people movin' to PNW and their animals.

sheesh! Beth is moving to Seattle, Emily might be in Vancouver Wa.

and looks like I'm taking my early (and forced) retirement in PDX suburb. Found a place in Troutdale area. Happy Valley of Portland area was very nice but to be happy, you need truckloads of Ben Franklin. Not having worked for Blackwater, the last part didn't happen.

We are flying up to PDX on Wed. Aug 25 and have a lookie at several houses. This is my second visit.

Like Beth, I have animals... slightly larger scale though... How to move 10 cats, 2 dawgs and 3 pet chicken. Thinking of renting a small RV... Both of us are bit un-nerved about driving a big thing and not to mention of 2 days of hard drive. Dogs are least of the worries. Not sure about the cats. and three chicken??? what to do??? And once I get there, I have so many things to do, how am I going to get their coop and chicken run all set up?? ugghh!!! And like Beth, about the vets...

Have any suggestions on transporting my big family? I guess we are going to have to sedate our cats but I'm not sure if that is safe for two days straight. worry worry... they are my babies you know.

I haven't moved in 15 years so not so sure where to start... Hate to admit but I'm stressed!

Thoughts on how to move the animals? or move in general... :( :confused:

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Originally Posted by smilingcat

sheesh! Beth is moving to Seattle, Emily might be in Vancouver Wa.

and looks like I'm taking my early (and forced) retirement in PDX suburb. Found a place in Troutdale area. Happy Valley of Portland area was very nice but to be happy, you need truckloads of Ben Franklin. Not having worked for Blackwater, the last part didn't happen.

We are flying up to PDX on Wed. Aug 25 and have a lookie at several houses. This is my second visit.

Like Beth, I have animals... slightly larger scale though... How to move 10 cats, 2 dawgs and 3 pet chicken. Thinking of renting a small RV... Both of us are bit un-nerved about driving a big thing and not to mention of 2 days of hard drive. Dogs are least of the worries. Not sure about the cats. and three chicken??? what to do??? And once I get there, I have so many things to do, how am I going to get their coop and chicken run all set up?? ugghh!!! And like Beth, about the vets...

Have any suggestions on transporting my big family? I guess we are going to have to sedate our cats but I'm not sure if that is safe for two days straight. worry worry... they are my babies you know.

I haven't moved in 15 years so not so sure where to start... Hate to admit but I'm stressed!

Thoughts on how to move the animals? or move in general... :( :confused:

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Troutdale, gateway to the Gorge! It's a great area.

Let me email my neighbor, who has many animals. She may have some knowledge.

From my last move, and hurricane evacuations, I found that books-on-CD keeps the kitties calm. Talk radio doesn't do it, but someone reading to them does. I have friends up in the PNW who have sent me 80 hours worth of listening, for what I've calculated is a 45 hour drive! :cool:

So SmilingCat, do you have a boom box, and some fool to sit in the back to change the CDs when it's time? The kitties will need to be in crates, and if they happen to have best buds, it would help to bunk them together. Can you rent a full passenger van? Or put them, crated, on a well vented livestock trailer? I'm thinking of how some of the animal welfare rescue folks have moved large quantites of animals from hurricane zones.

Good luck!

Make sure you research zoning and animal control regulations (and don't just take someone's word for it, get a citation and verify it for yourself). Many municipalities consider chickens to be livestock, and prohibit them. That's changing as more and more people get into backyard egg farming - but changing slowly. There may be a limit on the number of cats you can have, too.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Make sure you research zoning and animal control regulations (and don't just take someone's word for it, get a citation and verify it for yourself). Many municipalities consider chickens to be livestock, and prohibit them. That's changing as more and more people get into backyard egg farming - but changing slowly. There may be a limit on the number of cats you can have, too.

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Portland allow 3 hens no rooster and 25 feet from residence.
Gresham allow "unlimited" chicken but the coop must be 100 feet from the property line. :mad:
Beaverton and Hillsboro NO LIVESTOCK!!! Hillsboro doesn't enforce until someone complains (but isn't that how it normally goes?) How dare they!!! :mad::mad:
...
Troutdale defers to Multnomah county for regulations regarding animals. chapt 13. It pertains mostly to dogs, livestocks require a sign on the property stating it has livestock. Dogs require license and so does cats but no mention of limit on number of animals. Worst is that we would have to apply for a site permit $85/yr I think it was.

This is why we didn't even bother with Hillsboro and Beaverton when looking for a house.
Other aspect is the demographic, crime rate...

We used www.crimereports.com; www.city-data.com; and different cities' official website and searching for the pertinent laws. Number of domestic pets can be a problem but all my cats are strict indoor. I hope to connect with a cat rescue group so the city will look the other way regarding the $85 site permit

From my current rescue group, only thing we could come up is to cage them individually or in pairs. Each cage to contain food, water and a litterbox. Kitties to be mildly sedated. All three chicken in a big dog carrier with solid floor instead of wire floor, again food and water and dark fabric over the cage to keep it dark.

Dogs in the back seat. They are well behaved. plan to make a stop every 2 to 3 hours of drive to let the dogs relieve themselves and us as well.

Thank you for reminding me Oakleaf. A lot of people do not take these kind of things into consideration, but these cats, dogs and chicken are our babies... We would never move to a place where they could be taken away. That would be one of the worst nightmares for us.

And oh, I've requested to join PdxBackyardChix yahoo group.

Beth thank you for the idea of playing book on tape. My trip is shorter 16 hours or so but a lot more kitties :eek: :eek:

Chicken travel photos, please.
I live vicariously.

We also had great success with DAP calming pheromone spray. There's a similar products for cats too.

The only "problem" is, DAP works on humans too! It didn't make me or DH drowsy or less alert, but we were close to being too chilled-out to drive. :p I'm not entirely sure whether it was really working on the dogs at all, or just made us not mind their travel-induced panic.

hopefully you have a lot of cat carriers. Chickens do fine in a box with a lot of bedding with water and a little food. I've gotten chickens in the mail and as long as they are in the dark, they are quiet and comfy. Your cats will complain a lot but they'll do fine too.
There are LOTS of animal rescue orgs down here and since your cats are indoors, no one is going to bother you. Enforcement costs money, they don't have animal control officers peering into windows.

I have nothing to add since we live in a non-pet household. But hope your move is relatively stress-free.

Smiling Cat, hooray! Now you can ride up in North Plains, by the farms off of Jackson School Road by highway 26. My friends *just* moved from there, and I never did take my bike there. It looks like an awesome ride.

Come to think of it, they had chickens too, but I think their moving solution might have been different from what you have in mind. Unless you have dinner in mind. :eek: