Wants to leave young cat to fend for itself whilst on holiday

[Catsaver]

I have been dating someone for a few weeks, and we have been getting along very well… I thought.

This evening, she told me she was going on holiday, and mentioned a young cat in passing… she hadn’t actually mentioned she had a pet at all!
I asked: “Who will be taking care of the cat?”
I was told that the cat would take care of herself!
What about water? “Cat never drinks at home”
And food: “Cat is a good hunter”
Can I collect your cat to be rehomed? “No, cat will be lost and confused to be taken to a strange place”

What would you do?

It made me very sad and upset to think of a cat coming “home” one day to find the family have upped sticks and left one day and all the doors and windows are closed!

Domestic cats don't hunt for food.
That's right. Mine catch mice and rats then just play with them.

Old cat would eat mice and birds, and was happy to nip into other cats' houses to eat.

I know. I was responding to the poster that said they can't be left at all

This. Agree with it all.

My two can manage overnight with food and water provided but any longer than that they either go to the cattery or a friend comes in twice a day to feed them and let them in and out.

I couldn't breathe the same air as someone who proposed this kind of neglect and I wouldn't be able to refrain from telling them what I thought of them.

I used to leave mine for long weekends with clockwork timer feeders and plenty of water. They were fine, although I just know the fat cat sat waiting for the timer to click round. Automatic feeders are great.

People who live in the country have pet cats that aren’t your typical domestic cat that stay indoors all the time. They spend nights in outhouses and with a dish of water and large dish of dry food and hunting skills they will be perfectly fine for a week

About a year.
One week.
Suburb.

We have left DCat for a couple of days with an auto feeder of wet and dry food He doesn't drink water, in fact none of the cats I gave had over 50 years, have ever drunk water from an indoor water bowl.

When we go away now, the next door neighbour comes in once a day, but the cat doesn't really like him! He did go to the local cattery, but now that had closed, which is sad.

Oh, and cats do hunt for food. He eats at least a mouse a day. Always bits and pieces of mousy insides stuck to the kitchen floor in the morning.

No cat flap.

She has now said to me she will get a friend to feed the cat, I said how often, she said daily, I said twice a day? She said yes. I’m not sure I believe her entirely.

I asked her to please let me collect the cat, she said “case closed, end of discussion”.

Wondering who it is you think I am?

I was initially told cat would be locked OUT of the house.

How fucking dismissive. And rude.

Could you go every few days and leave a bowl of food and water out for the cat?

I have four and we’re going away in the summer for two weeks. I’m stressing about whether they will be ok (will they miss us? Will they wonder where we’ve gone? Will they be upset??) and I have a rota of several neighbours set up to come twice a day not just for food and water but for attention and strokes.

I’ve done the same for them - they all have cats - and I usually spend 15/20 mins giving their cats some strokes and cuddles. I feel so bad leaving them alone. One of mine is a kitten who we found on the street and is very attached to me. She’ll be about a 15 months old when we go. I hate the thought of her wondering where I am.

Is it me that’s over the top, anthropomorphising the cats and putting human emotions on them or is this person just treating them like an animal. It’s inconceivable to me to do what she’s doing.

I have an automated cat feeder, with 2 meals and leave Fred for up to 3 nights with lots of biscuits and water. He's fine. A week is too much though

Can you go to check if a friend is feeding the cat?

A cat shouldn’t be shut out with no food or water, that’s very cruel. My cat is a hunter and will sometimes eat what he catches but I once read that a cat needs to catch 9 mice a day to live on, which is quite a lot. And water may not be available.

I was absolutely shocked and appalled to hear someone mention doing something so cruel and mean so casually. I’ve never witnessed anyone admit to planning doing something so awful!

Why not just re home the cat, you clearly aren’t cut out for taking care of a pet.

Dump her immediately and report her to rspca. This is not someone you want to be with. Generally how someone treats animals is a good indicator of the type of person they are.

Distance is a problem.

I couldn’t agree more.

It’s not just a lack of empathy, but out and out meaness.

I don’t think that’s quite the same as what the OP is describing. Sounds like the cat is just going to be shut out, with nobody coming in to feed it etc.

Awful. And what exactly is the cat expected to hunt when it’s locked in a house? Is the place teeming with mice or something?

That would be the end of the relationship for me. Poor cat.

When I go away, I have a pet sitter come twice a day. She plays with my cat, gives her a cuddle and tops up her food and water.

I prefer someone to come and stay as my cat doesn’t like being on her own (lockdown kitten). She cries outside the bathroom when we’re in the loo!

This owner needs challenging very firmly. I’d try to persuade her to rehome the cat.

It sounds like a feral/rural cat... I had feral cats all through childhood, they are wild animals and the whole point is they look after themselves.

Another person had a whole colony that formed in a cat den they built in the garden. Never let them in the house or had to feed them because they weren't pets, they are wild and great hunters for the area. It's no different to setting up a bird feeder but you wouldn't catch wild bird and send them off to a pet sitter. Only time they where ever 'caught' is if they needed medical treatment. They are not domestic, they did not grow up being petted by humans and its massively stressful to them to trap and move them unnecessarily.

Even house cats though can easily go a weekend without people as long as they have access to food/water.

I doubt whether an indoor only cat in the suburbs is feral. Agree this sounds vile. Please save this cat (then watch the papers and wait for the news story in 10 years time that reports her arrest for leaving a toddler at home alone while she goes on holiday).

I've left my cats at home alone for several days, but they had food, water, and a friend coming in to check on them daily. The cat from the OP's story has been abandoned and is effectively a stray now, so I would indeed go there and take it to a CPL shelter if I find it.