Is a very people oriented cat happier in a cattery or with a pet sitter?

[Bogburglar99]

This is a little in advance but ...

BogBastardKitten has settled in really well (now 6 months) and is a real people cat. He thunders to the door when the kids get in from school, sleeps on all the beds in rotation and is currently 'helping' me work from home ...

Which made me wonder about when we go away. My first choice would be a pet sitter/ friend to come in and feed, but would he be horribly lonely? Do cats who like people do better in boarding catteries with people coming and going? Or do people mostly not come and go and cats are left in the runs?

I suspect it depends on the cattery or the pet sitter - have you done any investigation?

(My own Siamese boys would just pine and stop eating so I'm afraid I take them with me on UK holidays and avoid the issue. I can just about manage an overnight but that's really as long as I could push it.)

There's a nice pet sitter a neighbour recommends, or my family would probably pop in and make a ridiculous fuss of him . He's just being the most lovely furry lap warmer as I type and I feel guilty.

(I think two rumbustious kids is as much as I am equipped to manage on holiday!)

My boys have been bonded to me to a quite extraordinary degree so that probably explains our actions. Most cats prefer their own environment, though, so you may well be right if you can get a reliable sitter/'popper-inner'.

We recently went away for several weeks and were lucky enough to have house-sitters (family) which is the best option I think. Although the family that came at the end brought their dog which wasn't ideal.

Depending on how long you're going for, see if you could get someone you trust to stay at your house with the cat for a decent length of time. eg. If it's a week get them to come for the day in the middle.

If we go away for more than a night or two and can't get house sitters, I prefer cattery because I know they're well looked after and safe. I would worry about them being home alone for too long just with people popping in.

My mum always gets friends to pop in to feed her cat when she's away. But once the friend accidentally shut the cat in the downstairs loo. Just a mistake but such a silly thing to do and the poor cat was trapped in there. That story has stayed with me and I'd always be very picky about cat sitters as a result!

I think generally cats prefer to stay in their own environment, or at least that's my experience. I've got four atm with differing personalities and I know mine would all hate a cattery. They'd prefer someone coming to their domain to feed them, even the mega friendly people cat. He's even more neurotic than the others when it comes to his territory :-).

That said, maybe I've just had really clingy cats that hate new places!

Probably a pet sitter it is then. I expect I'll find the first time we go away he has taken over our entire bed and doesn't want to share any more

I always use a cattery, he has the company of other cats and I know where he is for the week.

He is perfectly content until he spots me coming to collect him and then I get a mouthful telling me how awful it's been.

Leave Classic FM on during the day.

I'm not sure he's all that musical. Would Radio 4 work?

I always use a cat sitter because I think my cats prefer to be in their own home. But I leave Radio 4 on too (upstairs and downstairs :o)