Holidays and cattery

[PeacheyPeach]

When you're away for a couple of weeks holiday. Do you send the cat to a cattery or have a friend/neighbor come in and feed them?

Cattery. My boy is indoor only and FIV positive so I’d hate to leave the responsibility of keeping him safe and secure to anyone else. The double gates etc on the cattery make me feel more comfortable.

Also he’s a verrrry chatty and sociable cat. There’s someone home with him 85% of the time so he would be very distressed by us suddenly disappearing. More so than he is by a trip to the cattery. He’s very inquisitive and we always get td
how much he likes watching the world go by and “chatting” to the other cats.

Your cats are such badasses at the cattery.

Mine enjoyed the view of horses too and there was gun dogs to condescend to as well. He’s come home sounding like a Siamese because they put all the loud cats at one end and the well behaved ones near the office.

He’d 🙄

Cattery. It's really fab and the cats have access to their own outside area, where they can sit and watch the llamas in the field outside. My old boy used to refuse to come home

Cat prison for our Bernard.

I don’t think he’s massively keen, but it’s only a short journey, you know they’re being properly looked after, you don’t have to worry about the house, and it’s not really fair to leave them alone with only maintenance visits for food / litter.

We find he’s a little needy for a day or so when we get back, but soon settles down.

I think I may look into a cattery then, there are a few in our area so I will look into them, I think it will take the pressure of asking someone to come in every day, especially if something came up for them and they couldnt come to the house. I'd rather know they are somewhere that they will be looked after 24,7

I've always had cats, for the past 41 years. I've always had a neighbour/cat-sitter to come in and feed them. Cats are creatures of habits, used to their own territory.

I’ve done both. My big boy doesn’t like being away from home but when we had a little boy too, he was a little hell raiser and couldn’t be trusted to not get into scrapes, so they went to the cat hotel together.
It was lovely - they shared a room overlooking the duck pond, where they put a light show on every evening, and had loads of toys, places to climb, selection of beds and even roast chicken dinner on a Sunday (big boy liked THAT).
They even had a telly in their room with a webcam so I could see them from an app on my phone and they put cat things on for them.
Little boy loved going on his holidays and would look after his big brother who spent most of it curled up in an igloo.
Sadly we lost little boy in a road accident last year so now we just have a cat sitter who comes in every day.

I do think a lot depends on the temperament of the cat.

Local pet sitter comes in 3 or 4 times during the week if they kids are away at university. Cat seems fine with this.

The dog goes to my mums

First choice - my mum house sits.

Second choice - cattery.

They aren't thrilled about the cattery but apart from being a bit shouty for an evening when they get back, it's fine. I've had bad experiences with cats being along in the house with a cat sitter popping in, not understanding why we aren't there, getting stressed and soiling in our bed.

So cattery is better. Also they eat themselves silly while there so it can't be all bad.

Cattery for us. I'm not fond of the current trend for 'cat hotels' where they are indoors all the time rather than having a mixed indoor/outdoor run, but the latter are hard to find in a city. Our cat might shout when we take him, but he's learnt that we do come and pick him up again. I feel happier knowing that he's looked after by experienced people with access to a vet.

I own a cattery and we have the highest star rating awarded by the council inspection team. The chalets are light and airy, with cosy warm bedrooms and plenty of shelves to leap onto, laze around on etc. We have lots of repeat customers and they all say that their cats return home relaxed and happy. Please visit the cattery before deciding whether it’s a suitable place to board your cat whilst you’re away. If the cattery is prison-like please keep looking!!