My wife and I are planning a 17-day vacation at the end of September. We have a cat: 1 year old, and we’ve had him for 6 months. I’ve had cats before, but I’ve never faced the situation of caring for a cat when away for so long.
We have a pet sitter, who we’ve used for long weekends, who will come by once/day to feed & clean out the kitty litter.
The cat is shy – whenever we have company he stays well hidden. None of our friends, family, or pet sitter has seen him (although he’s perfectly sociable when it’s just the 2 of us at home).
What would be the least traumatic way of caring for the kitty while we’re gone?
Kennel?
Daily pet sitter?
Finding someone to house-sit?
Finding someone to take him in?
Staying in the house with daily pet-sitter care sounds like your best bet. At least you have used the person before and have reason to trust that they will actually show up. Moving the cat is probably the worst option, as it would probably be uncomfortable and confused in a new environment. How would it even know you were ever returning for it?
Obviously it can vary depending on the kitty, but I used to take 2-3 week vacations away from my two cats. Initially I just had my sister come to my house and take care of them each day. They were fine without me there until about the two week mark, then they would start howling and knocking stuff over. I then decided to bring them to her house before I left instead, and have them stay there the whole time. Turned out they did much better like that.
I think maybe it’s a case of them being less upset that I’m not there because they’re not at their regular home anyway. IOW being in a familiar setting with me gone was actually worse than being in a strange (but still safe & comfortable) setting with me gone. Sort of like because they weren’t at home it was more ok that I wasn’t there too.
My sister had a whole bedroom set up for them, away from any other animals. She would not only feed them but also spend time playing with them as well, so they did great. They were still always very happy to see me and come back home. Did this many times without any problems.
Leaving kitties is hard to do…but hey, this one’s easy!
You already have the problem solved: You have a pet sitter.
Okay, so the kitty is shy, and the pet sitter may never see him…But that’s okay…the cat will love you even more when you return.
(just make sure each day that the food in the dish goes down, and the lump in the litter box gets cleaned. The cat will be okay as long as he eats normally. )
Moving a cat is traumatic. It’s always best to leave him in a familiar environment.
I’d consider house-sitting, if your regular pet sitter can. Cats are social, contrary to popular belief, and while they can entertain themselves for a little while, for a 17-day vacation you can expect him to get lonely and stressed out. He may get destructive, or worse, could stop eating which puts him in danger of fatty liver disease.
Even if he hides from the pet sitter for a few days, the presence will help, and eventually he’ll come out. Our girl is very shy and is not to be seen when we have visitors, but it only took her 2 days to decide she was willing to check out my mom when she stayed for a few days. She was approaching mom for pets before she left a couple days later.
So he should have someone who can play with him when he’s ready, and/or pet him, to look after his psychological needs as well as his physical ones, especially since he’s an only cat.
Pet sitter, or house-sitting if you can find someone reliable, for sure. Don’t move the cat elsewhere - he’ll be bewildered, especially since he’s a shy guy and doesn’t bond well with others.
Even if he refuses to come out when the sitter is there, at least s/he can check on the cat’s known hiding places and make sure he’s OK. And encourage her to stick around for a half hour and maybe offer treats, to entice the fellow out for some playtime if possible.
Food can certainly be monitored - we’re sitting for a friend’s cats right now and some days the only evidence they’re alive is that the food and water dishes are empty the next day.
Consider shutting off a few rooms of the house, if feasible, to give the cat fewer places to hide (and easier to find if urgent); our friends shut off the top and bottom floors of their place.