Moving Logistics
How long should I keep my cat indoors after moving house?
The RSPCA and International Cat Care both recommend keeping cats indoors for at least two to three weeks after a move. Cats are strongly territorial and need time to scent-mark the new home as their core territory before they can navigate back to it from outside. Letting a cat out too soon is the most common cause of post-move strays.
Update the microchip with your new address before you move (you must by law within a reasonable period under the Microchipping of Cats and Dogs Regulations 2023). Keep the cat in one quiet room for the first 24–48 hours with food, water, litter tray and familiar bedding, then expand access room by room.
For the first few outdoor visits, go out just before a meal so hunger draws them home, supervise, and keep sessions short. Most cats settle within four to six weeks.
What this means in practice
A nine-year-old indoor-outdoor tabby moving from a quiet cul-de-sac in Oxford OX3 to a busier terraced street in Reading RG1 needs roughly four weeks indoors before first outdoor access — longer than the standard three because of road-traffic differences and territory size. The first outdoor session is supervised at dusk, fifteen minutes, immediately before the evening meal so hunger anchors the return. Microchip update under the 2023 Regulations is mandatory within 21 days of address change for dogs and within a "reasonable period" for cats — practically, do it before the move.
Related questions
What if my cat escapes before the settling-in period ends?
Move quickly. Notify Petlog or your microchip database with the new address marked as "lost from", post on local Facebook groups and the Nextdoor neighbourhood feed, leave a worn item of clothing and a litter tray with used litter outside the new home (the scent draws them back), and check both the new and old addresses regularly — cats sometimes attempt to return to former territory across surprising distances. Cats Protection and the RSPCA both report that most escaped cats are found within 500m of the new home.
Is it cruel to keep an indoor-outdoor cat indoors permanently after a move?
Not necessarily. Where the new location is dangerous (busy roads, blocks of flats above ground floor, predator presence) some cats adapt to permanent indoor living. The International Cat Care guidance recommends a minimum 0.5m² of vertical climbing per cat, two feeding stations, two litter trays per cat plus one extra, daily interactive play and environmental enrichment to prevent stress, obesity and inappropriate elimination. Younger cats and those with prior outdoor experience adjust harder than kittens raised indoors.
Sources
Related reading
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