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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

What to do with cat when on holiday?

34 replies

bandito · 29/05/2018 19:20

We have a lovely rescue - had him since November last yr and he is just perfect. In at night, allowed out at day, toilets in the garden, sleeps on our beds, only eats dried food, comes to greet us when we get in from work, really playful and no trouble.

However, aside from the stealth boast Grin I have a problem in that we are going away for a week in the August holidays and I don't know what would be best for him. Ideally someone would come to stay here, let him sleep with them, let him out in the morning and call him in safe at dusk. But I think this is too much to ask - none of my friends or family fancy a free week at my house to pander to the cat. We could send him to a cattery but I am really worried that if he got stressed, his habits might change when we got home, might he start spraying or something unsociable or just do a runner when we got him home?

What do you do with your much loved cats when you go away? We are only going for a week!

OP posts:
Emma198 · 29/05/2018 19:23

My mum drops in a while twice a day. she could let him out am and back in pm? otherwise would he go mental if he was locked in for a week? when I lived away we paid a cat sitter to come in twice a day.

SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 29/05/2018 19:25

If DM and DSD can't be persuaded to come and house sit, we get a dog walking /pet feeding service to come and see to Spongecat. As she is a rescue, we reckon she is better at home, even if she can't have the level of attention she is used to.

Original poster
bandito · 29/05/2018 19:30

I wonder if we could find someone to let him out and give him breakfast in the morning, then call him in, lock the catflap and give him dinner in the evening...this could end up costing as much as the actual holiday! We are only going 4 hours' drive away!

OP posts:
Emma198 · 29/05/2018 19:40

I used to pay 15 a day for two 30 min visits.

Ilovewillow · 29/05/2018 19:51

Before we lost of our lovely cats we always used a cat sitter, she came in twice a day to feed them and spend about 20-30 minutes with them. It was expensive but we were always confident they were well looked after. For a couple of yrs she fed and cleaned out the guinea pig too. One of our cats sadly passed during a two week holiday and she dealt with the vets for us too. Well worth the extra cost for peace of mind.

BrownTurkey · 29/05/2018 19:54

We look after our neighbours cats when they go away - they have a cat flap and can come and go freely, we just go and feed and play with the one that doesn’t go out as much. What I would say is they do get a bit unsettled after three days.

wonderstuff · 29/05/2018 20:02

We always find a neighbour to come and feed the cat. We have a feeding bowl with a lid on a timer for the first 24 hours, she has a cat flap and we're in a quiet area so she can come and go as she choses. She does get grumpy with us. She has been known to wee on our bed while we're away/just after we come back to demonstrate the strength of her feelings. Now she is quite elderly she just whines at me for a few hours when I get back. We're getting our kitchen redone at the moment and that's pissed her off too.

Your cat sounds more chilled out than ours though - my dc1 is 10 and she's only just started tolerating being in the same room as the kids.

GrumpyBagFace · 29/05/2018 20:03

We get a pet sitter to come round and our next door neighbour often drops by too. The pet sitter was much cheaper than a cattery and i'm much happier leaving them at home.

0range99 · 29/05/2018 22:07

We use a cat sitter - she charges £12 to come in twice a day for half an hour each time.

Papergirl1968 · 29/05/2018 22:21

Dcat comes with us when we are self catering within the UK, and is quite happy. For day trips, occasional short breaks and overnight stays in hotels, he stays at my mom’s and again seems happy enough there.

Toddlerteaplease · 29/05/2018 22:29

I have a cat sitter that comes if I'm away for a night or two. But any longer abs they go to the cattery as it's cheaper!

LapdanceShoeshine · 29/05/2018 22:32

My cats hate going in the car, & don’t much like the cattery either - (it’s a lovely place but a 30-min drive away & their cubby is very small compared to our whole house & garden)

I was lucky enough to find someone locally who loves cats & fundraises for a small cat rescue which works via local FB (doesn’t have a rescue centre) - I got in touch with her through their FB page.

She comes in twice a day to feed, & spends some time with them as well. She charges a tiny amount but I make a separate donation to the rescue too.

Could you look for someone like that near you?

AtSea1979 · 29/05/2018 22:32

I have a pet sitter who charges £5 per day to do one home visit for one pet. Means the cat is stuck in so not ideas. I’m away for longer in August and i’m thinking I might need two visits, one in morning to let him out then another at night to call him in.

Batinahat · 29/05/2018 22:32

You could look at something like Trusted Housesitters website

LapdanceShoeshine · 29/05/2018 22:33

(She only asks for £5 a day - cattery charges £20 for 3 cats in one cubby!)

WildCherryBlossom · 30/05/2018 06:11

We used to get a cat sitter twice a day for our old boy (who needed daily medication). These days I have a neighbour who has looked after our cats occasionally (feed & send outside in the morning, call in again in the evening) or else we take them on holiday with us if in the UK. They actually love it. It's been a revelation!

Original poster
bandito · 30/05/2018 08:07

Thanks all - bringing him with us has been vetoed and I do think he would be happier here. I will look for a cat-sitter, or we have a few older teenagers around who I completely trusted to babysit the DCs when they were younger, so at a push I would be kind of OK about them looking after the cat, if they had instructions!

OP posts:
WildCherryBlossom · 30/05/2018 08:41

I have paid older teenage neighbours too. That worked very well.

MiniLeopardInTheHouse · 30/05/2018 13:30

Hi OP. I wondered why taking him with you has been vetoed? Our rescue comes on holiday with us. You have to take more 'stuff' in the car, be very careful about not leaving doors or windows open in the accommodation, and our boy shouted quite a bit on the journey the first couple of times, but he gets the idea now and is fine, and absolutely loves his holidays with us.

The other options are:

A neighbour - we cat sit for several neighbours when they go away. We just call in a couple of times to feed, do a health check and litter trays or meds if needed. We don't charge but they usually bring a small gift back and offer to reciprocate. If they're going away for longer, we stay for a play and a cuddle.

Cattery - We eventually found an excellent local and very small cattery, who are FAB approved/trained. Through absolutely no fault of theirs, our boy gets too stressed to leave, but I completely trust them and would leave him with them again if ever I absolutely had to.

Vet nurse - do contact your local vet, and ask if one of the nurses would stay or visit for you.

Heroo · 31/05/2018 10:07

What do you do with your much loved cats when you go away? We are only going for a week!

Pay a cat sitter to come and live at the house from a pet sitting agency (meet them before obvs).

Pay a friend to come and do cat sitting at my house.

Have my mum come and stay at my house.

See the pattern?? My cat likes company and I would feel too bad for a week to leave him with just a feeder coming in.

For 1 or two nights (but not actually 2 days e..g leave friday night return Sunday morning) I leave the automated feeder.

chronicallyawesome · 31/05/2018 18:42

Lately I've had family help out but I've only been away for a few days. My older cat has been to catteries before I had my younger one. She does sulk for a few hours which involves telling me at great length about my transgressions! (a very vocal cat) What I've found though is they both are attached to me and not so much the house. She is 11 and hates people she doesn't know - whether here or elsewhere. He only the other hand is only 1 and loves people. So given that no-one would want to stay at my house, he's actually happier to go and stay with someone else in their house but they dislike being left and catteries equally. And they forget about it extremely quickly. His sulk lasts minutes!!!
Sorry - not very clear. I guess I would go from your cat's personality and be reassured that the cattery will be ok. He'll be his normal self again.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 31/05/2018 18:47

Our cats go and stay with my parents when we go away - it's not ideal (I know that cats are very bonded to their territory), but my parents wouldn't want to stay in our house, and we think they like this more than they'd like either being left alone (they're both very human-centric cats) or a cattery. Because they go to the same place every time they settle in much more quickly now, and seem to recognise it as a familiar place. I know you said none of your friends or family would be willing to stay at yours, but would one of them be willing to have a catty house guest?

Archfarchnad · 31/05/2018 18:48

Up to recently we had a cat sitter come in twice a day, but Archcat was pretty unsatisfactory with that - he wants someone to talk to more often than that. So at Easter we tried out a petsitting agency and it worked well. We're doing it again in summer and already have our sitter booked. We use Trusted Housesitters, which is more expensive than some, but does tend to attract a more reliable kind of sitter.

Archfarchnad · 31/05/2018 18:57

Unsatisfactory was an autocorrect for unsatisfied.

CanYouHearThePeopleSing · 31/05/2018 19:05

We always put ours into cattery for a week. Like you, our cats have always liked the outside, and I didn't like to shut them in. And equally, I didn't want them to potentially get up to mischief outside whilst we were away. Whilst people will come in and feed, for me, there are always too many questions:
What if they don't come when called?
What if the sitter doesn't see them?
What if they've injured themselves but the sitter doesn't notice (cats a are very good at hiding things)?
It always felt like a lot of responsibility for someone, even if they're being paid.

Cattery gives the security of knowing someone is looking out for them, they're safe and secure, they're still getting some 'people' time (ours spends time with all her charges) and that they are able to deal with any vet/health issues that arise (which never has for us in 17 years, even when our last cat was pretty ill).

Granted, they don't like the journey, but for peace of mind it was worth that small compromise.

I realise I'm going totally against the grain here, but I know I'd worry if my cats were home alone, and I'd hate to be the casual pet sitter who had to make decisions about what to do in any unforseen circumstances.

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