So I am thinking about maybe possibly getting a cat. Maybe.
But I may have to travel some this year, for two weeks or more at a time. None of my friends live close enough to conveniently come and feed the beastie.
What do you do with yours?
Well, two weeks is a bit long to simply put out some extra food bowls and water. That’s what we do when we travel, but I don’t think I would be comfortable doing that for more than 4-5 days. Some pet stores and veterinarians offer a boarding service.
Up to 4 days, extra food and water. Longer than that and they get sent to a Kitty Motel. Luckily, we have several good places closeby to board the girls if need be.
You can also look for petting sitting services. Some will offer services to come and feed your cats once a day and spend some time with them as well. All for a fee of course.
Kill it. Buy a new one when I get home.
Oh wait … I don’t have a cat … .
For 1-3ish days extra food and water, for 3ish to 7ish days, ask someone to look in on it every couple of days. For longer than that, I would try to get someone to catsit.
I use a sitter that I found through Pet Sitters International. It worked well for me because she is also willing to pick up the mail, water plants, make the place looked lived in, etc.
I have a hottub to encourage my friends to come over and feed the cats when I’m gone.
Seriously, I pay someone to come visit them every day. I nearly always know somebody who’s out of work and can use the money.
I have a sitter. She comes twice a day when I’m gone. I’m in the veterinary industry, though, so I can always find people to help if she’s unavailable. I’ve got a special needs cat, so more than a day without people around is not an option. Also my boy is really attached to me, and if I’m gone more than 2 days he starts having diarrhea from nervousness (unless my usual sitter is there, then he’s fine). They also get meal-fed, so leaving “extra” food out would be useless.
I boarded my cats in a kennel a few years ago. The place had cats and barking dogs together in the same room. When I got them back, it was about a month before they were back to normal.
Last year I decided to board them with my “cats only” vet. It was only a dollar a day more, per cat, than the other place, and the cats were very happy. The assistants played with them every day, and were sorry to see them go.
Hire a local teenager to come in twice a day and feed them. The kids love the cats, the responsibility and the money. Ask anyone if they have a reliable babysitter. If the kid’s responsible enough to look after other small children, she’s certainly responsible enough to look after cats. Generally cheaper than kennels and much pleasanter for the cat.
I was going to suggest this. You could butcher it, store it in the freezer, and have a nice little dinner when you get home. Not sure how legal that is in the OP’s country.
My parents would usually just ask a neighbor/family member to take care of our dogs. (if distance is a problem, they might be willing to actually house them) We had a few cats, but they were all barn cats, so they could handle themselves without our intervention.
Barring that, I second the boarding service recommendation. And, as panache45 alludes to, it is important to inspect and know the boarding services’ kennels beforehand. There are plenty of really good services out there, but there even more lousy ones.
Do not hire my friend Lisa’s brother in law to house/cat sit. He sent my friend Lisa the following FALSE text message:
We regularly go away for long weekends (3-4 days) and leave the two fuzzy landsharks with 2 large bowls of food, a running fountain, a water jug gravity fed bowl and a bowl of water kept under the dripping bathtub faucet. That way if the stupid things drop food in their gravity bowl, they’ve got two other options, at least until the fountain runs out and starts sputtering. I don’t mind leaving them like that for a week, and would probably even do it for two, except that our mailbox is too small for that. Since I have to ask someone to take the mail in, they might as well check on the cats, too.
My biggest problem is that when we’re away for the longest time (about 2.5 weeks in July), almost all of our friends are away too, at the same campground we go to! I’m running into the red on the Neighbor Debt sheet, so I might have to break down and hire someone this year.
4 cats. Two days or less, we leave extra dry food and water.
Longer than that, we have a pet sitter come in once a day to feed and make sure they’re ok. They’re widely available, and it’s cheap to have one pop in for 10 minutes.
I was thinking “stick 'em in the freezer, and then thaw 'em out when you get back.”
What? :dubious:
Basically what LavenderBlue said, with the added suggestion that if you are not sure where to find one, you could call the local high school and ask a teacher or principal to recommend a responsible kid who might like to pick up some extra cash.
I love returning to my cats after a long trip. Usually the older one, Gecko, is too jealous to stay in bed with me if the other cat joins us - she stalks off in a huff, so I’m limited to one cat at a time. But Gecko is so grateful to see me after I’ve been gone that she’ll even put up with the other cat. So for a couple of nights, I get TWO cats sleeping in bed with me at the same time.
If it’s three days (long weekend) or less, we leave out extra food and water and leave them home. Sure they have wild parties, but as long as we’ve got the computers disconnected and our credit cards hidden, how much trouble could they get into?
Longer than that, and it’s off to the Kitty Condo. This is an all-cat boarding place, and they are out of the cage most of the time, but they still regard it as jail. They are such good kitties, for weeks after they get home.
I’ve been a professional pet sitter for close to eleven years now, and I really recommend you hire one, unless you can find someone really reliable to help you out.
You wouldn’t believe some of the horror stories I’ve heard about people who asked teenagers, neighbors and coworkers. Of course, I’m sure this works out, a lot of the time, but just a few of the worst ones are:
Owner asked neighbor to care for a dog. The neighbor either forgot or blew it off, and after a few days, the anxious, hungry dog jumped out a window and broke a leg, which led to other complications and huge vet bills.
Owner asked neighbor to feed cat. Neighbor’s kid borrowed owner’s car without permission and crashed it.
Owner hired teenager to watch pets. Teenager threw a drunken party, causing about ten grand in damages.
Owner asked mother to watch two cats. Mother dropped them off at the Humane Society. Only one recovered.
Owner asked coworker to house sit and watch indoor cats during extended trip. Coworker decides she doesn’t want to be bothered, puts cats out on deck with insufficient food. Only two out of four recovered.
If you hire a professional, you can ask for references and make sure they are insured. There are likely several in your area, so you can pick one whose manner and prices suit you.
As for boarding, there aren’t many good places to board cats. Most places that offer it put them in a cage, surrounded by other cats(which most cats hate) and in earshot of a lot of barking dogs(which scares them).
If you leave a cat alone several days, you are taking the chance that it won’t get sick, or get into some kind of trouble, like getting itself shut in a closet, tangled in the blind cords, or get its head stuck in a fishbowl(yes, I’ve seen this happen).
I have a friend and we trade each others services for vacations.
She is also a vet tech at my vet’s office, so I trust her with everything and she knows my cats well.
I suggest calling your vet and asking if any of the technicians/assistants do that sort of thing. I’m sure you can find someone trustworthy through the vet and ask if the person is bonded or has insurance.