moving house with 4 cats

Question
Hi - my partner and I have 4 cats. 2 girls - Daisy & Poppy aged 2 and two
boys(Elmo & Dillon) aged 5 & 8.  The boys met the girls 1 year ago and
tolerate each other quite well.  We currently live in a house with a cat flap
from the kitchen into the conservatory - this also has a cat flap to outside
(only the boys go outside, as the girls have always been house cats).  They all
have their own territory - one cat, Elmo has the conservatory with access to
outside when he pleases, however this isn't very often.  
We are moving to a rented house which is larger but near to a main road and
we would not be able to let the boys out.  
We are concerned that this may make them all very unhappy and they may
start fighting.  So far we aim to follow advice from books such as, 1 litter tray
per cat, spare room with cat activity centre (lots of different heights to offer
security), feliway plug ins and catnip.  We will leave the cats in our old house
until we have moved into the new one and things are settled.  Can you offer
advice as to how to introduce them to our new home, which has an open plan
living room kitchen and four bedrooms.  Our cats are all very loving but have
been known to spit and row sometimes with each other e.g. 2x girls ganging
up on elmo or dillon - we just want things to go well!  
Hope you can help

Answer
Hi can i just say well done to you. You have certainly put some thought into this and your solutions to the problems will definitely make the situation easier.

There isn't much else you can do apart from making sure that they have plenty of space and things to do in the new home. I have a couple of pages about how to keep indoor cats amused and another about moving with a cat, i will put there links at the bottom of this reply for your information.

All you can really do is to make sure that the transition is down as calmly and as quietly as possible with lots of their favorite things lying around and if you transfer their scent to door posts etc this will also help.

I wish you every happiness in your new home

best wishes
Kate
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