My husband and I acquired a 15-year-old tabby called Oedipus about 6 months ago, from a friend who had to find a new home for him. Oedi’s settled in really well with us, but the problem is that we’re planning a trip to the US (I live in the UK) in November to see my stepfather, who’s very elderly and not doing well at all - it might be that this is the last time we’ll see him. Obviously this has priority over anything else, but at the same time we have a responsibility to the cat, too. We’re in the middle of planning how long to go for, and I’m trying to decide how long we could reasonably leave Oedi.
We’ve left him for a week twice since we got him (with the neighbors coming in to feed him twice a day), which he seems OK with, but this would be for at least 2 weeks, or even longer. The thing is, I haven’t seen my family in almost 2 years, and don’t know when we’ll be able to afford it again. I want to be able to spend time with them, but I feel conflicted because of Oedi - I just think of him being alone and depressed, and confused because he doesn’t know where we are.
Am I overreacting? Would he be fine, and I’m just being a great big wuss?
Do cats have any perception of time? Does 2 weeks, 18 days, 21 days make much difference to them? Should I board him if we stay longer than 2 weeks? He’s a very shy, wary cat until he gets to know you, and I think he’d find being boarded hugely stressful (especially at his age), but would it be better than leaving him on his own? Though the neighbors will come in twice a day to feed him while we’re away, he’s never really warmed to them, so he’d basically be alone the whole time. (Though he does sleep about 22 hours out of 24!)
We’ve had to board a cat a few times some years ago and he really hated it. When we got him back he would not speak to us for about a week. Really furious at us.
Now we have had several occasions to hire a cat sitter to come in and clean the litter box, feed and baby them. Well, one at least, the other just stays under the bed until she leaves. In any case, this is far preferable, IMHO, than anything else.
Trick is, of course, to find a good sitter. One way is to check with your vet (and some others if necessary), for suggestions for sitters. In many cases here, some of the office or technical staff do this part-time.
However, if the neighbors are willing, and the cats don’t positively hate them, I’d think that would be fine. If they tolerate it for a week, I don’t think 2-3 weeks would make any difference. Whether cats are able to discern the time difference, I don’t know, but doubt it.
Your guy may not exactly be overjoyed about it all, but under the circumstances, I think he’d be far happier at home than being boarded, with new smells, sounds, people, etc.
I’ve gone away for two weeks or more on vacations, leaving the cats with a pet sitter (someone who comes to my house to feed them, scoop the litter, etc). I think they’re more comfortable staying in their own home than they would be if I boarded them. They always remember me when I come home–although they do tend to be unforgiving for a few days afterwards, and seem anxious when I go out of the house even for an hour or two.
I’ve also just been pet-sitting for two cats, keeping them at my house while a friend moved. I had the guest kitties for about two and a half weeks. They made the adjustment fairly well; I think that the cats just accepted that this was their new home and I was their new human, but when my friend returned to pick them up last weekend, the older cat recognized her and ran right up to her. The younger kitty, who is little more than a kitten, was more reluctant to go with her–whether the kitten had forgotten her previous person or was just resentful at being left, I couldn’t say. Who really knows what goes on those furry little brains?
I have worked in a kennel and in a vet office. While good place do love on the animals when they can, they don’t get a whole awful lot of attention. I have also noticed cats that were not used to bording were very unhappy witht he whole situation. I alwasy have my mom come and take care of Fonziecat while I am away. Even if they are alone, they are better off in their own homes.
My mom has a cat - and travels extensively. She has a good friend pet sit the cat. She said it was important that Sven and the sitter got a long and they do just fine. She’s been gone as much as four weeks at a time. That was a bit rough she said, and wouldn’t be gone that long again (he wouldn’t speak to her when she returned) but two weeks should be just fine.
Although most boarding kennels do the best they can, most cats do much better at home. A lot of kennels don’t have soundproofed areas for cats, and the constant sound of barking dogs can be very stressful for a cat who isn’t used to it.
A pet-sitter, or your neighbors, should be fine. Try to find someone who will take a little extra time to pet or play with your cat - it can make a world of difference. You might get snubbed when you get back but the cat should be ok.
I went on vacation last summer for two weeks - the first real vacation Mr. SCL and I had had in over 10 years. I was ready to come home the first week - I missed my babies! I knew they were being well cared for, but it wasn’t the same!
When I was a kid I did cat-sitting regularly, frequently for two weeks. I imagine the cats would have been fine with that for longer as well.
Cats are pretty independent creatures, for the most part, and will manage all right without company. If your cat-sitter is a teenager who loves cats and will thus spend a half hour to an hour every so often playing with the cat (or something similar – honestly a lot of my ‘playing with the cat’ time with one of the cats I looked after was me sitting and reading while the cat occupied himself elsewhere) the cat will probably be okay as long as you need.
I am a professionl pet sitter, and I agree with the others that your kitty would prefer to stay home. Very few cats will pine for you and stop eating, like some dogs will, as long as they get to be in their familiar place, but some cats do get much more friendly and affectionate with the sitter. If you have a reliable neighbor or friend that can come in, that’s fabulous. If you want more peace of mind, and on a budget, some people go with the sitter every other day, and the friend or neighbor every day. This way you have twice the assurance that someone will make sure the cat is fed and watered, and you don’t have to ask a friend to do the litter box. However, if anything should go wrong there might be some dispute over who is responsible. Just a warning. Professional sitters are bonded and carry insurance, if that’s a factor for you. They are also very familiar with cats and their ailments, and might be more likely to notice a health problem should one come up.
Asking friends and your vet is a good way to find a sitter, and there is also petsit.com, where you can use your zip code to find local sitters.
If you know of anyone who is retired or unemployed and likes cats, consider taking your cat to someone else’s home. I used to take my kitty to my grandpa’s for 2 week cat sittings. She liked all the space and windows and birdies and squirrels and he liked having the company. They spent their days and nights with one asleep and the other pestering the sleeper. He would wake up and look for her and pet her then go back to sleep…where she would run in and jump on him to wake him up for more petting. Now, this could have been easier for her because I used to take her there with me when I went over to visit, but you have time to get the kitty used to someone else’s house. Unfortunately my grandfather isn’t as well as he used to be, and now live 500+ miles away from me and my cat, so I hired a college student who’s girlfriend was out of town to come over and play with the kitten. She was still happy to see me, but she was just fine with him and was obviously well cared for. Get references for any petsitter you don’t already know…but if your neighbor is OK with it, go with the neighbor. I honestly think cats have an inaccurate concept of time. They seem to have ‘just happened’ ‘happened a little bit ago’ and ‘instict tells me it may have happened at some point in history’
Thanks for all the responses, everyone. I agree that a cat-sitter would be the ideal option, but I don’t think it’s an idea that’s really caught on here in the UK yet, and I’d probably have a hard time finding one. But enough of you think that he’ll be fine with the neighbors coming in twice a day to reassure me that he’ll be OK (if a bit grouchier than usual!), so thanks for that - it’s a huge weight off my mind. They’re both cat people, and I’m sure they’ll try to spend a bit of time with him while we’re gone. (Plus he has a cat-flap and can go outside, though he doesn’t venture out very often.)
I’d gladly take him with us, Snakes on a Plane, but I doubt he’d appreciate being put into quarantine for 6 months when we tried to re-enter the UK.
One other option which may be available is boarding at a cats-only vet. I agree that a pet sitter is best, but if for whatever reason that won’t work, my cat is much less stressed when she stays at the cats only place than at a co-ed (dogs & cats) vet.
Can you get the friend who gave him to you to stay at your house while you are away? Depending on how far away he lives and his family/job obligations, your friend might appreciate hanging out with his old cat and having a “vacation home” for a few weeks?
We just got back from leaving our cats at home for two weeks with just Jim’s parents looking in occasionally, and I’d say that wasn’t the best thing for the girls, based on how they acted when we got back (my cat, normally friendly and curious, was hiding from us when we got back, and very skittish for a little while). I think they would have done better with someone familiar coming in every day, or being somewhere where they would have attention every day. Cats have a reputation for being aloof and self-sufficient, but I’m sure my cats are very attached to their people, and are very used to getting attention from us.
