Two Weeks Alone

[Emmenelle]

I have two 4 year old cats and we've just booked a fortnight away in August to stay with relatives overseas. I've never left them for that long on their own - please tell me they will be okay?

I plan for the cat sitter to visit twice a day and they have a cat flap so they can come and go and I know they would hate a cattery. Please tell me they will be okay and won't hate me when I get back

Well you’ll get some sulking.

We thought our cat would hate catteries but he didn’t & I researched them thoroughly. Dh insisted I ring every day to check he was ok.

I had to leave my cat at home once as I couldn’t find the little s**t when it came time to go to the cattery.

She clearly preferred to lounge at home then give me grief when I returned.

At least yours have each other.

The longest we’ve left ours is 10 days, just cos we do shortish holidays. They’re always fine, just tend to be a bit shouty and attention seeking when we get back.

The worst time was when one of them avoided the catsitter the entire time AND for once in his life managed not to throw up in the house for ten days straight. With no evidence of his continued existence I was convinced he was dead. He waltzed through the cat flap three hours after we got home. So we have a Nest camera trained on the catflap now so we can watch their comings and goings from afar.

Im interested in others stories as well as we also go on holiday for 2 weeks in August. We have a fantastic cat sitter who visits 2 x day and loves them and they love her but Gilbert loves a cuddle in the morning and they're so sociable. I don't want them to hate me!

I think it depends very much on your cat. We left ours once for a week with my mum coming in three times a day to feed him and give him cuddles. Then one day I got a call from the vet to say someone had found him wandering around Tesco car park (2 miles away from our house) miaowing at people, clearly lost, and brought him in. He was a very sociable cat and obviously got lonely and came looking for us. I am so grateful to that person. We always put him in the cattery after that.

Oh my god he could have been run over doing that!.

When we got married we left the house at 1pm, left food etc & got back the next morning 10-11am. Cat was seriously unhappy & wouldn’t purr when I picked him up.

We've left ours for long weekends and they've been fine. Just 14 days im worried about. Also house cats so no worries about them trying to find us.

They have each other and with twice a day visits, plus being house cats, this will be fine.
You can get them some nice catnip toys to leave out for them, get the catsitter to do a good interactive play session with them and lots of treats. They will be fine!

They'll be fine!

We've left ours with my SIL popping in twice a day to feed them and do the litter trays (and feed them dreamies). No issues whatsoever 😊

Thanks all, including @caitlinohara I think!

I've booked the sitter to come in twice a day and will ensure I have a massive pack of Dreamiest for them on my return!

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you Emenelle! I hope you have a lovely holiday

They will be fine. Having someone visit twice a day is great, you'll have peace of mind and the cats will be in their own home.

They'll be fine. I left my cat for 6 weeks for an emergency and when I returned she was the same - a bit chubbier though

Have a think about how much time you have been home 24/7 recently compared to what your cats were accustomed to.

Try to get them used to being 'home alone'