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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

Will the kittens be ok over the weekend?

13 replies

NameChange30 · 04/12/2014 21:02

We have two kittens (brother and sister) that are 15 weeks old. We're going away for 48 hours (Friday afternoon - Sunday afternoon) and we've asked our friends if they can come over on the Saturday afternoon to top up the kitten's food, change their water, empty the litter tray, and give them some attention (play or cuddles depending on their mood!) But will this be enough? I'm worried about the kittens being by themselves for 2 x 24 hours. Should we take them to a cattery instead?

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NameChange30 · 04/12/2014 21:04

PS Actually they will be 4 months old (16.5 weeks) by the time we go away for the weekend... So they're still little but not tiny babies any more.

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Fluffycloudland77 · 04/12/2014 21:24

Which would worry you less? Cattery or friends coming in?.

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NameChange30 · 04/12/2014 21:28

Well in a cattery I know they'd be checked twice a day (morning and evening) whereas I feel it's a lot to ask our friends to pop in several times over the weekend. I trust them to look after the kittens fine, I will just worry about kittens going a bit stir crazy over the 24 hours and making a mess.

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Fluffycloudland77 · 04/12/2014 22:27

Ok, so could you find a cattery you like before you go away?.

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atticusclaw · 04/12/2014 22:33

Well I'll tell you our experience.

We went away for three nights so slightly longer. Someone came in to feed them whilst we were away. We came back to a horrible mess, they'd clearly been stressed out by the fact nobody was there and had pooped everywhere. It was literally all over the place. Added to that ours were slightly older and had a cat flap and had brought in a rabbit which they'd then proceed to mangle and leave bits of scattered all over the kitchen.

We walked in to a scene from a horror movie. They now go to the cattery every time.

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munchkin2902 · 04/12/2014 22:49

We went away on a Saturday morning and came back Sunday night when ours were about 6 ninths old.

Opened the front door to a dead squirrel in the hall.

To be fair we've left them since then with a feeder coming in and they've been fine.

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shaska · 04/12/2014 23:40

We leave ours for 48 hours with someone coming in once a day probably 4/5 times a year and everything's always fine. I have the same dilemma re cattery but I feel like the stress of that isn't worth it for such a short time.

Once the mad one peed on the bed, but she does that occasionally anyway, so it was hard to tell if it was related to our absence...

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Leela5 · 05/12/2014 07:43

I would twice a day - or put them in a Cattery. Ideally cats need small regular feeds and especially at 4 months as they are little. Also there's the aspect of being stressed - it can lead to toileting the house which is hard to break once started (speaking from experience!)

I'm sure your friends wouldn't mind, getting to see cute kittens twice a day

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jessabell · 05/12/2014 07:56

We leave ours for a few days with someone coming in to feed. Any longer send them to cattery. They look happier than being left for a week with someone coming in. They do pick up bad habits from the cattery / meow a bit when home but soon forget. It

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Leela5 · 05/12/2014 08:00

I would agree - mine are happier after Cattery. I think they get very stressed left in house alone. They have started peeing on bed before.

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tabulahrasa · 05/12/2014 08:12

I leave my cats with someone feeding them twice a day...but I don't think I'd leave kittens that age, mostly because they're still doing silly things at that age and I'd worry they might get hurt or stuck somewhere and no - one would know for potentially a whole day.

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abigamarone · 05/12/2014 15:12

Left ours at similar age for about 4 days in summer, someone came in the evening the day we left and twice a day until the day we came back, when they came in the morning. They had instructions to play for a while besides feeding, but somehow I don't think they minded. Kittens were fine (if a little standoffish) when we got back.

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NameChange30 · 05/12/2014 21:13

Thanks everyone for your replies. I decide to ask the person we got the kittens from, she is SIL's friend so we know her a bit. She has two cats including the kittens' mum. She has already said she'd love to have them It's a bit of a drive but we know they'll be well looked after there!

If we were going away just for one night, I'd leave them at home and ask our friends to come over twice (evening and morning). But as it's two nights and they're still quite small I'd rather not risk it. Maybe when they're older it would be ok.

I agree a cattery is best for longer periods. We're going away for a week over Christmas and booked the cattery ages ago. I'll be sad to leave them though!