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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Leaving cats alone for 36 hours?

141 replies

grannysmiff · 25/10/2017 19:52

Would you feel comfortable leaving cats alone in the house with lots of food and water around, leaving at say 10am one day and returning at tea time the next?

OP posts:
SilverSpot · 25/10/2017 23:23

I have just started to occasionally leave mine for one night. If it’s for two I get a cat sitter but he’s not quite a year old yet.

SilverSpot · 25/10/2017 23:24

I leave a big bowl of dry food and wet food with an ice pack and timer release plus a couple of bowls of water.

He has a cat flap and two litter trays.

Lots of toys and some interactive ones and some treat ones.

He’s ok left for 36 hours!

Apocalyptichorsewoman · 25/10/2017 23:52

If they haven't got opposable thumbs yet they should be fine.

LadyLoveYourWhat · 26/10/2017 00:31

Ours are fine for two nights, any longer and we ask the neighbours to feed them. We close most of the internal doors (after checking carefully neither is trapped in a room) so that they only have the run of the stairs, landings and hall, plus the kitchen and access to the cat flap. They poo outside (in Other People's Gardens, I suspect) and we leave food and water out for two days. They're fine (but very pleased to see us when we get home)

Hateloggingin · 26/10/2017 00:39

Whooooo can I be your friend?! I have 9 cats including several devil spawn and also live in the Midlands, we could do cat play dates :D

Twofurrycats · 26/10/2017 00:48

I can leave mine for two nights no problem. Any longer and the tortie hellion destroys the house. To be fair even with a cat sitter she caused havoc and destruction of an epic scale. She loves the cattery though unlike my usually laid back tabby.

maddiemookins16mum · 26/10/2017 07:02

Yes, I've done it for four nights once (a fair while ago). Two feeders, dry food in numerous bowls, water bowls everywhere and 4 litter trays lined up in the hall.
I came back to three used trays, one clean. Lots of water still there and empty feeders but still plenty of dry food.

WhooooAmI24601 · 26/10/2017 10:11

Whooooo can I be your friend?! I have 9 cats including several devil spawn and also live in the Midlands, we could do cat play dates :D

Hah anyone mad enough to have 9 cats definitely qualifies as friendship material!

DenPerry · 26/10/2017 10:22

I've done it for 6 nights at the most and he was fine, we left tons of food and water out and he had run of the house. We had previously put him in catteries but he always came back stressed, plus they need them to have injections plus cost of boarding. I think it depends on the cat... I wouldn't have left my last two as they were so clingy.

HungerOfThePine · 26/10/2017 10:29

36 hours is fine, I do that with my dcat and she copes but any longer then I have to draft someone in to keep her company,
did that once for 6 days with someone living there for a few and popping in and she still didn't talk to me for a week after I returned.
She is a cat that loves company/people and I couldn't live with the guilt of her loneliness.

whooo love the sound of your cat Grin.

Toddlerteaplease · 26/10/2017 10:36

Woohoo. Can me and my girls come on a play date? They are too well behaved and need to be led astray. I cried laughing at your posts.

mirime · 26/10/2017 10:41

They'll be fine. When we go on holiday my DPs come and feed the cats every other day. We have a timed feeder so they can't eat all the food within five minutes of being left. We leave extra water out and some extra bowls of dried food around.

I think they appreciate the peace and quiet of not having a four year old around as they don't sulk for as long as they used to once we're back.

3catsandcounting · 26/10/2017 11:11

Laughing at the 'trashed house' comments. It obviously depends on whether it's a Friday or Saturday night, and how many mates they invite back?!
Seriously though, mine often get left for 36 hours, and they're fine. Big bowl of water, plenty of dried food, big meal before we leave. They have a catflap and access to a huge field behind us, so go and grab a takeaway if they get peckish.

ShowMePotatoSalad · 26/10/2017 11:18

No way.

To all the people saying "cats can survive with no water for x amount of time". That's a terrible attitude. Surely you wouldn't want your pet to suffer the discomfort of being water?

Even if you leave a bowl of water down for them they could accidentally knock it over, or they could drink it all and run out. Why would your attitude to that just be "meh?"

36 hours is far too long. Get someone to check in on them regularly.

Laska5772 · 26/10/2017 11:20

We did this a couple of months ago and although we had timed cat feeders and left three days worth of food the cat was having a 'I am not coming through the cat flap but only the door, if you please ' phase .I got back horrified to find no food had been eaten and he'd obviously been living in the garden.

He was absolutely fine seemed a bit hungry but didn't devour everything.

Since then (we've had explanatory words) hes started coming back through the flap. I left him again for two days a couple of weeks ago , no problem..

BertrandRussell · 26/10/2017 11:20

My cats never drink the water I dutifully leave out for them- they seem to prefer stagnant puddles.

messyjessy17 · 26/10/2017 11:20

It's not too long. If your cats can knock over the water bowl, you have the wrong bowl. If you run out, you haven't left enough down.
It really is very simple.

Cats do not need regularly checking on in a day and a half. They are not dogs.

GrockleBocs · 26/10/2017 11:21

I left my cats for 36 hours with no worries at all on a regular basis and never had a problem. Plenty of food, plenty of water and leave them to it.

Laska5772 · 26/10/2017 11:23

our cat only drinks puddle water also . Its tastier you know (green flower pot water is also yummy it seems)

ShowMePotatoSalad · 26/10/2017 11:24

Oh here we go.

Leaving any pet for 36 hours - hamster, dog, cat, tortoise, rat, mouse, flamin' mongoose...is wrong. In my opinion.

Gumbo · 26/10/2017 11:44

I'm amazed by and jealous of all the people who merrily leave out an automated/timed cat feeder, and return to find all is well.

I did this once a few years ago - I also left out plenty of extra dry food separately in case they were especially hungry - but it appeared that my cats had happily eaten the food that the cat feeder had offered them, then noticed that it was 'withholding' some more... so duly ripped it apart and devoured all the food! I returned find the cat feeder in bits all over the kitchen and one of the cats smugly hiding a crowbar behind his back . Now I just leave several bowls of food for them to help themselves to...

HighwayDragon1 · 26/10/2017 11:47

Yes, but no longer than that.

DCat is fine with a load of food left for her, she will eat when she is hungry, she has a big water bowl so no issues there. I don't like doing it because she might get lonely.

JustDanceAddict · 26/10/2017 11:48

Yes.

messyjessy17 · 26/10/2017 12:03

Leaving any pet for 36 hours - hamster, dog, cat, tortoise, rat, mouse, flamin' mongoose...is wrong. In my opinion

If you can't tell the difference between, say, a tortoise and a mongoose, I really hope you don't have any pets at all!

Who cares if you think its wrong? Not OP's cats, certainly.

EvilRinguBitch · 26/10/2017 12:06

That’s why you leave 3 bowls of water in different areas Show. If they are so spectacularly unlucky as to manage to knock over/contaminate all three in the first couple of hours and there aren’t any puddles in the garden then at least you know they won’t come to physical harm.

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