Holiday in 3 weeks and panicking!

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

We're going to Florida in just over 3 weeks and a friend was going to look after H. I found out today that her shifts have changed and, while she's still happy to do it, the new times won't be any good for Harry. He's a creature of habit and gets stressed easily over silly things.

I've emailed my regular cat sitter to find out if she can step in but I have no idea what I'm going to do if she can't. I can't put him in a cattery so I'll have to try and find another cat sitter which won't be easy at short notice.

I'll be needing Feliway at this rate!

There are a lot around, Pink, and it's not a bad time of year despite the short(ish) notice - not high summer for example. Go and have some gin!

(Do you have the phone number of your usual sitter?)

Why can't you use a cattery?

I've found 3 other cat sitters that cover this area so hopefully someone will be able to do it. If I don't get a reply to my email I'll give the usual cat sitter a call tomorrow - I didn't like to phone her after 9pm on a bank holiday! The embarrassing thing is I cancelled her when my friend offered to look after him!

I just can't bring myself to put him in a cattery girliefriend. He's quite sensitive and pulls out his fur when he's stressed so I prefer to know he's in his own home.

I think I'm spending more time sorting him out than I did choosing our hotel!

He sounds very spoilt pampered hope you can find someone.

Oh he is - and he's worth it! If he went to a cattery I'd spend the whole holiday worrying about him which of course I will do anyway!

I hope you find someone.

Our cattery has pens with a webcam but I refuse to ask for them, Dh would spend all his time trying to decipher the cats mood & we'd never get to do anything.

I'm sure one of his colleagues has a home CCTV system linked to an app & she can talk to her pet while she's at work.

Have you actually told DH that he could have a webcam if he wanted?

I think DH would ban me from putting H in a cattery with a webcam - I'd be the same as your DH Fluffy!

Now I wonder if I could get away with CCTV at home? In the interests of security of course...

I've told him but he knows what would happen.

Home security is very important. Perhaps people have been lurking down your street recently?.

I bet Amazon do reasonably priced home CCTV systems. Or ebay.

I'm sure they do.

And you have to take the long view, Fluffy. You and DH in a swanky hotel in an exotic spot with DH in the room all day, gazing at a screen, and you down poolside in a cozzy. It could be a great holiday!

Panic over! I'm £270 poorer but my lovely cat sitter can look after H so I know he'll be in safe hands. And H will be happy as she make cat toys so he'll get a present as well!

DH has vetoed the CCTV on account of the fact that I'll panic if I can't see H for any reason!

Good stuff. And I assume she'll keep a weather eye on the house as well?

She will so that's good to know as well. I'm going to ask her to email me a couple of pictures of him while we're away.

(Yes, I know I'm sad!)

Out of interest, do you advise the vet of this and give her plenipotentiary powers to take him in if needed?

I've never advised the vet but she can definitely take him if there's a problem - she's a vet nurse so I trust her judgement on that one. She's only ever looked after H when we have been in the UK so we've been easily contactable but this time I'll give her my Mum's contact details as she would pay for any treatment he needed and I would trust my Mum to do the right thing if any decisions needed to be made.

Mum adores H and used to love looking after him and I know he was very spoilt in those days! Sadly she's nearly blind and struggles to walk so it's not an option any more

A vet nurse? Excellent.

(I was just interested to know what sort of arrangements people made and how it would affect insurance if they had any.)

That's one of the reasons I like her so much as it's one less thing to worry about and I do panic about his health! (So far this week I've been convinced he's got a brain tumour and skin cancer on his ear - luckily DH is much more rational than me!

I was wary about using a cat sitter at first but needs must. I found her after searching on Google and it turns out she fostered for the charity that H came from. I am going to look into finding a back up for next year though just in case for some reason she can't do it.

Ask her if she knows of someone who might be a stand-in? I would have thought if she was responsible and you'd booked in advance that she would automatically have a backup to nominate but it might be worth a check at some point - even if not necessarily right at this moment. (Just in general conversation etc.)

I think H will likely be spoiled as all get out!