What to do with cats while away?

[Nattyandcatty]

I need help from fellow cat people please!

I go away in June for a week and I have two cats who have never been left home alone before. I only go into the office one day a week, and usually when I go away, my sister stays at my house to house/cat sit. However, my sister will be with me this time. I’ve listed the options below and I am a very anxious cat parent so I really would love some opinions.

Option 1 - a proper registered cat sitter that comes in twice a day and keep my cats inside with no outdoor access. The pros for this are keeping them indoors means I won’t have to worry about them going missing or getting hurt outside while I’m not there. I don’t have a garden so I worry about the roads. I know the woman who owns the business too and I trust her. Cons for this are that being cooped up might be boring and I worry that they’ll have lots of pent up energy and one of my cats will annoy the other (one cat is chilled and the other constantly on the go and can be a bit much for him if he’s not in the mood).

option 2 - cat sitter again but get a cat flap so that they can come and go as they please. Good thing about this is that I won’t have to worry about them being bored or girl cat constantly trying to play with boy cat when he isn’t interested. But will be worrying about them being outside. With both option 1 and 2 I worry about them being lonely as well.

option 3 - a house sitter that will live in. I like this option because I don’t have to worry about them being lonely. However my cats are fearful of new people and I wonder if having a new person in their home for the entire time will cause them stress. It’s also a couple of hundred more expensive and I’m struggling to find someone who seems trustworthy as I have already started to enquire about this.

please could you tell me what you would do in my situation with 2 cats who are very used to me being home and attending to their every whim on demand. Cattery is not an option as they would not cope.

Option 1. Safe. Cats sleep most of the time. It’s the least stressful out of the 3 options.

Thank you, this is the option my partner prefers too but I wanted some other opinions as he is much more laid back than me and I’m a bit more nervous about these things 😄

Another option is to put them in a cattery. Even I did that for 4 days on one occasion and I wouldn't trust St Peter himself with my gorgeous boy! Obviously if you get a cat flap fitted, you'll have to get them used to it before you go away which can take some time. Other than that, I think the registered cat sitter is best (if you don't like the cattery idea).

if just leaving my 2 cats I leave them with a visiting sitter, twice per day who feeds and fusses the cats but also lifts the blinds etc for security. I think this is the least stressful option for my cats - but I have a catflap and a garden, so dont worry about them being bored. However if holidaying and also leaving our cocker spaniel behind I have a trusted live in sitter who loves all the animals and enjoys doing the garden too.

Option 1 is what I do.

This is our boy cat when he was in the cattery at the RSPCA. They had to find a foster for him because he wasn’t coping in the cattery, he stopped eating, was visibly distressed etc. I couldn’t do that to him, he’s a very sensitive boy, bless him

You can get feeders which will open 5 times a day. I put 2 out when I go away for a couple of days. (Very big) cat uses cat flap. Quite happy. Would hate to be shut in.

We do option 1 only a friend not cat sitter. Our boy is used to being in at night though. It gives me peace of mind to enjoy my holiday

whatever you do get a wifi cat camera it will ease your mind seeing them

Could you compromise by getting a cat flap so they could come in and out during the day, but get the cat sitter to get them in and lock the cat flap overnight when she comes on the 2nd visit of the day?

Oh bless him. Well done for giving him a lovely and loving home OP. My boy is a rescue too but putting him in the cattery for a few days was unavoidable at the time. I haven't done it since. No, you couldn't make your gorgeous boy re-live that experience.

Live in if you can afford it.

Personally,I'd go for option 1. As the mum of an indoor cat,I can understand your concerns about them being allowed outside and coming to harm. I've heard so many stories about outdoor cats being injured or killed,or stolen that I decided it wasn't worth the risk. I also understand your concern about having a live-in cat sitter as my cat is also very nervous of strangers and would probably spend the entire time hiding under the bed!

I’d go for option 2, but get a cat flap that locks at night/get cat sitter to lock it. (We don’t let our cat out overnight at all.)

If you found someone you trusted enough for the live-in option, I’m sure, in their own home. even the most wary of cats would come round once they realised the ‘stranger’ was a source of food!

It sounds like a cattery might work well? Although your cats might not love it, they’ll be safe, it’s temporary and you can relax. They can punish you when you get home!
What I will say is a cat flap was a life-changer for me. I use a cat-sitter twice a day when I’m away - she did some visits beforehand to meet my cats and they love her now. I bought a SureFlap cat flap which works off their chips - it connects to an app on my phone and it can show me whether my cats are in or out and for how long. It’s very useful for monitoring from afar although initially I couldn’t stop looking at it! It gives me peace of mind. It also has a curfew so you can stop your cats going out overnight (for example). It’s excellent.
Good luck

I would go with options 1 or 2. You could get a camera to check in on them, and if you go down the cat flap route, you can lock it so they're inside at night. If you have a cat sitter you can trust, they're worth their weight in gold. If you'll feel anxious with a live in sitter regardless, you might as well feel anxious with the cat sitter you already know and trust popping in twice a day 😅 I assume they don't offer a live in service?

Also I don't really understand the people suggesting a cattery. She's worried they'll get bored and perhaps show some aggression to each other due to this. A cattery isn't going to solve that.. They'll just be in a smaller space with unfamiliar smells and sounds. Yes they could have different units, but if she was going to do that she could just keep them in different areas of their own house?!

I'd go for option 1 or 2.
I think cats being bored for a few days is not a huge deal, especially if they have each other.
Put a cat tv YouTube video on for them or leave the radio on.
They will be fine. Its better for them to be bored than stressed, and cats prefer their own territory

We have a cat sitter twice a day.

Cat flap that opens in the morning and locks (from the inside) in the late afternoon, so he can’t go back out overnight. Linked to his chip. This is his usual routine. Means he’s almost always home when the cat sitter comes, and he’s never stayed out very late or overnight while we have been away.

We also have ring cameras inside when away, so we can keep an eye on him.

He also has a Tractive GPS collar so we can see where he is when out and about.

This has worked well for us over any long trip, I do worry but this is combination that works best for keeping the cat happy and our peace of mind. It depends how distressed your cats would be by locking them inside for a week - ours gets very agitated when locked inside outside of his routine.

I would still go and look at some different catteries with an open mind, some are much more caring and nicer environments than others. The 2 cats would be together in one pen. (My cats are brothers who hate each other but manage fine together at the cattery and are better off with each other than not).

Option 1 (it's what I do) with a couple of new/ not normally out for them to play with toys. I alway give them a new cardboard box and we have a couple of tunnels etc that I put out when we are away.

With my sensitive rescue cats I've done 2 and 3. Both were fine. Obviously the cats would rather none of the above!

It's very difficult knowing what they prefer. We have cameras in areas they sleep just to reassure ourselves ( cat sitters know this) I know they'd hate a cattery though.

We use a cat flap that we can open and close via an app so we can decide when they can go out and when they have to stay in (nights for example). With this app we also get notified everytime they enter or exit.(It also recognizes which cat because it reads their chip). We also have cat feeders that we can control with an app. The first time we went away the cats were quite young so we had someone check on them daily and the second time we went away we had a camera installed so that i could check on them sometimes.

When we had only one cat we had a family member feed/check on them because of the social aspect, but with our two cats this isn't as necessary as they keep each other company/entertained.

The electronic feeding systems and catflap are an investment but very worth it!

I thought my cats wouldn’t cope with the Cattery. I found a really good one and they were fine. I am much more relaxed if mine are in the Cattery.