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The litter tray

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

Quick q - where would you leave new boy while we’re away?

10 replies

TheHorneSection · 22/10/2023 13:04

Going away for 4 nights tomorrow. Have two furry overlords - girl cat who roams in and out through cat flap and is used to be left when we go away. Boy cat has been with us about 12 weeks, never been outside, still very nervous and skittish. He did make it into our secure garden last week but had to be dragged back inside two days later as he’d freaked himself out and couldn’t find the cat flap.

He spent the first few weeks shut in DD’s bedroom, it’s his safe space and is still shut in with her at night. He has a tendency to poo on the carpets too. Cats are still fed in separate rooms.

Have a lovely teenager coming in to look after cats who will stay and interact with them.

Whats better for Reg, left to roam the house while we’re away, meaning teenager will be playing hunt the poo and may not be able to find him to to feed him, and with the possibility of the cats fighting and Reg being scared outside and then stuck there - or shut back in the (enormous) room for a few days?

I had planned on the first but am suddenly thinking the second might be safer. We booked this holiday before we got him so it wasn’t an issue then!

OP posts:
Scampuss · 22/10/2023 13:23

One room, with lots of attention from cat sitter.

TheHorneSection · 22/10/2023 18:34

Thanks, glad someone else agrees.

OP posts:
margotrose · 22/10/2023 20:04

Yes, definitely one room.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 22/10/2023 20:38

One room . My skittish boy gets the vapours when the gas engineer services the boiler so heaven knows what he’d be like if we had someone strange coming into his empty house .
it means DS and Dd are on cat sitting duty for ever !

TheHorneSection · 22/10/2023 21:01

Brilliant, will do that and feel ok about it!

OP posts:
Findyourneutralspace · 22/10/2023 21:07

I don’t think you should leave him to roam. If he gets stuck outside four days is a long time, and hunt the poo is a big ask for a teen.
Any nice cat hotels near you? If not, it’s going to have to be the one room I think.

Orangesquashed · 22/10/2023 21:08

My cat is nervous and if we go away we leave him with the run of the house but put everything he needs in one room. Our cat sitters report back that he doesn’t leave it. He will probably sleep most of the time and be charged up when you get back!

ermno3 · 22/10/2023 21:32

One room. It's essentially like he's in a cattery but he's familiar with the surroundings.

TheHorneSection · 22/10/2023 22:06

ermno3 · 22/10/2023 21:32

One room. It's essentially like he's in a cattery but he's familiar with the surroundings.

That’s what I’m reassuring myself with, plenty of cats go to catteries for a week and are in a small space, I’m sure he’ll be fine in there. Teenage cat sitter says they’ll hang out with him, they quite fancy the peace and quiet anyway.

And yes, getting stuck outside while we’re away would be awful.

OP posts:
TenThousandSpoons · 23/10/2023 10:40

Definitely one room if the two cats might fight.

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