I am cat-sitting for a week and I managed to do an amazingly stupid thing last night. I locked myself out of the condo where I’m cat-sitting. None of the neighbors had a spare key, and calls to locksmiths proved futile (one wouldn’t let me in without owner’s permission, which is impossible because she’s out in the boonies in New Mexico, another locksmith company kept saying they would come and just never showed up). Fortunately, the owner is selling her condo and there’s an open house tomorrow, so I called the realtor and will come early so he can let me back in.
The cats should have been fed tonight by 7pm (quarter can wet food and half cup dry food for each cat), and I won’t be able to get in tomorrow until 11am. I’m assuming I should feed them a regular meal when I arrive, but I am also planning on coming again later in the evening. Should I feed them again? A full meal, or just a half meal? I feel really awful, especially since I know they look forward to the evening company because they miss their owner. Any ideas on how to make it up to them?
Shoot, wish I’d though of that. Unfortunately, they’re a 45-minute drive away… And it’s in a bad part of town and it’s late… Excuses, excuses, I know, but I don’t feel comfortable going over there right now. Poor kitties
They’ll be okay. Ever watch the lions on Wild Kingdom? They don’t eat every day. You can give them extra next time you see them, and they’ll probably show you their displeasure, but you probably won’t open the door to find picked clean kitty skeletons.
I have twice called a locksmith to let me into a house; neither time was I asked for ID and, in fact, I wasn’t even asked if the house was mine! Made me a bit nervous (particulary because one of the houses I had to get into wasn’t mine).
As for the cats, they’ll be fine. If they don’t free feed, I’d spend about half an hour feeding them, doling out a bit of food at a time. When my cat was on regimented feeding times, and I missed a feeding time, I would feed her as soon as I could. She’d eat so fast, though, that she’d make herself sick, so I would give her just a few pieces of dry food at a time, enough so that she wouldn’t scarf it all down. And after about 15-20 minutes, she had enough in her belly that she wouldn’t throw up.
But will you walk in to find dead cats? No. Just complainy ones.
Cats do not need to eat every day. They WANT to, but they don’t need to. They can actually go quite a while without food. My biggest cat has at least another whole cat’s worth hidden under his fluff.
I did the medical work for a trailer full of cats (total number close to one hundred). The owner was in the hospital for close to 2 weeks before a neighbor called the cops. The cats ate whatever they could, tearing open packages in the pantry, etc. A few older animals died. One of the shelter workers told me that the females must be spayed, I told her there was no evidence of that. She mentioned that there were no kittens present. I pointed out that cats will eat whatever they can rather than starve.
may I just say that you should go around to schools with your stories and talk to sixteen year olds that want to be vets because they get to work with lots of cute doggies and kitties.
What do you mean by that? Do you think it is a bad idea for people to know what they are getting into? I have worked for vets and in other animal welfare fields for almost 30 years, and you do see some horrible things people have done to animals, or things people have allowed to happen because of mental illness or neglect. Veterinary Medicine is a tough field; it takes top grades in some tough subjects to even be considered for admission to a good school. Kids considering it need to know the downside as well as the “fluffy kitten” side.
Sorry for the hijack, starryspice. I also recommend feeding the small amounts at first because a lot of cats will gorge when they’re hungry - then throw it up. They won’t have come to any harm missing a meal, but they will be rather pissed off at you!
But don’t you think that the vet school application process already sorts that out? My best friend from grade school was turned down from vet school even though she had a 3.9 in college and lovely test scores because she didn’t have enough experience working with a vet–she took a year, worked at a vet, reapplied and got in without a problem.
The realtor let me in so I got my key back and fed the cats. I was expecting them to be pissed or at least sulky, but they seemed fine, rubbing up against me as usual and letting me pet them. They’re very friendly cats in general. I couldn’t stay long because of the open house, but I will go back again this evening to give them some more food if they want it and to play with them.
Thanks for the advice on how fast to feed them. I fed them the wet food all at once because it didn’t seem like too much, and then I waited a bit before feeding them the dry food. The fat cat Sadie ate the wet food really quickly but the dry food pretty slowly, so hopefully she’ll be ok. The more skinny cat Smudge ate both pretty slowly, so she’ll be fine.
starryspice: After they eat, there is nothing wrong with setting out an large bowl full of dry food, allowing them to “free feed”.
When I go away I also set one of the faucets to drip slightly into a plastic bowl so there is always water. And some cats like to play with the dripping water.
