A small change in a familiar routine can matter to a creature with few choices.

An animal’s day is largely arranged by someone else, which makes the predictable parts load-bearing. The walk at the same hour, the bowl in the same corner, the chair by the window are not preferences so much as the structure they use to understand what is happening. Move one and there is no way to ask why, only a period of not knowing whether the rest still holds.

When something has to change, change one thing at a time and keep the rest steady. Give it more days than seem necessary. Watch eating and sleeping for the answer they cannot give you.