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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To leave cat home alone

78 replies

monkeyallen49 · 20/07/2021 22:23

Family holiday booked for end of August. Usually one of my family would look after our cat while we are away but this time we are all going.

We live rurally and my cat is old, mean and very much an outdoor borderline feral cat. He spends most of his time in the fields and woods around our house. He comes in to be fed then he's scratching to be out again. I'm toying with the idea of asking our neighbour to feed him while we're away and keep an eye on him but basically to leave him outside. With appropriate shelter of course. My only worry is that something happens to him and we're not there.

I honestly feel like putting him in a cattery at his age would be very distressing for him. He hates being inside never mind cooped up. Any suggestions?

OP posts:
OneTC · 20/07/2021 22:24

How long?

HeadNorth · 20/07/2021 22:24

Can't you employ a cat sitter?

FootFlapperage · 20/07/2021 22:24

Yanbu 🙂

Original poster
monkeyallen49 · 20/07/2021 22:25

It's a long weekend so would be Friday to Tuesday.

Do cat sitters exist lol? Presuming that would just be someone coming in to feed him which I'm hoping my neighbour would do.

OP posts:
DingDongDenny · 20/07/2021 22:25

Why don't you fit a cat flap and then he can come and go as he pleases with the neighbours popping in to feed him

FangsForTheMemory · 20/07/2021 22:26

So long as he has food, water and shelter, he'll be fine. I nearly did this with my own cat the other week, but he would probably have broken into the house to sleep on the beds, the twat.

HippeePrincess · 20/07/2021 22:27

Sounds fairly normal especially for an outdoor cat. My cat gets left with food and the neighbours top up as necessary, she uses the cat flap and comes and goes as she pleases as per usual.

LagneyandCasey · 20/07/2021 22:28

I think leaving him at his home where he feels safe is the right thing. Does he have somewhere outside he can hide away from foxes etc?

Your neighbour would really need to commit to visiting twice a day though. Especially if its hot to freshen his water and make him feel like he's not totally alone. There are cat sitters who can visit twice a day for around £15 a day.

Do you have pet insurance?

Longdistance · 20/07/2021 22:38

My cat was like this. He’d come in for a feed and go see his cat friends. My df used to go feed him and also we had a cat flap on a shed door with a bed and a bowl of food for him.
He’ll be fine.

warmfluffytowels · 20/07/2021 22:41

It's fine.

I'm a cat sitter and do plenty of jobs for outdoor cats. I just make sure there's food and fresh water out and if see the cats, it's a bonus but if not, it's no big deal Smile

KirstenBlest · 20/07/2021 22:46

He'll be fine.
I've left mine for a few days but I don't live rurally and DCat is quite capable of operating a catflap including the one at the house opposite
The choice was a cattery where everything would be new, or home where the only thing missing was me and dreamies.

SmidgenofaPigeon · 20/07/2021 22:48

I think he’d be fine. My cats were quite nice and not feral but would basically move out for the summer, they just wouldn’t come inside, and ate out there, and sunned themselves to crisps or slept in the greenhouse when it rained. I tried to bring them in once in a thunderstorm and they went nuts and I thought they might murder me so I let them go again.

As soon as it got to about mid-September they’d come in in the evenings again.

They lived to be 18 so clearly had no effect on their health. I never ever put them in a cattery because I got them when they were left in a cattery and the owner simply never bothered to pick them up, broke my heart to think they might I was going to do that to them.

FreeBritnee · 20/07/2021 22:49

As long as the cat has food and water I’m sure it will be fine.

eddiemairswife · 20/07/2021 22:59

Do any of these cats actually drink the water? When my daughter comes to stay she always gives my cat water , which is ignored.

SmidgenofaPigeon · 20/07/2021 22:59

@eddiemairswife mine only drank water if I left the bowl out to fester…or the pond water…

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 20/07/2021 23:01

@eddiemairswife

Do any of these cats actually drink the water? When my daughter comes to stay she always gives my cat water , which is ignored.
My cat only drinks water if I pour it into a glass and even dare to suggest it might be mine.
ValerieMorghulis · 20/07/2021 23:03

[quote SmidgenofaPigeon]@eddiemairswife mine only drank water if I left the bowl out to fester…or the pond water…[/quote]
Yep - pond or watering can. Nice and slimy!

Flowersandjellybeans · 20/07/2021 23:06

I think that’s the kindest thing to do - and you’re not going for long.

For the vast majority of cats catteries are very distressing

SmidgenofaPigeon · 20/07/2021 23:09

@ValerieMorghulis yep- they liked a good film on top of a manky bowl- if I dared to try to give them fresh I’d get a lot of abuse.

OnTheBoardwalk · 20/07/2021 23:11

Agree cattery would stress him out too much

Has he got shelter and places to get up on if he felt threatened? If yes then absolutely fine to leave him outside and get someone to feed, water him and just check he’s ok

OnTheBoardwalk · 20/07/2021 23:12

Oh mine does drink fresh but also likes to drink rank puddle water if the neighbours are watching

HotPenguin · 20/07/2021 23:22

I think this sounds fine, you could even get a timed feeder so that your neighbour doesn't need to go as frequently.

MrsFin · 20/07/2021 23:27

We've left our cat for as long as 3 weeks. Once, to go to Oz.
We leave here at home for 2 weeks for our annual family holiday and she's fine. She has a cat flap and the neighbours daughter comes twice a day to feed her and give her some love, if she's around.
We often leave her for a long weekend or a week.
She ( the cat, Å„ot neighbours daughter) usually has the hump with us for a couple of days after we get back, but a few dreamies sorts her bad mood out

Cowbells · 20/07/2021 23:40

When we go away, we get a pet care person in to feed DCat twice a day, put down snacks and give him medication. They are professional, qualified and charge £10 a day. Way less stressful than a cattery. He has his manor to prowl in and our beds to shed fur on. Catflaps are great as that means the food can be left inside, in the shade and only he can access it. Outdoor food could get eaten by wildlife.

JoborPlay · 20/07/2021 23:56

We do this. They absolutely hated the cattery when we put them in once. We get someone - friend/ neighbour/ cat-sitter to feed and check on them a couple of times a week, and they have a cat flap.