Having spent the bulk of my adult life working in the moving industry, whether it was moving people and now moving pets, I learned long ago the only term that can best describe the moving industry as a whole is "Controlled Chaos!"
I had forgotten the utter stress and hardship moving is for families. It's always been said moving is one of the top five major stress factors in life people will experience. Watching this family yesterday was a true reminder.
I'm positive that moving is an endeavour designed for those with lots, I do mean LOTS of energy.
Dan and his daughter picked up six cats last week in California and drove them across the country, with other east bound pets, while the family was getting their house packed and ready to move. The cats arrived on the east coast Friday afternoon here with us, where we would board them till Tuesday morning.
Monday night, long after we had gone to bed we received a email from the family that they had finally landed here on the east coast but were on west coast time. One baby and a toddler in tow, getting settled into the motel at what was roughly midnight. Ugh!! I remember my kids at midnight, let alone trying to get them out of an airport and into a strange city, not a happy thought.
Come morning we had it easy. All we had to do was sort the cats out, load them into the van and drop them to their new home. All six cats were singing, OK, that's what we call it. I'm sure that is not what the cats would call it. Having spent five days in a moving vehicle coming across the country they were not thrilled to find wheels under their paws and worse yet they were moving again.
Knowing the family was still running on west coast time, a three hour difference, and they had two little children, Jill and I knew we would need to wait, along with the cable guy, for the family to arrive. We just sat and watched the neighbors watching us.
When the family arrived it was truly impressive with how packed and stacked the car was. Even more impressive when mom managed to extract herself. A toddler, an infant, and two stressed parents, and what was sure was going to be a day of steady stream of people rolling in and out in the effort to get a new home up and live able. I am always impressed when I meet someone who can still find their smile through all of this.
Of course we were the first of the lot, delivering six stressed, nervous cats. This turned out to be a simple and easy act. It's a matter of finding a quite enclosed space, where cats can sniff and wander around while they get to know their new surroundings. Always check to find escape holes cats may try to squeeze out. Give cats a litter tray and food, ninety nine percent are happy as long as they can feel safe and secure. The day furniture arrives, bundle them into a quiet room while the movers do their thing. Once cats smell the furniture and things from home their will be happy as a lark and know their are home.
Controlled Chaos, is about getting an entire home and life from one location to another over a short period of time. the larger the home, the more effort and time it takes. When I worked with people moving I use to tell people, set a timeline. Work within that time line. So much to be done on upon leaving, the rest to be secured on the delivery end. Those that insist on working with a rigid schedule are usually anxious, angry, and upset throughout the entire process. Know that moving is done in stages can make it easier. The futher the move needs to be the longer it will take to complete the process. Set a beginning date, where things will start to be performed, and have a rough idea of when you figure to be settled into your new home. Get quotes for moving your furniture, moving your pets, moving your vehicles. Set your move dates, this includes sorting, packing, getting your pets to your new home and of course the move itself.
On the delivery end, a timeline of when everyone is to be arriving with your car, pets, furniture, as well as service companies.
An important fact to know is most companies work within a window of time. This helps companies to accommodate your move as well as the other clients they are trying to work with at the same time. Remember unless your paying the really big bucks for a private ride the companies have others to fit in also. The window of time also gives you structure to accomplish various parts of your move. As long as everyone does what they contracted to do, all usually goes well. Its just a matter of moving from one task to another until all task are completed.
Pets can feel your stress. So when you stress about your move, your pets will stress right along with you. They just don't know why they feel the way they do. Know the process and how best to make it work should help ease some of that stress.
https://www.preciouspetstransport.com
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