Cat owners

[FlyingDumbo]

I have left my cat for 5 days and she was fine. She isn't a real social cat and honestly she seemed a little annoyed when I got back.

This made me laugh!

Sounds like one of my guys. Haha. One loves people the other doesn't care if we are here or not. If he could open his own food, I doubt we would ever see him.

 

[FlyingDumbo]

I found someone!!!! The local animal shelter referred me to one of their foster pet homes. The lady is an older woman who does pet sitting on the side, she is "bonded and insured". Left her a voicemail, waiting to hear back!!!!!!!!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I have two cats, so they are able to keep each other company.

They normally have dry food. I have an automatic (gravity feed) feeder which holds almost four pounds of food which is available to them at all times, so they cannot run out of food. (Canned food is a special occcasion treat.)

I also have a gravity feed water dish which holds a gallon of water in the resevoir.

If I am going to be gone up to a week I make sure that both are full before I leave.

I have two large (and deep) sifting litter boxes with clumping litter, so they don't have any problems with that.

 

[cglaura]

My cat got her paw stuck under the stove while I was at the store. Her nail somehow got stuck in the adjustable legs. Now I know, that in dire situations, and left for a long time she may have freed herself, but could not imagine her either being stuck like that for days or bleeding or having an injury unattended for days. You never know what could happen, so I have someone check at least once per day, I try to get it twice a day...my neighbor will check in the a.m. and then my mom will come down to donate her lap for awhile after dinner

 

[cluvsdisney]

I found someone!!!! The local animal shelter referred me to one of their foster pet homes. The lady is an older woman who does pet sitting on the side, she is "bonded and insured". Left her a voicemail, waiting to hear back!!!!!!!!

I hope it works out!

I was going to suggest bringing the cat to someone to watch in their home. I used to do that for longer vacations so a family/friend won't have to spend all the time running back and forth plus the cat wouldn't really be alone at all. The cat is not a fan of the car but we would try to get her psyched up for her own vacation at her aunt & uncle's house.

But in a pinch, I would leave her for 4-5 days with extra food & water. If that's what you end up doing, double check the feeder works and opens on schedule. I had an issue with that once there was extra dry food and it was only 2 days but I felt terrible.

 

[MomofKatie]

We used to leave our cat at home for a week at a time when we went on vacation. We would have a neighbor come in once midway through the week and check on him, change water, add food, etc. He was always fine- he was a grazer, and had food out 24/7, so it wasn't new for him to have food out all the time. He was a real "Velcro kitty" when we came home, but was fine while we were gone.

Since he passed away, we got 3 new kitties. They are meal fed (weight issues). Since they are used to having food put out 3 times a day, and no food out for "grazing" all day, I feel like we need to keep them on at least somewhat of a routine. We do have dry food in digital-timer controlled feeders, but I also have a good friend and neighbor come in once a day to feed them their normal canned food.

I guess I am saying it depends on how you feed the cat, the age and general health situation of the cat, and how comfortable you are with leaving them. If it would ruin your time away, worrying the whole time about your cat, go ahead and find someone to check in on it. I'm sure kitty will be all right, but for your peace of mind, if you need to get someone, do so.

 

[ford family]

I'm sorry but the title of this thread is wrong.
Cats do not have owners, it's dogs that have owners.

Cats have staff.

ford family

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

I would be more concerned about the litter box. Can you have someone come in just once to clean it out?

 

[Meriweather]

We have done it for 9 days when they were younger. Left lots of food at various locations, same with water and added a couple more litter boxes.

Now they are older and on medication, we get a friend, relative or pet sitter to come by every day.

 

[Cinderella94]

I'm sure our two cats would be fine--they love it when we're not here -- but I'd feel too bad to ever do it. Whenever we go to Disney for a week+, we have a neighbor or friend come by once a day.

 

[amyren]

I found someone!!!! The local animal shelter referred me to one of their foster pet homes. The lady is an older woman who does pet sitting on the side, she is "bonded and insured". Left her a voicemail, waiting to hear back!!!!!!!!

Oh good
I wouldn't leave my 2 kitties for more than a couple of nights without someone looking in on them. I'd be worried that they would do something stupid. Like my male cat has a habit of getting his claws stuck in our rugs and our female cat has a history of somehow closing herself in the closet I think you will enjoy your trip much better knowing someone is looking after your furbabies.

 

[bicker]

I would never do it, but if I absolutely had to, I'd leave out a large array of litter boxes. Standard recommendation is X+1 litter boxes for X cats -- so that's 3 -- cleaned-out every day or perhaps in a pinch once every other day -- so that would be 9 litter boxes all filled with litter. As ridiculous as that sounds, it's in line with the idea of leaving pets alone that long, without the ability to even go outside.

Will they survive otherwise? Yes. Will they damage your home in ways that they don't normally? Maybe. Will they be happy? Probably not.

FWIW.

 

[Eliza32]

Sorry, but someone from the UK here - do you guys not have cattery arrangements to take your kitties to if you can't get them looked after at home. Here in the UK, I will not leave my little guy for even 1 night if a neighbour can't come in and look after him. If we're away 2 or more nights he goes to the cattery. OK, so it costs money, but if I want a social life, paying for him to be happy has to be part of the deal. I would NEVER consider leaving him home alone for more than 1 day, and most people in the UK wouldn't either. Guess we just do things a little different.

 

[Nancyg56]

I found someone!!!! The local animal shelter referred me to one of their foster pet homes. The lady is an older woman who does pet sitting on the side, she is "bonded and insured". Left her a voicemail, waiting to hear back!!!!!!!!

I am so glad!

I'm sorry but the title of this thread is wrong.
Cats do not have owners, it's dogs that have owners.

Cats have staff.

ford family

How true!

Sorry, but someone from the UK here - do you guys not have cattery arrangements to take your kitties to if you can't get them looked after at home. Here in the UK, I will not leave my little guy for even 1 night if a neighbour can't come in and look after him. If we're away 2 or more nights he goes to the cattery. OK, so it costs money, but if I want a social life, paying for him to be happy has to be part of the deal. I would NEVER consider leaving him home alone for more than 1 day, and most people in the UK wouldn't either. Guess we just do things a little different.

We have kennels here and a lot of people use them when they are away. We even have a doggy day care for folks who do not like to leave their dogs while they are at work. Not all cats will do well if they are boarded. I have a good friend who runs a kennel and if I ever had to board my Sassy I would bring her there, I know that she would be well cared for and safe and clean. Unfortunately, my cat would not be able to adjust if I left her, she is 17 and never been away from home. I could never take a chance. If I could not find a trusted friend to care for her I would not leave.

 

[feenie]

If we are going to be gone more than one night we have someone look in on them.
Of course one of our cats just can't handle it. One time we went away for 2 weeks. We had a friend do their food/water/litter every day, but he is mildly allergic, so he didn't really stick around after the job was done. (understandably ;-)
When we got home our nervous little guy licked a patch of fur off his belly as well as the fur off the front of his legs.
We brought him to the vet, and he said that when certain cats get anxious, thats what they do... And if it continued we would put him on anti-anxiety meds. Thankfully it didn't, and now we have people who can spend more time with them come when we are gone.

 

[DMRick]

Three days would be my limit. If a cat gets ill, or takes a fall, or gets stuck in something, that's about the limit for no food or water without it getting pretty serious.


Edited to add..looks like you found someone..yeah!

 

[Agri]

When we leave our cats, our friend stops in at least once while we're gone. Once is all I ask for, but she usually stops by more often. I would not be concerned with 3 days, but over that they could run out of food, water, etc. - you just never know. Stuff happens.

If you're really concerned, you could see if your vet would board them. Ours does at a very reasonable rate and the two girls got to be in the same enclosure together.

As to the UK comment, I bet people there leave their cats alone, too. They go inside in a litterbox and therefore do not need to be let out to go potty. With enough food and water out, a cat is fine alone for a day or two. They are very self-sufficient animals. As long as it is not a frequent routine thing, they are *fine*.

 

[bicker]

In my experience, kennels are either insanely expensive, or rife with disease.

 

[Nancyg56]

In my experience, kennels are either insanely expensive, or rife with disease.

ITA. My friend's kennel is the only one that I would have ever considered if I needed to board an animal. I am thankful I never needed to even think about it. My kitties always had someone in the house until the past few years, after that I left one time, felt horrible even with plenty of company in and out. I never did that again, it was worth having someone stay here.

 

[DMRick]

In my experience, kennels are either insanely expensive, or rife with disease.

Wow..I've been in several in our area, and they are spotless, and always washed down with a bleach solution, as well as different sprays for the sides of the kennels. All pads are changed between animals and also bleached. They can't afford to have people's pets get ill..it could shut them down.
Some cost more than others, but it's a job, and several people have to get paid, as well as pretty high overhead, which includes mortage or rent, utilities and insurance.