transition:

  1. Maintain routine: Keep feeding times, play sessions, and other daily patterns consistent before, during, and after the move.
  2. Transfer familiar scents: Bring unwashed bedding, scratching posts, and toys to transfer comforting scents to the new environment.
  3. Create safe spaces: Set up hiding spots with familiar items where cats can retreat when overwhelmed.
  4. Patience is essential: Accept that your cat may need weeks or even months to fully adjust to a new home.
  5. Use synthetic pheromones: Products like Feliway can help create a sense of security during the transition.

For cats, home isn't just where their humans are—it's a carefully mapped and scent-marked territory that provides security and identity. When we understand moving from their perspective, we can better support them through what is, in their experience, a profound upheaval of their entire world.

So, the next time your cat seems unreasonably distressed about a change of address, remember Murjan and his mud protests. They're not being difficult—they're navigating a fundamental restructuring of their feline reality.


Learn more about cats. See our many Caturday posts.

Be entertained. See all our posts about cats.



Be inspired. See posts by and about Sula, parish cat, and her books.


Have a chuckle. Read posts by and about Jeremy Feig's award-winning book (book of the year finalist, Kops-Fetherling Lagacy Award for Humor), How My Cat Made Me a Better Man.






Cuddle yourself. Read posts about Murjan's story and see more pictures of Murjan.



Watch for Luna Norwood's forthcoming book, Raising Happy Cat Families.






To purchase copies of MSI Press books at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore.


Want to buy an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.



(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)

Check out recent issues.

 



Follow MSI Press on Twitter, Face Book, Pinterest, Bluesky, and Instagram. 




Interested in submitting a book proposal to MSI Press? 
Check out information on how to submit a proposal.
We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Even if you are a first-time author without a strong platform, if you have a good manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help.





Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our author au pair services will mentor you through the process.




Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com.



Want an author-signed copy of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.

Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.



Want to communicate with one of our authors? 

Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.





   
MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Memoriam: Carl Don Leaver

Image
  1948-2021 It is with great sadness that MSI Press notes the death of Carl Leaver, CEO of the Press and typesetter and graphic designer par excellence . Many authors have expressed not only condolences but also a sense of legacy from covers he designed that they love.  Here is his obituary: On August 16, 2021, Carl Don Leaver of San Juan Bautista passed into eternal rest. A forester with the US Forest Service in Idaho and Montana, he turned to nature photography while working in the Bitterroot National Forest. His photographs graced national magazine covers and on a weekly basis the local paper of Hamilton, MT, the Ravalli Republican. He later worked on photography projects for the US Army (AFEES) and taught photography at the New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan. His final career change led him to computer graphics and publishing as co-owner of MSI Press LLC; his many typeset books and book covers have helped MSI Press authors win a large number of awards over t...
Read more

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Should you treat your writing as a business?

Image
It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  This week we look at whether an author should set up a formal business or simply treat writing as a side gig, That, of course, depends. It depends on an author's income level, long-term goals, and risk tolerance.  Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of formalizing a writing business versus staying a sole proprietor and paying taxes on royalties. Option 1: Treat Writing as a Side Gig (No Formal Business) If you earn royalties from book sales but don’t set up a separate business entity, the IRS considers you a sole proprietor by default . You report book income on Schedule C of your personal tax return and pay self-employment tax. ✅ P...
Read more