Leaving my kitten home while on vacation? Nervous

[ADisneyQueen]

We are trying to plan our next WDW trip for either March or June. We have a 3 mos. old kitten and I feel so bad about leaving her home! My parents will check on her everyday, but it won't be the same as us all being here. We had another cat for 18 years and I was fine leaving her for trips b/c she was older and slept a lot.
Has anyone left your kitten for a week?

 

[SaraJayne]

Older, mature cats ~ yes.

A kitten (aka a baby?) ~ never. Have her stay with your parents or board her. She's too little to be left alone for that long.

 

[WDSearcher]

You can't leave a kitten (who will be 5-8 mo old by that time) alone in a house for a week with only people checking on her. She will be scared, lonely, and confused. An older cat would be fine with a once-a-day or twice-a-day check-in, but kittens need MUCH more attention and interaction than that. You 'd be setting yourself up for behavior problems as that kitten grows up.

I suggest you either board the kitten in a pet resort or with a vet that will give her more attention and playtime or have her board with a friend or relative. If you want her to remain at home, then have someone stay at your place as a live-in cat sitter.

 

[englishteacha]

I've never had a kitten, but if the kitty is still quite young, can she go stay with your folks? I leave my adult cat home when we're gone, with someone checking on her regularly, but she is always VERY grouchy at us when we get home if we've been gone for more than a couple of days! I'd have our kitty stay with my inlaws, but their cats bully her, so she's better off here.

 

[PeterPan09]

I agree, a kitty that young needs more than the occasional visit. If you had more than one kitty, it would be ok.

 

[*JoGo*]

When we went on vacation, I left my cat at home my herself with my mom checking on her a couple times during the week. We knew she would be fine and probably enjoy a break from the kitten!

No way was I leaving the kitten, 8mos, home with her. We knew he would drive her nuts. He needs attention and played with. He went to my parents house. If it was just the kitten, we still would've taken him to my parents. He is very high energy.

 

[StarLight StarBright]

We leave our cats alone for the week while we are on vacation. My BIL comes and checks on them a few times during the week, and they always do just fine. They are 11 and almost 3. When the younger one was 1 we left them for a weekend( 2 nites) When we came home she was freaking out. She kept running around the house licking her back and her fur was coming out. She was a nervous wreck! I would never leave a young one like that again, I didn't realize us being gone for 2 nites would affect her so much!

 

[Kimberle]

I agree. We've raises 3 kittens into cats. I would not leave one so young home during a vacation. Besides being lonely, they can get into so much stuff! I would board her. Your older one s/be fine.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Another reccomendation for boarding your baby or finding someone who would like a kitten for a week.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

OP here- It's been a long time since we had a kitten. Our older cat passed away in Nov. at age 18 1/2. When she was a kitten, the only place we traveled to was my parents' home which she had already lived in for 3 mos. before we got married. So, she traveled with us and stayed there with my mom's cat whom she loved.
So I'm trying to list my options for this kitten
1. Ask inlaws if they would take her for a week. My parents have a dog so they can't take her.
2. Find a college student to stay here for a week. Might be hard to find someone we trust. My DH works at a college.
3. Board her at the vet's? I really don't know much about boarding a kitten and I wouldn't want her confined to a cage all day.
Thoughts?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You could buy a big wire dog crate and lock up kitty in your own home. Have parents come by let kitten out to play, clean litter, food, etc and then back into the crate when they leave.

Honestly investing in a WIRE dog crate is great for cats. You can lock them up as needed for retraining potty issues, surgeries, or when you need to keep them safe.

While you don't want a kitten locked up all day, it is better than having the kitten have free roam in your home where they could get into some trouble.

 

[MichelleVW]

I personally would be fine with leaving a 5 month old kitten alone for a week as long as someone comes by every day to check on her. We left our oldest cats alone for about 5 days when they were probably 4 months old and they were and are fine now.

 

[Jey12]

Instead of looking for a college student to come stay maybe ask at your vet's office? There are also pet sitters in most areas that are bonded and come with references. I know I did pet sitting for a short while before I was married and charged around $25 a day/night. Of course this was several years ago. I think right now the going rate is around $35 a night and pretty comparable to what you'd be charged for boarding somewhere else. Often if you call your vet's office they will know or have someone working there that is reliable or can be recommended, instead of just asking a random student.

 

[Disney845]

I agree with the PPs, I wouldn't leave a kitten that age home alone. They could get into all kinds of kitten trouble. We have an older cat and she stays home alone when we are gone with someone checking on her every 2-3 days to make sure she has food and take care of the litter, but she always hides from them, so she doesn't want/need their active attention.

I totally disagree with the poster who suggested buying a wire cage to put the kitten in for a week's time while you are gone. How sad. Not only are you leaving the young kitten alone (who is probably going to be upset and confused by your long absence in a way an older cat might not be) but to then be forced into a cage the whole time. Unless you routinely use cages with your animals (for training? or whatever other purpose) I imagine they would be very stressed to be alone in a cage they were unfamiliar staying in with minimal interaction for that long.

I would ask any friends who are pet friendly to see if they might watch her in their own homes, or see if someone would be willing to stay at your home to watch the kitten.

 

[Uncle Remus]

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[WDSearcher]

Another option to the vet is a pet boarding facility. PetSmart has pet resorts, and there are lots of other places that specialize in high-interaction pet sitting. I've left cats at the local "Fur & Feathers" resort where I live, and they did great. They had a kitty condo in a room with several other condos, and each cat and kitten had roaming time in the room and playtime with the staff. One wall of the cat area opposite the condos was a huge aquarium filled with fish, so they even had "kitty TV".

You could also pay extra for a larger cat condo, more playtime, larger private rooms, etc. There was even an option for webcam viewing so that you could sign on during vacation and see how your pet was doing. Nightly boarding ran in the $25-45 range, depending on how "luxurious" you wanted the accomodations to be.

Do a little research in your area -- there are probably a few different places to choose from.

If you go with a live-in sitter, I agree with the PP about asking at your vet office instead of going with a random college kid. My vet has a couple of vet techs who do live-in pet-sitting on the side for extra cash. Not only are they recommended by my vet, they're able to handle any emergency that might come up, which is a nice feeling of security to have.

Don't go with the cage! While I don't necessarily think it's inhumane -- as long as the crate is large enough for food, water, litter box, bed and playtime (which would be an enormous cage, if you think about it) -- the last thing you need is a kitten getting curious and trying to work its way out of the crate and getting its head stuck between the bars. It happens to kids on stairway bannisters; it can happen to kittens in crates.

 

[Tuffcookie]

You could buy a big wire dog crate and lock up kitty in your own home. Have parents come by let kitten out to play, clean litter, food, etc and then back into the crate when they leave.

Honestly investing in a WIRE dog crate is great for cats. You can lock them up as needed for retraining potty issues, surgeries, or when you need to keep them safe.

While you don't want a kitten locked up all day, it is better than having the kitten have free roam in your home where they could get into some trouble.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. As long as someone is coming every day to check on kitty, fed it, and let it run for awhile, he/she should be fine. You might also want to keep a radio on, nearby. Would you be able to take the crate to your parent's house? That way you could keep the cat & dog apart and your parents would be able to keep a closer watch on kitty?

TC

 

[ADisneyQueen]

OP here- thanks for the responses
To answer some of the questions-
I could not put this kitten in a crate. She has too much energy and I know she would be upset. I don't think I could take her to my mom's b/c she's only had her dog about 6 mos. and she still barks at a lot of people.

I will look into pet sitters who stay in the home. Unfortunately, we live in a small town and I don't think we have any of these really nice cat places here. I wish we did! I will look around. Maybe I should open one!

The college student would not be random. DH is a professor who does research with students and really gets to know them. They come to our home for dinner. We have gotten pet sitters in the past(when our other cat was living) this way and they have been great. But, not any who stayed overnight in our home.

I looked at the WDW pet resort and it looks really nice. But, we are flying and will not have a car.

I am really hoping our inlaws would ber open to taking her. I am a little afraid b/c they live on a busy street and I hope she would not get out. As my husband was walking in the door this morning she scooted past him and into the garage and went under the car to lick snow. I can't block her from this area b/c her litter box is there. Any ideas?

 

[Abbie]

As my husband was walking in the door this morning she scooted past him and into the garage and went under the car to lick snow. I can't block her from this area b/c her litter box is there. Any ideas?

This caught my eye. I don't know what you should do about vacation (we always have the teen neighbor girl come over for our two dogs, two cats) but make sure kitty doesn't lick up any antifreeze from under the car! It is sweet and attractive to animals but extremely poisonous, she would not survive if she licked that.

 

[cornflake]

Kitten in a crate is a bad, bad, bad, super bad idea. They're not crate type of animals, usually, and even if she'd be a cat ok with being in a crate, she's never been in one before - to lock her up and then disappear? The poor thing would be so confused and upset. Nevermind I'd like to see your folks try to catch her to recrate her the first day, heh.

I think the college kid is a good idea. Your husband is a professor - so not only does he know them but the kid will know very well that they'd have to deal with any reprecussions if anything at all happened while you were gone. It's not like they'd never see him again or that he couldn't punish them or hold them accountable. He's their professor. He can pick a nice, quiet, responsible kid who grew up with cats.

I may be a bit biased, as I actually cat sat for a professor for a week when I was in college, heh, (she asked kids who did work in the dept. whom she knew, she paid like $50 or $100 or whatever for the week and she kept doing it so I don't think she ever had an issue), but it seems the simplest solution.