Leave dcat at home when on holiday?

[LancashireSquirrel]

We have had our gorgeous rescue boy for three months now, and we are going on holiday in May.

I don't want to put him in a cattery as I think it would be much too stressful for him, so we're leaving him at home. I'm paying a local (well recommended) cattery to come in twice a day to feed & change his litter tray and we're going to ask family and neighbours to pop in as well (I'm going to ask if they'll be kind to sit with him in the evenings, FIL likes to watch our Netflix so fingers crossed he'll go for it!).

BUT I would worry too much about him going out & not coming home when we're away so I'm planning on shutting the cat flap. He only goes out in the morning for a wee, and perhaps a 5 minute (not exagerating!) pootle to the bottom of the garden and back during the afternoon and another wee/poo in the evening. He's out of the house no more than 20 minutes a day at the moment, but I understand that may change when the weather gets warmer.

WIBU leaving him inside the house while we're gone?

You need to do whatever you are comfortable with. We have 5 rescues so it’s a bit different as they are company for each other, so when we go away our neighbours feed and check on them. They have the cat flap open as normal, so can come and go as they please. If you are going to lock the cat flap then you need to make sure that everyone going in and out of your house knows to check dcat has not got out whilst they are there (so he doesn’t get accidentally locked out!)

I would Because he may not come in with strange people in the house. Took me hours recently to get a friends cat in and it took patience and trickery.

Thank you for your reply. We have a microchip catflap with different locking options so I would set it to indoor only. So if he did get out he could at least get back in.

This will be the first time we've ever taken DC on holiday abroad but gosh I'm going to miss and worry about dcat!

This is a concern of mine, that he'll get lonely and wander off or like you say, not come home. I would keep him in for a few days when we got home as well, so he knows all is okay & back to normal.

i think you need to tell us how long you’ll be going away for

Bear in mind he might come on in leaps and bounds by May feeling confident to stay out longer. If that's the case you may decide to keep the cat flap open.

How long are you going away for?

Ah yes, that would help. 1 week.

I’m sure he’ll be fine, but be warned that you’ll get a telling off when you get home! One of ours meets us at the door and follows me about for ten minutes, yowling his head off. I’m sure he’s telling me what mischief the kittens got up to whilst we were away!

Hi OP - please let your pet sitter know that you're planning on having family members helping as well.

Personally I won't job share in a situation like this as it can cause a liability issue, so please let them know and make sure they're happy to still provide care.

@margotrose I understand, thank you.

He'll definitely be outside more in the warmer weather but we have always kept ours in when vwe are away. It's less worry for you and whoever is looking after them. The cat may be a bit fed up but it's only a week and if people are coming in to play with him he will be fine.

@LancashireSquirrel unfortunately after a bad experience with the owners' adult son coming in and shutting the cat somewhere he shouldn't have been, I've had to really tighten up my policies.

Luckily there was a camera so I wasn't wrongly blamed but it was still pretty stressful and the poor cat wasn't happy!

@margotrose I can imagine! Thank fully you were able to prove it wasn't you!

@LancashireSquirrel if you explain in advance it may not be a problem, especially if the sitter comes at certain times and they/FIL leave each other notes or something.

no then
i would t leave alone as i couldn’t relax

@withthischoice would you put yours in a cattery?

based on solid recommendations from people i know who adore their cats…. yes.

I have a wonderful cattery- who do offer home service if they are full- but I always advise cattery first if possible. I have a very nervy and needy girl cat but I would much rather she be in the cattery with constant supervision so I can relax while away. She is an indoor cat but my cattery has outdoor run apartments for the ones used to going outside. The sooner a cat has regular stays at a cattery the better for them to get used to it occasionally. I think ahead to if I have a family emergency and how unfair it would be if I suddenly had no choice but to place her in cattery for the first time; this way she has already stayed 5 or 6 times and has got used to the different environment and knows it by smell etc when we arrive

I got my youngest cat at the beginning of December one year, he was five months old (chipped and neutered). He started going out about ten days later, and was fine with free outdoor access when I went away for three nights at Christmas with neighbours popping in to feed him (and my other two, he did have company).

He’ll be perfectly content for a week. Yes, keep him indoors. Ours won’t come back in for different people.

A week is fine IMO. We have 2 cats, and have never used a cattery. On balance we feel that our cats would rather be a bit lonely in their own home than go through the upset of decamping to a cattery. On the other hand, when I was a child our cats always went to a cattery and were fine.
We get a very good, trusted local cat sitting company to visit once a day to feed, play and change litter trays. Definitely keep the cat in btw - we do, even our cat who goes out a lot. It’s just safer.
I’m not sure I’d bother getting other people in though - they won’t be a replacement for you, and cats can cope fine with solitude. I would also prefer to rely on the professionals. Cats really don’t need that much human interaction from relative strangers.
They’ll yell at you when you come back, but they’ll get over it quickly! Also, we’ve never had to keep them in when we get back. Rather the opposite! We let our bold cat out straight away so she can have a run around.
Have a great holiday - your cat will be safe 👍

When we've tried to lock our car in he tears the cat flap off the wall 😂We leave ours with cat sitters & family coming in. He'll be fine.

Thanks so much everyone. You've really reassured me.

That’s a good plan. I know the last time this happened the friend watching their cats didn’t have the patience or time to wait one night so they had to call someone else to come hang out and drink in the kitchen until he came back. 🤣

@AliceOlive 😂 what a nightmare. There's no way FIL would hang around if something like that happened!