When I moved, my cats stalked the new place, yowling and crying for hours on end until they’d exhausted themselves. They’d proceed to sit in a kitty loaf position and nap fitfully for a little while, then start it up all over again. It was pathetic and irritating at the same time.

Cats don’t like to move.

Cats are territorial creatures – more so than dogs, some would say. Just because the couch and bed came with doesn’t mean it’s their house now. As far as your cat is concerned, someone stole his house. Your cat may even attempt to escape to search for his house if you aren’t careful fresh after a move. He may all of a sudden being marking items with urine to make them smell like him. He may just rub everything to get his scent around.

The new place doesn’t smell like home. It smells like the last family that lived there. It doesn’t look like home. New sights out the window, new places for the furniture, new layout of the walls. It doesn’t sound like home. The outdoor noises of animals, cars, and people are different. The echoes inside are different. This is a scary, strange place.
Your presence and your belongings do not make it home. Only time will do that.

So try to be patient with your kitty after a move. It can take some time (weeks, even a month or two) for the scents, sounds, and sights to become something your cat sees as normal. The cars driving by outside will become familiar, the view out the window pleasant, and the interior scents powered by sweat, perfume, soap, and all the other olfactory signals we don’t even notice will be those of his humans.

Until then, just turn up the radio and be patient with your buddy. After all, he’s adjusting. Someone stole his house!