We ran into this same situation! Bret's work was willing to pay for one month temporary house as part of the relocation package, but it was up to us to find it. They suggested the Holiday Inn that is close to Bret's office, but there was no way I was going to live in a hotel room with a 5 year old boy for a month!
We looked at lots of things, executive apartments (mostly all in London, an no cheaper than the hotel), short-term lets (mostly 3 months at the shortest, and we only wanted for 4-6 weeks while we looked for a rental house), etc. Someone on this site (can't remember who, sorry!) suggested doing a web search for "self-catering" and the area we wanted. We found several places in the area we wanted to be. The rents were anywhere from 90 to 150 pounds per week, much less than a hotel, and much more comfortable. Several bedrooms (we needed 2), living space, kitchen, bath, etc. They are usually geared to people on holiday, so you might try some holiday sites, too. The house was fully furnished, down to linens and kitchen stuff, so we were able to live relatively normally during the first month.
Don't have any advice about the cats. Our dog had to go into quarantine, so it wasn't an issue until we started looking at rental properties.
HTH,
Stephanie