Cattery

[MadauntofA]

if you have a cat who loves being outdoors and have put them in a cattery, how have they coped? There is no-one who could come and feed etc at home so looking at catteries and just wondered. Also when you bring them home again I presume you can just let them out as normal 2 weeks isn't long enough to forget where they live (silly question maybe?!!)

The cattery I use has a outdoor part (it's enclosed) so obviously that's a help

Longest I've been away is 10 days, and he was out the next morning, only because we collected him late evening otherwise I imagine he'd have been straight out, and it wasn't an issue.

How big is the outdoor bit? The one I've seen has an indoor room that is heated and an outdoor room but not massive - enough to sit in the fresh air and look around but that's it

I put 16 year old BuggersMoggy in a cattery as a bit of a last minute emergency. It was only for 3 nights though. He is a large, dominant tom who roams widely.

He coped, but lost a bit of weight and was super-snuggly when he returned (jumping up on my shoulders and nuzzling my face), when he's normally a cat who very much tolerates humans on his own terms. He definitely wanted a bit of reassurance.

Once received he went out and generally rolled around scenting everything in site and chasing off the competition

Honestly, I would put him in again if I had to, but would probably try to a luxury cattery with larger pens and more outdoor access. We had little choice so had to go with one that was fairly basic in terms of facilities and outdoor access very limited (they didn't open the cat flaps in the rain ).

I'm not sure I would feel comfortable going from no experience to two weeks, but that's just a subjective view based on my own cat. I'm sure someone will be along who has more knowledge on the subject.

If you have no friends or neighbours to oblige, could you hire a professional cat sitter, Mad ? There are loads around.

I could do cozie. He is a v affectionate sociable cat and loves being around us in the evening so don't just want someone to come in feed and leave

My cat sitter is brilliant, she comes in feeds H and then spends some time with him - the little traitor loves her!

Small city garden sized.

There's also a 'play room'.

Thanks for all your replies. I'm going to look at one today and I'll look online to see if there are any good sitters near us

Maybe have a word with your vet as well if you're having difficulty in identifying one ? I don't think they would actually be in a position to officially recommend a sitter but if you're on good terms with them, one of the practice staff might slip you a hint.

I use a cattery for one week every summer.. and twice I used it for a fortnight.
The cats were fine.. I trust the people who run it and the cats are bored but safe. As soon as they come home they dash into the garden and out to freedom and depedent on personality either are delighted to see us, or sulk for 24 hours.

I prefer it to using neighbours as at least I know where they are!

SparklingCat is an outdoor independant type but she loves the cattery. She knows what to do as soon as she gets there and she loves the lady that runs it.

There are no set times to arrive or pick up, so when we turn up we can see her usually sunning herself or watching the birds in the garden. Plus they put pictures on FB so we can see what she's up to.

Couldn't have a sitter as her routine revolves very much around the 4 humans in the house and we don't have a catflap into the house.

That's good, Sparkling. What's the maximum stay she's had there?

She's usually there for a week, or a long weekend. I couldn't do 2 weeks without her.

I pay a pet sitter to move in for our holiday. It costs almost as much as the holiday. But so worth it. They sulked big time when they went to a cattery and were so obviously unhappy when I picked them up. My DP growls every time we book to go away at the expense but knows I won't go away unless the animals are happy!