leaving cat at home

[tiff211]

We are leaving tomorrow and returning Sunday, 4/24 for WDW. I had a cat sitter lined up but she took her puppy to the vet yesterday and he has fleas and some sort of cold. Boots (our kitty) is still young so I don't really want him around the puppy. All my friends have big dogs or are allergic to cats. My sister said she would keep him but can't have pets in her apt. How bad would it be if we left him home and had my sister go by daily to check on him and his food supply. I don't know what else to do. I am a new pet owner so I don't know of any other alternatives.

 

[BostonRob]

We are leaving tomorrow and returning Sunday, 4/24 for WDW. I had a cat sitter lined up but she took her puppy to the vet yesterday and he has fleas and some sort of cold. Boots (our kitty) is still young so I don't really want him around the puppy. All my friends have big dogs or are allergic to cats. My sister said she would keep him but can't have pets in her apt. How bad would it be if we left him home and had my sister go by daily to check on him and his food supply. I don't know what else to do. I am a new pet owner so I don't know of any other alternatives.

I hate cats. But I'm really bored this morning so I read your post. I've provided this service for a few friends over the years - they went on vacation and left their cat at home - I stopped in daily and put out more food and water. As far as I know its never been a problem. The cat usually freaks the first few days when a stranger walks into their house, but by mid-week they figure it out.

 

[SquirtsMom]

Tiff211...We went to WDW last August and left our two cats alone all week. We made sure they had plenty of water and food before we left as well as clean litter. When we got home, there was still food/water in the bowls and both cats had survived without us. We joke that they probably were happy to have a "vacation" from the family

 

[MinnieMe2]

Kitty should be fine if your sister stops in once a day to check him. My sister and I swap cat-sitting services for each other -- the only time her cat pays any attention to me is when his own people are gone. As soon as they come home, he starts snubbing me again . Cats -- ya gotta love 'em!

Have a great trip!!!!!!

 

[mepperson]

How old is your kitty? We have 2 that are almost a year old, and I am stressful about leaving them also. I decided that boarding them at the vet was NOT an option, but they really need to be check on while we are gone. This is our first trip away for more than 2 days.

We have local boarding companies that will take your cat into their homes, but these are expensive for me. That could be an option for you. Some of the people who work at the vets office may also be willing to do this, so they are well trained, and will give your kitty lots of love - I just didn't check into that because I have a couple of friends who plan to stop by.

Because I have 2 cats, I am also concerned about how quickly the litter box will fill up. I've bought some liners to put in the box that have lots of slots in the bottom. You put several liners in the box, then the litter. As you need to clean the litter, you just lift out the top liner. All the "stuff" stays in the liner, while the unused litter falls through the slots back into the box. My friends can just do that and throw away the used portion - no scooping, etc.

They will stay and play with the kitties for a little while, make sure they haven't dumped out their water/food, aren't sick, etc. They should be fine. I assume they will just be mad at us when we get back - and we will have to make up for it with LOTS of snuggles.

Hope this helps. If you are really worried, look into boarding-type place that takes cats into their homes - not a kennel. Or, ask your vet's office for recommendations.

Mary

 

[tbelfonti]

We leave our two cats "home alone" and pay a pet sitting service to come by daily to feed them and check on them.

I wish we could do what SquirtsMom does and just leave out enough food and water but we have a cat who is a PIG. He will eat all of his food and the other cat's food so we have to separate them when it comes time to eat :rolleyes. The "fat cat" would eat all the food in the first day and the little cat would be starved by the time we got back :lol

 

[sixcats]

Your cat will be fine. We have a friend stop in once a day or every other day to feed and water our cats. I always set up extra food and water dishes and extra litter pans. If your cat is like any of mine they usually sleep 20 hours a day anyway.

 

[EthansMom]

We leave our cat during vacations. We make sure the litter is freshly cleaned and VERY large bowls of water and food are out for her before we leave. We have left her for a few days on her own, but for longer trips ask a friend or relative to stop by and check on her food and water supply every few days. Since she's an old Grumpy kitty, she won't socialize with anyone that comes into the house (she barely has anything to do with us), but makes me feel better to know that someone is checking up on her.

Of course, when we get back, our cat is gives us some serious cattitude for being gone so long. But otherwise, she has done well.

 

[spiceycat]

I hate leaving Spicey - but this trip I am - I have a friend and my mother coming to check on him -

spicey is a problem he won't get dry food - but only wants cans....

so I got one of the refrigerator feeder a few years ago - it works okay for one or two days - I have used it up to 3 days and he was fine.

I have water in an automatic feeder and their dry food in another automatic feeder.

I also have several litter boxes - only 3 cats - but 6 litter boxes - and one of these is automatic.

so I don't think they will mind much...

 

[DMRick]

We've left our cat for years. She eats canned food, and is used to several meals a day. When we are away, she eats less, and it's supplimented with dry if she gets hungry. Our cat sitter feeds her half the usual amount and the dry. We also leave a big bowl of water, and extra dry, in case something happens to the cat sitter. She's never happy with us for leaving, but such is life. We clean and leave two litter pans (although the cat sitter would scoop them, we tell her not to bother, since it's just one cat). We pay $7 a day.

 

[cepmom]

I think she will be fine with your sister coming in each day to check on her. I regularly do this for my Mom when she goes on vacation. Her cat is just too old to be put in a kennel for 2 weeks, so I just go by each day and feed him and clean the litter box every couple of days. While I'm there, I also bring in her mail so now there's no need for her to have to stop her mail delivery too.

 

[cbrfan]

We have 4 cats. We used to leave them alone quite often for weekends. Anything longer and we have our DD feed and water them daily and scoop the litter boxes. Lately though, we've had her come every day to check on them as we have one cat (we refer to her as "The Fossil") who is, shall we say, on the last of her nine lives. While they were young we could leave them for a week without a problem. I wouldn't worry too much about leaving yours. It is good to have someone check in until you know for sure how she'll behave.

 

[Cameo]

I would much rather leave our kitties at home than taking them to a kennel or place they were unfamiliar with. We have a pet sitter visit, as well as my parents, who check the mail, etc. A few things to remember:
1) Always block open the doors in your home. If kitty is playing, he could accidentally shut a door on himself and be kept away from litter or food until someone arrives to check on him.
2) Put away anything that kitty could get hung up in. One day, my curious cat stuck her head through the handles on a plastic shopping bag and ran around like crazy trying to get it off. Thankfully, I was home to help her, but I always worried what would have happened if I hadn't been home.
3) Put away anything foreign that kitty might eat. One of our cats loves to eat rubber bands if she finds them. We try to keep them put away, but once in a while she finds one and we have to wait for it to come out one end or the other. Not fun! If the housesitter brings in your newspaper and it is bound with a rubber band, remind them not to leave the rubber bands lying around.

I always worry about my kitties when I'm gone, but I'm pretty sure they do the same thing they do when I'm here - eat and sleep and stare out the window.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[mepperson]

3) Put away anything foreign that kitty might eat. One of our cats loves to eat rubber bands if she finds them. We try to keep them put away, but once in a while she finds one and we have to wait for it to come out one end or the other. Not fun! If the housesitter brings in your newspaper and it is bound with a rubber band, remind them not to leave the rubber bands lying around.

LOL - our cats LOVE rubber bands, too. I didn't realize they ate them until I saw them in the poop! They have also figured out which drawer we keep them in, get on the counter above the drawer and OPEN IT to get out rubber bands. They also LOVE hair bands of all kinds. My DD and I have to keep them in closed drawers or we find them chewed to pieces later. Crazy Cats!

Gotta love 'em, Mary

 

[SueM in MN]

LOL - our cats LOVE rubber bands, too. I didn't realize they ate them until I saw them in the poop! They have also figured out which drawer we keep them in, get on the counter above the drawer and OPEN IT to get out rubber bands. They also LOVE hair bands of all kinds. My DD and I have to keep them in closed drawers or we find them chewed to pieces later. Crazy Cats!

Gotta love 'em, Mary

We had a cat once who loved rubber bands. She would steal every oen she could get her paws on. We couldn't figure out what happened to all the rubber bands until one day, I took a book off the bookshelf and about 100 rubber bands tumbled out from behind it. Once we knew where her stash was, we managed to see herr hide some there.

Anyway, our current cat stayed home for 10 days earlier this month while we were at WDW. She "yelled" at us for a while the night we got home, follewed my oldest DD around all over for a few days and was grooming me a lot the first few days, but she's back to normal now.
We had someone come in every few days to check up on her, but we have left a cat alone for as long as a week without any problems (she was one that would not make a pig of herself and eat all the food the first day).

 

[Becky2005]

We are leaving tomorrow and returning Sunday, 4/24 for WDW. I had a cat sitter lined up but she took her puppy to the vet yesterday and he has fleas and some sort of cold. Boots (our kitty) is still young so I don't really want him around the puppy. All my friends have big dogs or are allergic to cats. My sister said she would keep him but can't have pets in her apt. How bad would it be if we left him home and had my sister go by daily to check on him and his food supply. I don't know what else to do. I am a new pet owner so I don't know of any other alternatives.

We have 2 cats and this is what we have always done when we have gone on trips. It's what we are doing on our trip this time. Having my mom come back and check on their food/water supply while we are gone. I know our cats will be fine even if they do it every other day. Of course, our cats are 13 & 11 years old. We have done it before though too.

 

[Shagley]

We have two cats, and we leave them at home when we go on vacation. My Dad comes over every two or three days to make sure that everything is okay with them. The kennel where we take our dog told us that cats aren't nearly as social as dogs (Yeah! No kidding!), so cats usually don't have a problem with being home alone and aren't as likely to miss the companionship (I'm sure there are exceptions though). They even told us that it is much less stressful for a cat to be left home alone than for it to be taken to a kennel or kept somewhere that it is not familiar with.

 

[tiff211]

Well, it seems like boots will be fine at home without us. I both the automatic feeders today. I am sure he will welcome the break from my girls who play with him constantly. Did I mention DD4 painted his ear tips with red nail polish yesterday...........yeah, he will breathe a sigh of relief the second we walk out the door!!!

 

[epcotfan]

I have a petsitter stop by twice a day to feed my pets. She is wonderful. She comes for two daily half hour visits. She feeds them and plays with them. I wouldn't dream of leaving them without having someone come and check on them at least once a day. All of my pets are old and I wouldn't feel safe leaving them without some sort of daily supervision. She is skilled in cat health care. Well worth $30.00 a day.

so cats usually don't have a problem with being home alone and aren't as likely to miss the companionship (I'm sure there are exceptions though).

Well I guess my guys are the exception to the rule. Yes they are more independant than dogs, but they do need attention. I couldn't dream of leaving them without someone coming in to play and give them a cuddle.

 

[life of a princess]

We have left our two cats by themselves with my MIL coming over every other day to check on them. One of our cats is a big cat approx: 18 lbs. in weight. About two weeks after we had returned from our 10 day vacation I noticed the big cat looked like she was losing weight. I mentioned it to my husband and he had noticed too but kept forgeting to ask me. Then we started notice she wasn't eating.
Well a trip to the vet and $85.00 later for lab work. She was diagnosed with "Fatty Liver Disease". Treatment: Get them to eat. We had to buy special canned food and hold the food in our hand to get her to take a couple of bites. Mind you, this cat is a "Huge Pig" any other time. The vet said this cat must of gone through something stressful recently. We attribute it to our vacation.
So now when we go on vacation, my MIL comes over daily and leaves the radio on for them. We have been on 3 more vacations since that time and I really feel the "radio" made the difference.