Building work upsetting cats

[Angiew]

Put them in a closed room and leave the radio on (been there, done it)

[Cheesecat]

When our landlord came round to work on the damp in the house Gerti hid in the wardrobe for the whole time and wouldn't come out without a LOT of coaxing 

She also hid when our cat sitter came at the weekend and he called me to say he couldnt find her anywhere! I reeled off all her hiding places and he couldn't find her, I was sooooooooo worried. He called back later and said she was at the top of the stairs looking at him  still dont know where she was hiding!

They both managed to set the house alarm off too and scared themselves witless!! 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Oh boy 

[Team Svartalfheims]

The only ones not affected are the birmans.

That's because Franta knows the central heating man was actually a member of his fan club who just came under the pretence of fixing the central heating so as not to upset your other cats who might not have such a large fan club as his.

[Team Svartalfheims]

Glad to hear he's eating and that the floor will be finished soon 

[Mark]

Well he's in the kitchen with willow & me now. After his 2 pouches, he is now eating supermeat so his appetite is OK 
Now doubt he will want some of the (free range organic) chicken that's going in the oven in a minute as well!
At least his mouth problems are better - he has put up with so much over the years but still the most loving, affectionate cat ever 

The floor guy is still here  - he said he will finish tomorrow so hopefully all will be OK soon

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Well at least he has eaten. I symathise but cant off anything constructive.

When I had central heating guy here for one day last month Sasa would not come back into the house at all, Misa hid and it took Sasa a week before she would settle again, although she is not settled at present so maybe she still not over it.

Misa came out as soon as the guy had gone.

The only ones not affected are the birmans.

Hope it calms down there for them asap.

[Mark]

Just got Clapton into the kitchen and he has devoured 2 pouches of senior in gravy (+ his meds)
next step - peepees 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Mark all I can suggest is confining Clapton to one room as far away from the floor man as possible.  Rescue rememdy in his water and try leaving a TV or radio on in his room to help drown out as much of the noise as possible.  Also is you can spend as much time in his room as possible it might help calm him down a bit.

Good luck and big hugs to Clapton.  Fingers crossed your floor man can work as quickly as possible and be gone very soon.

[Mark]

It's not as bad as last year when we had up to 6 men working at a time!
It's worrying that the last time he had a wee was 8am - he is now up in a guest room with a litter tray in the ensuite but he won't use it although kylie has christened it (she is quite capable of going downstairs as she's not scared, just lazy  )
Nor has he eaten today! - again - he will probably make up for lost time later. When the guy left yesterday, he had 2 pouches & some fish straight off! - I will have to be ready to accept that if he does pee somewhere he shouldn't it's not his fault.

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[tab]

I cant really offer a lot of advice but when my flat was done up last year it invlovled every single room and being a tower block 12 months of noise and dirt. Me and the cats spent quite a lot of time locked in rooms whilst work went on around us. If your cats will tolerate each other that is what I would suggest. Amber usually hid away but Mogs was fine so long as she could see me. Towards the end of the work Mogs got really stressed out with it all and stopped crouching in her tray and at one point wee'd up the wall in the bedroom whilst I was watching and trying not to shout at her.  While syaing that whent he workmen went home at the end of the day the cats used to ruch out of whichever room we'd been in all day and run around the flat to see what had changed lol
Good luck with it all
love
Tab

[Christine (Blip)]

You have my sympathy too, as our neighbours are having an (odd IMHO) extension built and it is upsetting Blip a lot. She too is reluctant to go outside and, as she won't use her indoor litter tray, this makes life difficult. I've taken to walking out into the garden with her to reassure her; this works but, as advice, it might not be of any use to you. I don't try and touch her - I just wander into the garden as if I wanted to be there. Could you do this during the workman's breaks etc?

I do think Feliway helps and just being as generally reassuring as you can, but I'm sure you're doing that already.

[Mark]

I am worried about clapton the most. It isn't normal even for a healthy cat to go 12 hours without a wee, let alone a CRT one. Also, even when he gets to go downstairs later, his sofa, with his bed etc isn't there so his routine has disappeared completely - he is really stressed out - it's all he needs when he is just getting over mouth probs and other stuff. He doesn't trust me at the moment and hides under the sofa in the dining room all day (the flooring man is working 8.30 am til 8pm every day to get the job done quicker!) I tried to take him downstairs during the day yesterday to put him in the garden but he saw the man and attacked me (no claws - he won't hurt me  ) and ran back upstairs - I'm worried that it's putting more stress on his kidneys too 

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Oh Mark I sympathise.  Lexy freaks whenever that happens and hides out. Recently I had a man in to check the gutters and he was only there for a couple mins. Lexy hid for hours and was totally withdrawn.

All you can do is give them space I suppose. Ela mentioned Rescue Remedy in their water? May help calm them and I found that Feliway helps a bit.

Oh hugs to them... poor things, they can't know they aren't in danger.

[Mark]

How do people cope when workmen are in?

We are having a new floor put in our lower ground floor. Kylie  & clapton usually spend most of there time there and willow has the ground floor ie dining room, jitchen, hallway & stairs. I had to let the other 2 up as they hate the noise. So now I have shut willow in the kitchen, clapton is hiding for 12 hours under a sofa in the dining room and scared to go downstairs to get to the garden - I put a litter tray in there but he won't use it - he went 12 hours without peeing yesterday (worrying with his CRT) and kylie has decided to join us upstairs as we are using one of the guest rooms ourselves (have closed down for a few weeks) - she is quite happy up there with no other cats and is sprawled across the bed as we speak on the best egyptian cotton guest bedding - That's without having to do tax paperwork etc.

Willow is attacking my fingers as I type as she is getting cabin-sickness in the kitchen!