Holidaying with a cat...?

[JoeWicksHair]

Our older cat has a condition that needs medicine twice daily. She also suffers from anxiety & stress, under certain conditions, which makes her ill. This combination means I now can't leave her even overnight & don't want her to go to a cattery as we'd have done previous years. I also don't want a stranger coming into our house 2x a day to see to her medicine as she would get stressed about a stranger doing this (orally administered so needs trust to keep her calm).

However this means we literally can't do more than day trips until she's no longer with us! I could manage that, but for my children this is a huge loss. I'm torn how to keep everyone happy. We have no family or similar to step in to help.

Is there such a thing as holiday accommodation that allows you to take your cat?! She's housebound now so this could work as long as there was no risk of eg an external cleaner entering during oue stay which might give her chance to escape.

Or are we stuck with day trips?

We have a similar situation - our cat is on palliative care for cancer. He would hate a cattery and I would feel it's too much to ask our neighbours (who usually feed him) to give him medicine every day, and sometimes syringe feed him if he's not eating. I'd be worried about him escaping too - we are keeping him in but he's well enough to try to escape (disappeared for 36 hours 2 weeks ago, after that no more going out!).

I'd also be worried about him escaping if we took him with us. Cautionary tale: a cat started visiting our neighbours recently. She took him to the vets to be scanned for a chip and it turned out he lived at the other end of the country! His owners were contacted and came to get him - he'd escaped on a holiday two years ago

I don't know what the answer is, sorry....

@AllLopsided have you considered a pet sitter? Not a neighbourhood teenager, someone who does petsitting as their main job. You can have daily, twice daily or more visits, & many offer overnight stays too. Cat gets to stay in his own home & you have someone experienced giving meds and monitoring him.
Even better if they have professional experience too (I've known several veterinary nurses, for example, who have either done it on the side or who have left practice and set up petsitting services).

Maybe it's growing in popularity. While at a service station we found a bench outside and there on the bench next to us was a big tabby cat with two clearly doting owners busy fussing it! We're all used to seeing dogs on holiday everywhere so why not a cat?!

Most Novotels seem to be cat friendly. Obviously you'd have to check for each individual hotel, but we have found them very accomodating. There's usually a £10 per night per cat charge, and, obviously, there is limited space, but we know our cats are happier with us than being ignored by cat sitters that don't know what they are doing.

Oo thanks, I'll look into this as not had much luck around where we are (so cat wouldn't have to travel long and we get a change of scene I'm thinking only places fairly near by, especiallyfor a trial night) when looking at other accommodation.

NC.

Hi OP. Previous cats have stayed at home with a cat sitter or gone to a cattery. This cat, for a number of reasons, has to come on holiday with us. My tips for a successful holiday with a cat, from years of experience, are:

• Find pet-friendly holiday cottages but you must make sure that the owners will accept cats, as many will only accept dogs even if the advertisement says 'pet friendly'.


• Just in case of escapes, make sure microchip, vaccinations and contact numbers on the collar are up to date. Once we have booked, for a couple of pounds we order another disc to attach to the collar too with the holiday cottage address, phone number and dates we are there between.


• We keep journey time relatively short, for the cat's comfort, and we don't stop off on the way. The longest we have ever travelled is 4 hours, but generally it's 2 and a half hours. I have heard of people travelling further, with their cat travelling in a crate with a covered litter tray.


• Cat travels in a sturdy plastic carrycase, usually in a rear footwell. It's easy then to provide reassurance with a friendly word or hand to the carrycase. We find it's more unsettling for ours if they can see the world flying by out of the car window. Vet bed with newspaper underneath is good as any wee accidents will soak through, but take a spare or two. A squashy cat igloo stuffed inside the carry case is the most comforting and it dulls sounds of the roads. There was some cat shouting on our first long journey, but now it's a familiar routine and all is usually fairly quiet.


• We feed a pate-type food a couple of ours before leaving in both directions. Our cat eats this more slowly and is therefore less likely to be sick. We take water away about an hour before and encourage the cat to use the litter tray again before leaving. Both should reduce the chance of accidents on the way, but take some plastic bags to put soiled bedding and paper in just in case. We take a bottle of water, a bowl and treats for the journey, in case of hot weather and delays. Also one of those pet laundry bags in case we need to use the washing machine - I don't like pet hairs in our machine at home and don't want to inflict them on anyone else.


• We take a large crate, covered litter tray, litter, scoop, plastic bags, cat's usual food, treats, bowls, toys, scratching post, beds, blankets. Find the details of the nearest vet before you go, in case of emergencies.


• As soon as we arrive, the top priority is setting up the crate with litter tray, bowls and a bed inside - usually in the kitchen or lockable porch with a hard/washable floor - and getting cat inside. Cat can then go to the loo, eat and acclimatise safely in the crate while all our unpacking and checking the place out goes on. We cover the sofa/chairs with a blanket from home and move anything fragile likely to be broken if cat jumps up onto a shelf, windowsill and so on.


• Once all that is done and you are sure outer doors and windows are all locked shut, and the scratching post is up, you can let cat out into one room for a sniff about.


• Our cat stays in the crate when we are in bed, on trips out or need outer doors or windows open. This helps to keep the cat safe, prevents escapes and damage to the holiday let. Most holiday cottage owners don't allow pets to be left unsupervised or to go into bedrooms - usually dogs - so a cat in a crate resolves this issue. It only works because our cat is happy with the crate set up when we are in bed or out on a trip - it's a familiar and safe environment.


• For the return journey, we just do the same in reverse. For comfort the cat and equipment are the last to be packed in the car.


• It is a pain as there's more stuff to take, it limits options in terms of travel time and cottages with owners willing to accept pets, and having to be very conscious about keeping doors and windows shut, especially in the summer.

All that said, our cat actually really enjoys coming on holiday with us as the bond is strong, and especially if watching seabirds out of the window is an option!

Hope all that helps.

*a couple of hours