Cattery Quandary

[RoastChickenDinner]

As a lot of you know, we got PreciousPussGirl as a rescue in November last year, aged 7.

I'm in a bit of a quandary about what to do with her when we are on holiday in the summer. We're away for a week, back for a week and away for a week again.

Unfortunately there's not really anyone who could come and 'live in' and I if I sent her to stay with someone else I would be constantly worrying that she had got out and got lost etc. We don't have a cat flap, so if we left her at home with someone coming in to feed her she would pretty much be stuck in the house all the time.

Which leaves the only option really as cattery but I'm really concerned that she will think she is being reformed/abandoned again. Am I being daft? This sounds ridiculous, but I'm also a bit worried that our relationship will never be the same again afterwards :(

Also how do you go about finding a decent cattery?

Words of wisdom please!

I've nearly always gone on UK breaks and taken my Siamese boys with me - but they're so strongly bonded to their people that that works for us. ('Where my Mummy is, that's my home' and all that good stuff........)

By and large, though, cats like a known environment best in my experience. If you have no-one to come in from your family/friends circle, have you thought about getting a formal 'pet-sitting' service in? (And get her a tray in now so that she can grow accustomed to it while you're around.) There are loads out there - a quick google on your area should show you - and it has the advantage that someone would be keeping a general eye on your home as well as looking after the cat.

I will try that cozie thank you.

She has a tray already so all good on that front.

Good luck then.

Posters on here will have lots of different solutions, I'm sure, according to their individual cats and the services they have available to them so I reckon you'll have many views on this.

One thing I would advise, though, is to make up your mind fairly early. Going away in the summer is the peak period and many people will, I suspect, have eg booked with their favoured service provider at the same time as booking their holiday. The later you leave it, the less you might have in the way of options - and if you decide to go for a cattery, you would obviously want to ensure that PussGirl had all the necessary shots etc to be taken along.

In the interim, you might find this advice on catteries useful. I just don't know how current the list of catteries is, I'm afraid. (It may be very current - I just don't know.)

Do you know any local teenagers who might come and sit in the house in the evenings and do their homework for a few hours to provide some company for money?

I put my cat in a cattery. I did a lot of research and went for a lovely countryside one where he has an indoor and outdoor space, cats either side of him and they can watch chickens and goings on outside. We get sent videos when he's away and he's happy.

I did look into people popping in to feed him at home but he likes being around people all day really - DP and I both work from home - so I worried he'd get lonely.

You could even try him for a long weekend first, that's what I did as I was very anxious about the whole thing.

We took ours with us last summer too and are taking him again this year, but like cozie's he is very strongly bonded to the family and was quite happy. If I couldn't take him, I'd leave him at my mom's, which he is also used to, and she just keeps the doors closed. Could a neighbour pop in a couple of times a day, or any teenage nieces, cousins etc who would come for a bit of money?

That list was last updated in Oct 2010 but the advice given is good.

If you do go down the cattery route, do go and have a look before you use it and don't just rely on recommendations or photos on a web page. We have used one cattery for years and loved it but one time they were booked up so we had to use a different one. We went for one that had loads of recommendations and looked great, but when we arrived (with dcat and car loaded up for hols) it was like a kitty jail. Obviously run purely as a business with no frills. All indoors with no windows at all. We had no choice but to leave her there and luckily it was just a weekend break but we were anxious all weekend and so glad to get her back.

Personally I like a cattery that has an outdoor run, a high window for spying on wildlife and owners who greet you covered in cat fur with a packet of Dreamies in their pocket. But obviously that's just my preference.

Hope you find a solution

Thanks all, lots to consider!

I put ours in a cattery, it's a nice one whose owners keep pet cats of their own. He's fine until he sees me spying on him when I go to pick him up.

Then it all gets very melodramatic.

Ah. To try to make you feel bad about 'abandoning' him?

I put mine in a cattery last year for the first time because I wouldn't have been able to relax on holiday with someone coming in to let her in/out (we haven't got a cat flap either). We did our homework and found a very good cattery. It is run by two lovely men who do not employ other people as they like the cats to have consistency and they haven't had a holiday themselves for 7 years! So very dedicated. I was worried when we went to pick her up but she was absolutely fine and obviously pleased to see us. She was in excellent condition, had obviously been groomed by them and fitted back in to life with no problems whatsoever. Just do your homework and go and have a look at several. I would do it asap as the good ones get booked up.