What do you do with your cat?

[smokeyblue]

Our cat usually stays with my parents when we go out of town. That will not be an option if/when we go to Disney because my parents will be going too. What do you do with your cat? I do have friends or neighbors I could ask to look in on him. Does anyone have their cat stay at someone's house? How much do you pay the pet sitter?

 

[safetymom]

We have someone come in daily to feed the cats.

 

[beccasmom]

IMHO, cats seem to do best in their own homes if possible. Before our tabby passed away last year, for many years (my cat died at age 15), I was fortunate in having a friend check on him every day - re-fill his bowls, scoop/clean the litter, give him some one-on-one attention with some playtime. When my cat got older, one of us usually stayed home; with work and school schedules, our trips usually run into scheduling "issues" anyway. Or my friend stayed at my house if his schedule permitted.

We have a younger (under 2) rescue cat now and happily, our new vet boards cats and he is happy to go there. They dote on him because he was quite sick when we first rescued him and they literally saved his life. So, he is quite happy with the extra attention.

Personally, I think home care is best for pets, but I know that isn't always an option. I've boarded our dogs in the past (we don't have a dog right now), and they've been fine. But I do a lot of research before choosing a location. Many vets board cats since they are not as "high maintenance" as dogs and don't require walks. Ours charges $16.00/day, extra if the pet requires meds.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We have a pet sitter.
She makes sure the cats have food and water, plays with them, cleans the litter boxes, brings in our mail and waters the plants. She charges $25 per day.
We used to be able to get by with just having her every other day, but we now have 3 cats so we have her come in daily. Maybe as our kitten gets older we might feel comfortable going back to every other day, but maybe not. The 3 of them seem to be able to get into more trouble than when we just had 2.

 

[JohnsonsRUs]

We always have left our cats (2 of them) at home and had one of the neighbor kids check in on them. We have gone for as long as 2 weeks and they have been just fine. We usually give the kids $20 per week and bring them back a small gift also from wherever we have been. The kids have been great and I know our DD who is now 12 loves to get asked to take on this type of responsibility for our neighbors in return.

 

[englishteacha]

My kitty stays at home with a self feeder/self waterer. My in-laws check on her a few times a week. I check on their 3 cats when they're gone, so it evens out. I usually bring them home a trinket of some kind, too. My BIL likes to check on the cat because he and Kitty will watch TV. They don't have cable and he likes our satellite TV!

 

[Tricia's mom]

We leave kitty at home with lots of food and water bowls. if its longer than 4 day we have a friend stop in to make sure water,food and kitty are well.

On a spur of the moment we decided to goto WDW for a weekend..left Friday night and got home Sunday afternoon. When returning home we found that the cat was locked in our bedroom alllll weekend. She was such a good girl and only pee'd on towels she mounded onto a pile on the floor. She was also very hungry (DUH). We now make sure when we leave for a trip we give kitty a kiss good bye before we leave and make sure she has free range of the house.
Kitties do fine on there own...they are built for that.

 

[hsmamato2]

we used to leave the kitties with a full supply of food,water and litterboxes at home for any length of trip-they're so awesome and take care of themselves-
now that we have dogs too we pay sitters to come in- mostly for the dogs (helpless creatures that they are) but the cats get looked in on too now- I can't imagine bring the cats to a sitter,my cats HATE the car

 

[mebbradley]

We have a very ADHD cat. She is practically crazy if we leave overnight (for which we just leave water and food for her). We actually have our youth pastor, since my dad is a minister at the same church; come and spend a few nights or two with her since she is very attention-needy. She was rescued after being dumped in a dumpster and loves attention.

No vet around us with board her since she is so hyper and also so young.

 

[Nadjalu]

It is true that cats prefer to be at home and do better, but they should not be left with just food and water out. HOW CRUEL!!!
As a vet tech I can tell you that it is neglectful to do so, even though cats are self sufficient. And I will say this.......I have seen many owners come home from vacations to find sick, half dead or dead cats due to the fact they were left alone for "X" amount of days.
Cats that are left alone can eat or drink all of the supply of food/water within days and be left to starve or dehydrate. They are ANIMALS they can't ration the fact their owners aren't there. DUH! Sorry but it makes me so mad to think of humans doing this to sweet creatures.

PLEASE do NOT just leave out food and water! Find someone to come in and see to them.

OP sorry to rant on your thread.....but it is irresponsible for people to do what some have done. I hope that you can find a trusted friend or your vet to board your kitty with. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[daisyduck123]

We have two different neighbors whom we have called on to watch our cats during our WDW trips.

Whichever family is watching our cats, we just have them come in once a day to feed/water/scoop litter. Sometimes the whole family comes over to watch some tv & spend some time with our kitties.

We have never payed them with cash. Both families are Disney fanatics & we always just bring them back lots of Disney goodies/souvenirs such as tote bags, hats, lanyards with pins, etc.

 

[nexttrip4us]

We trade cat-sitting with my ILs...we always watch their cat when they're gone and they check in every day on our two cats when we're gone.

ITA that someone needs to come and check on them...the last time we were gone, somewhere in the 24 hours between the time my MIL came, the two cats (they're just over 1 year old) locked themselves in one of our kids rooms...the door had been closed, but somehow they opened it (we have lever handles so not entirely out of the question) and shut it. They were fine, but I was very thankful someone was coming in every day.

 

[Danauk]

When we go away both our cats and rabbits stay at home. Either our next door neighbours comes around twice a day to feed them, or we have relatives come and house sit for us. I would not take them out of their home environment as they would not react well to that and would not just leave food and water for them.

 

[smokeyblue]

We feel very guilty about leaving him alone. We got him last year and he was a stray. He came to my parents rural home and they brought him to the shelter. He was there for two weeks and nobody adopted him so we got him. He is pretty self sufficient, but he does require a lot of play. If we did leave him here I would probably have someone check on him daily and have my SIL check in on him too-she comes to "town" where I live 5 times a week for work.

 

[Judy in Texas]

The neighbor girl is in 8th grade and she started taking care of the cats this year. I give her $50 a week. She comes once a day after school, brings in the paper/mail, feeds, scoops, waters, and cleans up the flood that Sam Kitty makes when playing in the water. Funny the only time he makes a mess of the water is when I'm on vacation. I used to have a tech from the vet's office come by and will go back to her if one of the cats develops a health problem. She charges $20 a day.

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

we pay DD's friend $10/day to come by to feed water and play fetch (yes, we have one that fetches) with the cats.

I've thought about boarding, but one is a shelter cat twice over (the fetcher) and I'm worried he might think he's going back to shelter never to see us again!

Yes, I will grow into the crazy cat lady down the street...almost there, I know.

 

[C&OsMommy]

I pay the 10 yr old neighbor $2/day to come and feed him. She loves to play with him too.

We will bring her back a little gift too.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My next door neighbor and I trade kitty/house sitting services. We each keep each other's key and just have to let each other know when. The 1st time, we gave her a gift card and she insisted we never do that again, just watch her kitty when they go away.
We both travel often so it all evens out.
Dh always shovels snow off their driveway and sidewalks (both retired) so I don't mind asking now.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

When I go on vacation, the kittys go on vacation. Im lucky to have a loving old grandma who loves my 3 crazy fur babies as much as she loves hers. She wines about having 4 cats at the house but deep down I know she loves wacthing my cats play (hers is old). I dont pay her but I get her a good sovuineer. My cats visit her alot (any time Im up near her house, so usally once a month) so they are totally confortable there.

 

[Carol17]

We have a cat sitter come into our home on a daily basis when we are away. I am a big worrier, so I must have someone in every single day to check on them. However, one of my cats is very shy, and usually hides under the bed when the sitter comes. So, we have a little camera set up looking into the kitchen where their food is. The camera has a motion sensor and will take a picture and email it when one of the cats walks by. We can also watch the camera live and see what is going on. It has given me such peace of mind to know that not only do we have a reliable person coming in daily, but I can also check in on them on the webcam. I know, a little....I don't know, obsessive perhaps, but what can I say. I love them, I worry about them, and I just feel so much better to be able to see them with my own eyes every day. We pay the sitter $20 for a 40 minute visit daily. She gives food, water,cleans litter, hunts them down if they are napping somewhere, plays with them(well, just one, the other is shy) gives him a brush or play with a toy with him, leaves treats for my shy cat in front of the camera so we can see him. The sitter can also bring in papers,mail, water plants if required.