Going on holiday - what to do?

[flippyflappyfloo]

Our kitten will be 5.5 months old when we go away for 5 days over Easter. We'd hoped a family member would come and stay here but it looks like that now won't be the case. Before actually getting the kitten, the plan had been for neighbours and friends to pop in every day, but now we have her she seems both quite young for this and also quite a sociable cat, and we're not sure if she would be okay with that (problem with lockdown is she has been spoilt for company!).
Our options are to do this anyway - go away and have trusted people pop in daily, or to take her to my parents for the week. No other pets at present there and would be well looked after, can have her own quiet room there if needs be.
We know both of these options could be stressful for her for different reasons - anyone got any ideas as to which would be the least stressful?

For 5 days if she's never been left alone I'd think maybe going to your parents might be better - I leave mine for long weekends, with the occasional visitor if it's more than 3 days, but she's so lazy I don't really worry about her getting into any trouble... A kitten left to her own devices could get up to all sorts in the time between visits?

I would also take her to your parents. If you had two I would say fine, but 5 days on her own is too much.

I agree if your parents will keep her in and be very vigilant about that. We leave our cat at home with twice a day people popping in but he is older and established and has a cat flap too (and I still feel bad for him although he is probably glad of the peace)

I’d take her, I couldn’t leave a kitten alone all that time and if there’s a fire she’d be trapped.

We always used a good cattery for ours, you can’t overestimate how much peace of mind it gave me to know he was ok.

Take her to your parents.

My daughter's kitten came to stay with me when she went away.

Thanks everyone - you confirmed what my instinct was telling me!

Interesting responses.

I would never uproot a cat from its home unless necessary as many find it very stressful. We left ours for a week at that age with my SIL popping in twice a day to feed and play with her and it was fine.

If you're not comfortable leaving her alone I would suggest asking your parents to come to yours, or putting her in a cattery as an absolute last resort.

I'm sorry but I wouldn't uproot my cat just for five days. Some cope but others find it incredibly stressful - would your parents be happy to deal with peeing outside the litter box if she's unhappy? They'd also need to be completely sure she couldn't escape.

I would put her in a cattery. Find a good one and they'll have a great time. My two live theirs.

I'd either put her in a cattery or get someone to come in and feed her. Uprooting her and sending her to your parents will be really stressful for her and I wouldn't dream of doing that

I'm confused - why would a cattery be less stressful than a different house?

Yes, I don't understand that either. Surely the kitten would get more attention from the OP's parents than at a cattery?

@flippyflappyfloo

I'm confused - why would a cattery be less stressful than a different house?

It probably wouldn't be, but it would be a better option than uprooting your cat to an unfamiliar house for a few days. Catteries are staffed by professionals and, most importantly, they're secure and safe environments for your cat.

Honestly, I would leave your cat at home and ask someone to house-sit for you if you don't want to leave her. Can your parents not come to yours instead, for example?

Cats find moving house/environment very stressful - I think you'd need to be prepared for the cat to spend the entire time hiding in a corner. She may also refuse to eat and may have accidents on top of that.

Would your parents be happy if she shredded their furniture or peed on the carpets?

Unfortunately parents have caring responsibilities which means they really can't leave. I would probably have been reading my post too and thinking 'why not just ask them to come to you?!'

It is giving me food for thought though. Long term solution would be to adopt a cat-friendly cat for company for the kitten so leaving them with people popping in twice a day would be okay! Doesn't solve the Easter problem though.

You could hire a pet-sitter to come and stay in your home if it's something you're comfortable with.

I'm a dog walker and offer overnight stays for cats and dogs - you might struggle with it being last minute but it could be worth putting the feelers out there for the future.

How long is the journey OP? some cats find car travel incredibly stressful and will wail and poo the whole way there. Others are fine with it. If your journey is quite long and you don’t know how your cat is with car travel, then consider doing a 20 min trial drive first ... that may answer the question for you!

Leave her in her home. A strange place is more stressful than isolation. Hire a cat sitter to come in and check on the kitten daily or even twice a day. Ideally it should be the same person every visit and they should plan to stay for a bit in the hopes kitten will emerge eventually for some attention. We used the same professional cat sitter for every trip so our cats got to know her. (Now we travel less frequently and have a local family member who is willing to do the job)

We left ours overnight to get married (I vetoed dhs plan of me not drinking and driving home at midnight to stay at ours when t
We had the bridal suite booked 🤨) when he was about 12 months and he was not happy with me at all. He wouldn’t purr & was very vocal in telling me just how psychologically scarred he was.

Then he knocked the vase over with my bouquet in it.

Hmmm. If she's quite a sociable cat I'd be inclined to leave her with your parents, assuming they are "cat people" and will give her plenty of attention.

One of ours is very friendly and seems to enjoy going to the cattery where she can be fussed over and explore and meet other cats. The other is super nervous and gets really stressed by any change in routine, so now our only option is to have a catsitter or neighbour come in when we are away. If we only had the first cat, I'd definitely opt for leaving her with someone.

I went to see a highly recommended cattery with heated beds but came away thinking no way. The cats are left 24/7 staring at white walls in their pens, nothing to even look at.

violetbunny The cats in the cattery I saw don’t meet other cats for fear of passing any infections.

I know there are some lovely catteries, but the only one near me looks from its promotional video like a high security cat prison, with no windows to look out at, hiding places, or enrichment of any sort.

There’s some nice Catteries too though, ours was centred around a livery so they could watch the horses being groomed and lots of birds to watch. They all had a view. I did see a horrible one too I wouldn’t have left a cat with.

The one dn uses is a series of decorated lounges with day beds, fire places, tv’s, an outside area with viewing platform, cat trees and the owners give them a daily play session. £25 a night. I’ve told dh when we eventually get a new cat they will be boarded there too. It’s nicer than some flats I’ve lived in 😃

If you are in Hertfordshire I know a great cat sitter. If not, I’d take her with you.

@violetbunny are you sure she's allowed to meet other cats in a cattery?

That's not something I've ever heard of and I wouldn't want my cats to be made to interact with others in that way.

Every cattery I've ever looked into has kept cats separated by household.