Leaving my kitten home while on vacation? Nervous

[EllenFrasier]

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?

If your parents will be checking on her every day, can they spend a couple hours there - would that help? I don't think I could leave a cat that young alone.

 

[supercarrie]

We have two cats, who are now nearly 2 years old. We left them home alone together for the first time when they were 4 months old, with our cat sitter checking on them once a day. We ONLY were okay with this because there were two of them who knew each other, and both our vet and the cat sitter thought it would be okay. (The cat sitter is a professional cat sitter who also offers boarding in his own home, or sitters who will actually stay in home with pets.)

I would definitely not leave one kitten at 3 months old home alone. Please look into different options, whether it be boarding, having someone stay at your home, or taking your kitten to stay with family/friends.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Well, we probably will have her stay with the inlaws. If we go in March she will be almost 6 mos., if we go in June she'll be 8 mos.

Curious as to what everyone thinks of this- how old should your cat be to left alone with a cat sitter coming in once a day? A year old? Less or more?

 

[DISshopkeeper]

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?

I was gonna ask you where in PA you are located, but if you have SNOW (!) you are nowhere near me!!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I'm in the NW. Too much snow here!

 

[Imzadi]

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.

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!

Yes, my cat was this way, each time I left for a couple nites. She had major abandonment issues for weeks after I got back. She'd walk to the door and pathetically meow for me, not remembering I was home. I'd call to her and she'd come running. It broke my heart to think she was doing that while I was away and thinking I wouldn't be back for her.

She also has emotional eating problems because of it. I left way more dry food out for her. Like 4 days worth. She ate through it all in about a day & a half.

The vet considers her overweight now because of her emotional eating. She doesn't stop when she's full. She will gorge & gorge. Now I have to put out smaller portions several times a day.

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?

Move the litter box indoors.

She is probably licking the snow if they salt your streets to prevent ice. There is probably lots of corrosive stuff coming off the snow on a car. Be careful of that.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

The litter box is indoors, it is not in the garage.

 

[Plantlady]

We left our cat at home when she was about four months old. She was an outdoor farm cat, so no chance she would tear anything up. My dad came by twice a day.

She was fine. No emotional issues. She is the same cat as when we left.

But, I would think an indoor kitten would be different. I did not worry about destruction.

 

[Imzadi]

The litter box is indoors, it is not in the garage.

Can you put an extra storm door up on the door going to the garage? We had one in which the spring pretty much closed the door against our butt while walking in, so our cat & dogs couldn't get past us as we came in. And yes, they tried.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

That may work, getting a door with a spring. That could be a job for DH to work on!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

That may work, getting a door with a spring. That could be a job for DH to work on!

The only reason we have a storm door is so that it will automatically close on our bums as we leave the house to keep the dogs in! You can buy one for about a hundred bucks, if I remember correctly, and it doesn't take that long to install them. Well worth every penny.

 

[cornflake]

Well, we probably will have her stay with the inlaws. If we go in March she will be almost 6 mos., if we go in June she'll be 8 mos.

Curious as to what everyone thinks of this- how old should your cat be to left alone with a cat sitter coming in once a day? A year old? Less or more?

I think it depends on a lot of factors.

If there's another cat in the house, younger would be easier.

If it's just the one, still depends - on the kitty's temperment, for one. A more aloof cat I'd think would be better with that sooner than a follow-you-around-meowing type of cat who likes to be with her people all the time and talk and climb on them and be petted and is just really social.

Household routine would also be a big factor. If it's a one- or two-person, fairly quiet house where people are at work during the day and then come home, the cat is already alone a chunk of hours and knows people go for some time and then come back and they're used to amusing themselves and living in a quieter house.

If it's a house with more people, or younger kids, or where people are home more hours, be harder and more confusing and upsetting if people all suddenly disappear when before everyone disappearing was rare and then only for bits of time, and if before it's all lively and they're rarely alone and then suddenly there's nothing.

In the latter cases, I'd wait til past a year, I think, for that, maybe year and a half - depend on the kitten and how social and playful and how much attention she needs, how eager she is to see people when they come home vs. she can't be bothered to come to the door and is like 'oh, you're here?' when you pass by.

 

[SpecialK]

Well, we probably will have her stay with the inlaws. If we go in March she will be almost 6 mos., if we go in June she'll be 8 mos.

Curious as to what everyone thinks of this- how old should your cat be to left alone with a cat sitter coming in once a day? A year old? Less or more?

I grew up with cats and we have two now, and I wouldn't leave them alone for more than 24 hours. When we go on vacation, we pay someone to stay with them.