Cattery , am I doing the right thing?

[Snowwhite83]

Hi,
I have two siamese cats which are very bonded to each other but completely different personalities ; one chilled the other one terrified of his own shadow and will only let me stroke him.
I'm thinking cattery because I'm going to Australia for three weeks to visit my sister over Christmas. Normally when we go for a week's holiday I ask my local friend or neighbour to feed the cats/ do litter but I feel three weeks is too long to do this.
I'm also affected by the fact last time we were in Australia (5 years ago) one of the cats went missing for a day and it was horrific. I've looked again house sitters but if anything happened I wouldn't be able to get home quickly.
So I wanted to ask what's peoples experience of catteries. I realise it will be costly but thought I could put away money each month. What I'm more concerned about is will this traumatise the cats? I've found and nice looking one and asked to visit but worried they will be cold and if the cats will hate me when I get back! They are very much pampered cats! Any thoughts appreciated.

I am very sorry about your situation, and hope it will all get sorted soon, for you and pusscat.

I only ask because I know someone who has a holiday home in Italy, and they leave the cat regularly for 3 months, and it does upset me (and the cat!).

That's a good idea! We haven't been on a night-away holiday for 9 years because we don't want to leave our kitties... 🤦‍♀️ But we're thinking of it now, and our vet (a cat specialist) advocates catteries just for the peace of mind - he says he's heard of cats 'going looking' for their missing owners, and indeed, this is what our Catgirl did for a week or so when her brother died 😢.

But a short trial run would be a good test for both her and us... 🤔 She's going to be livid either way... 😆

A cattery without dogs/ kennels attached. My scary cats hated the first cattery we tried (constant barking) and loved the second, I'm sure because the second one was lovely and quiet.