Moving...

No one ever said that moving would be easy. You have to pack all your stuff and load everything into the moving vehicles. Then, after driving to the new location, you have to unload and unpack everything at the new location. While making sure not to forget to clean both houses as you go along. Plus, having to change your address and or phone number with EVERYONE.

Throw a few pets into the whole mix, though, and I guarantee you have a recipe for disaster. After all, our pets can be very unpredictable, and even in less stressful situations, they can wreak havoc at times. Add a dose of stress, and you could end up with chaos!

Well, my move with pets has its tales. Already stressed since leaving my toxic narcissist husband, my daughters' and my move to a different house was already filled with some tense moments, to say the least. Add three dogs, three cats, and a leopard gecko to the mix, and you could have a recipe for disaster! If you follow me on Facebook, you've already heard all about our escapade.

The girls and I were semi-lucky while moving with our animals. They're good pets, and didn't cause too much trouble for us. There were moments, though, that not even the most well-planned move could have expected.

First off, side-tracked me, PACKED the dog leashes, and I couldn't remember which box they were in! So we had to load the dogs in one vehicle, one at a time, being careful not to let the others out when we put one of the three we were taking inside the car. Not a small feat when dealing with a full-breed beagle who likes to lead the others on runs.

Flying high on the success of loading the dogs successfully, we began to attempt to load the cats into the two carriers we own. We assumed that Klingon would fit into one, and that Dutch and Clementine were small enough to fit into the other one together. Boy, were we wrong! First off, Klingon was too big to fit inside the carrier at all! Something I didn't consider since he had fit inside the last time we took him to the vet. It turned out to be a good thing, though, because for once, Dutch was having nothing to do with his little sister being anywhere near him, so little Clementine had a huge carrier to herself. Where did Klingon ride? Wrapped in a blanket in Bonnie's arms. All the cats were loaded inside the pick-up truck that was assisting our move.

Now, Klingon actually rode that way, with very little fighting. It was Dutch that caused the most problems inside his little black cat carrier. Every time Clementine moved so much as an inch, Dutch would attack where her carrier touched his. Bonnie said he yowled and cried like a big baby, considering he'd road to Texas and back outside of his carrier the whole time.

Arriving at the house, I made sure Bonnie put her cats in the bathroom and Courtney put our dogs in the laundry room, while we unloaded the last of our stuff. It was getting pretty late, about eight at night, and I was feeling tired. I knew I needed to take my last dose of medications for the day, so I sat down and took them while everyone continued unloading the trailer. Since it was larger, heavier stuff, and I would have been more in the way anyway.

Everything was going fine. Until it wasn't. Bonnie turned the ceiling fan and light on in the bedroom. Within moments, it caught fire. She runs through the house and grabs a wet towel, while hollering "Fire!" Courtney grabs a water bottle. I grabbed a fire extinguisher. We both ran after Bonnie. She's in there slapping out the fire with the towel and her hands. Courtney pours water on the ceiling fan, actually putting it out AND not getting electrocuted. Slow-acting me pulled the extinguisher's pin, aimed, and sprayed the whole thing out into my bedroom, covering everything in foam.

So, my house is full of smoke and foam fumes. When I say it was thick, I mean there was a huge cloud about shoulder high in every room. So, everyone goes around, running from window to window, opening up all they can. With the fans, we soon had the house aired out, and everyone went back to unloading the trailer. Before long, we were done, and our friends had left. The girls and I were sitting inside, relaxing by ten pm.

We let the dogs out of the laundry room first. Took them outside one at a time to use the restroom. Brought them in, showed them their water and food bowls. Set up their pillows and got them all comfy. So far, so good.

Then, without thinking, I told Bonnie to let her cats out of the bathroom. The cats came out and seemed fine. Bonnie fed them, gave them special treats, and told them how much she loved each one. All seemed right with our world. Until it wasn't.

Remember us opening those windows? Well, somehow, one of the windows had a screen knocked off. Of course, Klingon had to find it, and out the window he went. By the time we noticed he was missing, it was too late; he had already escaped into the night. We closed the windows and looked for him until well after eleven, but sleep overcame us, so we each went to our beds for the night, to continue the search in the morning.

Well, morning came, and we didn't have any more luck. We looked and looked. Checked the road for him. Explored the brush around the house. Nothing.

Then we noticed Bonnie's baby was missing. Clementine was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere. So now we were calling for both Clementine and Klingon everywhere. Our neighbors probably thought we were nuts!

Forced to take a break from searching, Bonnie and I made a quick trip to town. Poor Bonnie was worried about her cats the entire time we were gone. The only baby that was where he was supposed to be was Dutch.

When we arrived home, we put everything we bought away, and I stepped out the back door for a moment. Suddenly, I heard a meow that I recognized. Calling out to Klingon, I looked excitedly around. I soon saw him as he walked out from behind an old chicken coop. Rushing over, as quickly as I could, I grabbed his heavy arse up and carried him inside. The entire time, hollering for Bonnie to hurry and come here. When she saw him, she was so happy!

Now all she needed was her baby, Clementine. With a renewed hope, we began looking again for the kitten. Checking every kitten-sized hole we came across. We were having no luck in the search until Courtney came home from work. Courtney commented that she had seen a black cat climbing around on the desk that morning. I quickly turned towards the desk, pulling open all the drawers. Clementine was inside the smallest drawer! (Which was still open! How'd we overlook her??). Oh, how Bonnie grabbed hold of her baby, hugging her tight!!

We completed our move last Tuesday. We've unpacked a lot over the last five days. We've also kept a really close eye on the animals, taking the dogs out one at a time to go to the bathroom. Not letting Klingon or Dutch outside, yet. (Clementine doesn't want to go outside.) No more excitement has happened with the animals.

I'd carefully planned every detail of moving our fur babies and thought I had considered every little eventuality. Boy, was I wrong. Thank goodness we didn't have more trouble than we did, because there is so much that could have happened with us moving with pets.

Well, that was my adventure, moving with pets. Hopefully, I never have to do so again, in this lifetime. Do you have any stories of a move you made with a pet that you can share with us? If so, leave your tale in the comments for all of us to read.

{Check out the links below for tips on moving with pets}