<p>It looks like we are moving into a new home, which, for our two cats, will be the first time in their lives they’ve seen stairs. The best place for their litter box and food would be the bonus room next to the laundry, but this is on the second floor. </p>
<p>After a few day of them hanging out in the bonus room I was thinking of letting them out and following them around. Putting them back in the room for the evening until they get the lay of the land. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, they don’t tend head in the same direction. Do cats get lost? Will they have trouble figuring out they need to go back upstairs to find food and their box? (This probably will be exacerbated by the fact I will get lost in this house…)</p>
<p>Cats don’t get lost. They will find their boxes quickly. Cats are clean enough that they will search for the boxes rather that have an accident. They also have a developed sense of smell.</p>
<p>We have our litter boxes in the basement, which floods every so often. So we move it around to the upper floors. They find it.</p>
<p>They’ll know and won’t get lost. The bonus room is their “safe” room now so they’ll probably head there if they get scared at all. You can let them out one at a time if you want to be able to follow them around.</p>
<p>Cats who are used to litterboxes will find their way to their location once you show them. Even our palm-sized kitten did when we brought her home from the shelter. :)</p>
<p>Show them the box and they’ll know where it is. To make sure, put them in it. </p>
<p>The standard way of showing a cat where to go is to take it and scratch its paws on the litter in the box. They know right away what that means. This works with new cats in a house so it should work with old cats in a new house. </p>
<p>When we move into a new house, I put my cats in the room where their boxes will be and shut the door while the movers are working. This is to 1) prevent them from going outside and getting lost while the doors are propped open and 2) get them use to where the box will be. I put a few other things in there with their scent on it to comfort them. Once I open the door, they know they can go back to this room if they become overwhelmed with the new smell and sights of the house. This is their safe haven usually for a few days.</p>
<p>As for stairs, it is funny to watch them carefully descending a set of steps the first time. Within a week, they will be bounding up and down them like a pro.</p>
<p>The cat snuggled up against my computer rolled his eyes at OP’s question and muttered something about his species being constantly underestimated by humans…then washed his face and went to sleep.</p>
<p>We moved a couple of months ago, and we just lost a cat that snuck outside a week ago. And it had been outside too, a few times, briefly. Sad. I wish it would come back. But, no, they didn’t get lost inside the house, and managed to find their litter boxes whenever they needed too (we had three cats, now we have two ).</p>
<p>mstee re post #9: So sorry about the lost cat. I have a kitten that thinks escaping through an open door equals fun/excitement. So far we’ve been aware whenever he’s done so and immediately snatched him up: I fear the day someone doesn’t notice for a while.</p>
<p>I need to get him a collar and microchipped, also.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that putting a lost cat’s litter box outside sometimes draws him home. (A week after the fact may be too late though.)</p>
<p>^^^I don’t know about a collar on a kitty outside. When ours were kittens they started out with collars then one day we found one a poopy mess and unable to move because the collar got hooked to the carpet. That was the end of our cats wearing collars. BTW we kept our kittens in the house until they looked big enough to somewhat take care of themselves. Since they had been in the house for a while they did seem to know it was home and they didn’t get lost.</p>
<p>^^^ We buy breakaway collars for our outside cat and put his rabies tag on it. The collar also has a tiny bell to give birds, etc., a warning. It truly breaks away The cat went through collars for a while. Occasionally we (or someone else) found it in a yard. More often we replaced it. He’s been wearing the same collar now since last Dec. - a record amount of time for him. I’ve thought about getting him a new collar for Christmas but am scared of jinxing the run of good luck. We went through 5-7 collars a year at first. I guess he’s a more sedate old man of 6 years now. (We also have him microchipped.) He’s our only outside cat: Feline FIV is a problem in our area.</p>
<p>Wow, breakaway collars. I never heard of that. Our kitty is 10 years old. I’m thinking it is a little late to introduce a new thing but when and if we have a kitten I will consider it. Our kitty is also microchipped. But I am doubtful that anyone will get close enough to her to get her to a vet for it to be read if she ever does get lost.</p>
<p>^^^ The breakaway collar is an added this-cat-has-an-owner marker - more for his excursions around our cul-de-sac. However, I doubt if he ever truly gets lost that he’ll still have his collar: it will be long gone. We decided to add the microchip to give him the best possible odds of being returned, should a bad-case scenario happen.</p>
<p>The cat is chipped, so I’m still hopeful. He was in the house for two months, but we moved from California, so maybe two months still wasn’t enough time for him. I wish I had seen him go out – he got out somehow when we weren’t being vigilant, I guess.</p>
<p>Cats are truly amazing creatures. One of ours was strictly an indoor cat. He was carried out only to the car to go to the vet. He was never let out. </p>
<p>One day someone left the back door open and his curiosity got the better of him. We searched for a week without success. We’d given up, but one evening heard a faint meowing outside our front door. There he was! Without ever having been out that door, he found his way home.</p>
<p>Lergnom: We used to vaccinate against FIV but our vet no longer recommends doing so: basically the vaccine has not lived up to scrutiny. His stated reasons are the same as the ones mentioned here:</p>
<p>I tried to put breakaway collars on my young cats when they were still kittens. Unfortunately, I waited too long. My big burly boy decompensated and hid inside a boxspring until I finally relented and took it off. He and his sister are strictly indoor cats but they are both opportunists and will find a way out any time they can. If someone leaves a screen sliding door cracked ever so slightly open, big boy will push at it until he can fit through. Neither one has ventured any further than our backyard but I’m still nervous about cats without tags or collars being loose. They’re both chipped so that leaves some peace of mind. </p>
<p>I’m sorry about the lost cat mstee. I hope he makes his way home. If he’s chipped, have you put an apb out through homeagain pet rescuers (or whoever you registered with for the microchip)?</p>
<p>My cats seem to be fine with locating the litterboxes in a new home but we do have one on each floor. We did have a small annoyance in this house where one of them found a new bathroom rug and decided it would serve well as a new litterbox. We keep that door shut now and the sneaky culprit has returned to exclusive litterbox use.</p>