Leaving cat alone

[Dailymaildailyfail]

I have a 8 year old domestic moggie who lives with me in my ground floor flat. He doesn't have a cat flap but our normal routine is he goes out when I leave for work on the morning (8am) and comes in when I get back (6pm). He has access to a bespoke cat house (made by my very talented BF which is warm, dry and has some water etc in.

Because BF lives in a different area, at weekends I tend to leave the cat alone overnight sometimes (1-2 a month). He is only ever left about 30 hours max. He uses his litter tray with no problem, and eats his dry food and has fresh water etc.

My question is this- how long would you leave your cat alone in your flat- with dry food etc. My cat isn't desperately clingy (very independent) and enjoys a good sleep. What are your thoughts? If I'm ever away more than one night I pay a cat feeder by wanted some other advice.

I think legally 24hrs is the max the RSPCA like you leave them.

I'd be worried about fire, lonliness & illness myself. Could you get a pet sitter?. I'd be bored being in on my own all day.

I have only left my cat alone for one day at a time but i can be out up to 12 hours one some days. She is always left with dry food,water and a few treats if she's lucky . I wouldn't leave her any longer than that tbh and if i did i would have a cat sitter.

I think that's a bit too long. When I'm on holiday a pet sitter comes in early morning and again in the evening. For more casual nights away I take mine to my parents so they aren't home alone. Even 24 hours is a long time if he became unwell or injured himself.

Could you take him with you? If it's a regular thing he'd probably adapt to your boyfriends house as his second home. Just keep him inside at boyfriends like he would be at yours, but at least then he has someone keeping an eye on him.

I leave catface alone for the time we're at work. That's it. She was previously abandoned so I don't want her to think we're doing that. When we go on holiday next year illl get a sitter

Thanks all.

@ememem84 I can't take him with me- it's about 2 hours drive and the journey and being somewhere new would stress him out even more than it's worth!

He always has a cat sitter when I'm away longer than just one night but I just wondered if anyone had ever left their cat alone for any longer and what their experience might have been!

I can leave my boys alone for an overnight, usually. The trouble is that the Siamese tend not to eat if I'm not there. (I can't leave Seniorboy overnight these days though - he's on meds and is just too old.)

I've left ours for up 3 days, 2 nights. Have 2 feeders on timers, water etc. The catflap is unlocked (no point locking it anymore as the tabby has learned to swivel the knob and even pull it out of the catflap 🙄) Indoors they have access to kitchen, utility room and 3-4 sleeping areas. It felt a long time and I didn't like doing it, but needs meant I had to and there were no sitting options.

Otherwise I pay a neighbour's kid £10 a day for 2 visits and a stroke. Used to do a cattery but I hate them caged (even at the gorgeous "4 star cat hotel" I found!)

Also, I live in a village on a private road surrounded by other houses on large plots; the cats don't get anywhere near a road, which makes a big difference I think.

Meant to say each feeder has 2 bowls, so they got a new bowl every 12 hours. So I put a bowl of food out AM in day 1, feeder pm, day 2 feeder AM & PM, day 3 feeder AM, back in time for PM feed.

Ours will only eat dry food (adopted, they came like that). I obviously couldn't do it if they ate wet.