[kate_7590]

How would you do it??

We are hoping to move house next year, which got me thinking about the animals and what to do about them...
(Obviously I dont mean getting rid of them) I mean how to transport them to the new house.

I have 2 hamsters with large cages.

9 guinea pigs with 3 large hutches who live outside.

5 Rabbits who live in a shed in the garden ( these will probably be most awkward as we wont have anywhere at the new house to keep them until we have a new shed installed.)

& by then 4 dogs.


I can imagine moving day will be very busy and rushed and I dont want the animals becoming stressed from the move, so this is why I am trying to have some ideas what to do now, in plenty of time.

The hamsters arent going to be a big deal, they're in cages so Im sure a family member could look after them for a couple of days.
But what about the guinea pigs, rabbits and dogs?

Id really like to have them all with me and transport them to the new house and set them all up myself, but dont know how practical this would actually be on the day!
And I will NOT trust any removal men to do ANYTHING with my animals.

So..any ideas/ past experiences?

 

[happysaz133]

Oh I don't envy you. We did a big move in 2008, 7.5 hours with 2 dogs, 2 cats, a rabbit, 3 guinea pigs and 2 hamsters.

My Dad had two dogs in the boot of the Volvo, 2 cats in carry boxes strapped into the back seats, and 1 hamster strapped into the front seat.

We also had a transit van, driven by my Uncle, which had boxes in. In the van there was also a guinea pig hutch, rabbit hutch, and a hamster cage. All the animals stayed in their hutches/cages.

Not ideal, but they were secured down, and checked regularly. It wasn't an easy trip, but it worked well for us.

 

[Quinzell]

Oh my goodness! You have got a lot to move.....something that really scares me, what with 9 fish tanks too!

Do you have friends or family that could look after the dogs for you for a couple of days until you get the moving totally out of the way and are relatively settled?

Are you moving and handing over keys on the same day or do you have a bit of grace on the property that you are in now? If so, I would be tempted to arrange for the new shed to be up by the time you move the rabbits.

Logistics really isn't my strong point but I do feel for you! I think you are probably going to be fretting more about the animals than the move itself!

I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

 

[Wobbles]

The hamsters I would leave in their cage, take to your new house then put the cage in a corner somwhere out the way. The dogs I would ask someone to look after, or get a couple of cheap dog crates off ebay, and put them with the hamsters in a corner so they can't get under anyone's feet. The rabbits and guinea pigs I would put in pet carriers, small cages, or small dog crates (look on ebay for cheap ones, you can always sell them on afterwards), put them in the garden or a room, and just move the empty hutches in the removal truck. Much easier to transport empty cages than ones with animals in.

 

[kate_7590]

Well we havent even sold our house yet but what with business doing so well we really want to upgrade our house so a move for next year is *hopefully* on the cards, lots of things permitting.

Im sure the hamsters could go to my MIL or SIL, the guinea pigs could hopefully go to my parents with 1 hutch. The dgs, at a push could go into kennels for 2 or 3 nights, but Id like to not put them in kennels if I dont have to (silly I know but I dont like the thought of them sleeping in kennels and thinking we've dumped them there ) No family members could have all the dogs, but I might be able to ask my parents to look after 2 of them, that way Ill only have 2 to cope with on the moving day.
But what to do with the rabbits...they cant be split up coz they're a group of 5 and they only have the shed as their house and we cant take it with us.

No idea how the actual move would work and if we'd have to do it in one day or not, I suppose it depends if we buy another repo one? It would make it so much easier if we could move in over a couple of days. Will have to keep that in mind, didnt know this was possible

 

[kate_7590]

The hamsters I would leave in their cage, take to your new house then put the cage in a corner somwhere out the way. The dogs I would ask someone to look after, or get a couple of cheap dog crates off ebay, and put them with the hamsters in a corner so they can't get under anyone's feet. The rabbits and guinea pigs I would put in pet carriers, small cages, or small dog crates (look on ebay for cheap ones, you can always sell them on afterwards), put them in the garden or a room, and just move the empty hutches in the removal truck. Much easier to transport empty cages than ones with animals in.

Iv got mini hamster carriers that Id put them in, I dont like the idea of leaving them in their cages, I think theres more of a chance them getting thrown around in a big cage than in a little carrier, and that way I can dismantle their cages and they will transport easier
And I would be able to leave the rabbits in carriers for any length of time because they are a group of 5 so cant be kept seperate too long. They also havent got anywhere to live when we move, so will have to probably put them in a spare room for a couple days until we get a shed set up.

 

[gem88]

cant help much im afraid as we only moved 5 minutes up the road this year and while we were getting the new house ready we brought one of the dogs with us each time then the last 2/3 days before we actually moved in we brought all 3 over together to get used to it.

only thing i remember from somewhere when moving dogs from 1 house to another, take them for a short walk before letting them into the new house.

good luck xx

 

[MrRustyRead]

when we moved we overlapped the times we had so that we emptied the whole house into the new house apart from the animals, so that when we moved them the new house was completely set up so they didnt have to worry when we were lugging around furniture etc. but we were very lucky that we were only moving around 25 minutes away.

 

[happysaz133]

Well we havent even sold our house yet but what with business doing so well we really want to upgrade our house so a move for next year is *hopefully* on the cards, lots of things permitting.

Im sure the hamsters could go to my MIL or SIL, the guinea pigs could hopefully go to my parents with 1 hutch. The dgs, at a push could go into kennels for 2 or 3 nights, but Id like to not put them in kennels if I dont have to (silly I know but I dont like the thought of them sleeping in kennels and thinking we've dumped them there ) No family members could have all the dogs, but I might be able to ask my parents to look after 2 of them, that way Ill only have 2 to cope with on the moving day.
But what to do with the rabbits...they cant be split up coz they're a group of 5 and they only have the shed as their house and we cant take it with us.

No idea how the actual move would work and if we'd have to do it in one day or not, I suppose it depends if we buy another repo one? It would make it so much easier if we could move in over a couple of days. Will have to keep that in mind, didnt know this was possible

Ah yes, rabbits in a shed would be difficult. I only had one in a hutch when I moved. I can't imagine moving my current 5 and their shed, it would just be chaos. Hope you can get it sorted.

Are you taking the shed with you or do you have a new shed at the new house?

 

[suze23]

when we moved - we had 3 dogs at the time....

2 olders who i dumped at my dads house (he was at work), puppy came with us and was literally crated and let out regularly throughtout the moving day (was 7 hours in total)....

collected older dogs later on in the day


I would personally remove animals from the house the day before and bribe friends/family into taking them for a couple of days

for the dogs id advise removing them in the morning - even if its kennels for the day.... they are better off out of the way to be honest......

id dread the thought of escapees etc.... hence crating the pup for most of the day - she didnt mind though once she saw the new garden

 

[kate_7590]

I hate the thought of the dogs getting out in a new area that they dont now, and I wouldnt trust the removal men to stay out of a room if we put the dogs in there.
I think Ill probably go down the kennels route for them, seems easier all round and its just for 1 or 2 nights.

Rabbits- I wont be taking their shed, hubby, in his wisdom nailed it to the decking...and the floor is now beginning to sag, so I doubt it would go up again even if we could get it down in one piece so thats an excuse to buy them a bigger shed at the new place

So really...its just the rabbits to think about now, all the rest are sorted in my mind