panicking about leaving my girls for two nights...

[megamoz]

OH and I now have to be away over Christmas for 2 nights instead of one (family emergency, long story). We have 2 indoor cats. We'd leave Christmas eve in the evening and return boxing day eve.

We've left them before without anyone coming to feed them, but only for one night, not two and I am going a bit frantic about it. No neighbours to feed them, tried all catsitters including our usual and they don't have any spaces so close to christmas, ditto catteries (they hate catteries anyway).

We'd obviously leave out a shit tonne of food and water but I am so worried about them hurting themselves or getting sick! There's not much I can do about this now but does anyone else leave their cats for this long without a catsitter or neighbour coming in?

Yes I have left mine for two nights a few times. I leave out dry food in a toy so they have to eat it slowly, and I have an electric water fountain so their water is always fresh.

They were always a bit clingy when I came back but otherwise fine x

Litterbox was always in a state though!

I used to live in a house with no cat flap so when I went away the 2 cats had to stay inside. I had a couple of timer cat feeders where you can set them to "deliver" food at regular intervals or even at set times, mine went up to 48hrs but I'm sure they now go up to 56hrs. The only problem I had with them was that one cat used to shove it around the kitchen & sometimes it got wedged against something which then stopped the lid from springing open. I also only used dry food in them as I thought wet food would go off very quickly. Both cats seemed to manage OK, I had to put extra litter trays out for them too. Also I had the radio on a timer and a few lights as well, to make the place look lived-in and give the cats some background noise. They seemed to enjoy the more "talky" radio e.g. radio 4!

Try going to your nearest big pet store tomorrow - Pets at Home? - and ask if they have any timed feeders. That should stop them eating all the food at once. Another possibility might be Argos if not there.