how long? and how attached to you/your people is the cat? Couple days is nothing. I always get someone to drop by if I'm gone for a week or two.

 

Should probably hide your booze.

 

Did that four years ago, haven't found it yet.

 

Depends, is your cat a a grazer or a gulper with food? Does it eat hard or soft food? Has there been any anxiety issues before, ie not using the litter box or scratching? We leave ours for up to 3 days with hard food and water with no issues.

 

Whenever my parents would go away for a week, I would usually go out twice in the week just to change the litter box, give him more food and water and hang out for a few minutes because he was a people liking cat.
He would have been fine the whole week, but my parents look after my dog when I go away, so I thought it was fair to go check on him 2 times in the week like they asked.

 

Like other said, depends on your cat. If he's an inside only cat and sleeps most of the day, not a big problem. If he lives half his life outside, that's different. Is it a cuddling cat ? If so it'll find it hard and might hold a grudge.

BIG (like wide, not deep) litter box, plenty of water (leave toilet bowls accessible). Hope he eats dry food, canned food is a no for more than a day ... if he doesn't know how to use a can opener.

How long is the leave ?
Neighbors that could look him up from time to time ?

 

My sister and her family went away for a month and left their cat. They had a food/water timer and a bluetooth camera to make sure it got fed. I checked in on it probably 5 times that month, and it was fine. It actually became my little buddy.

 

My sister and her family went away for a month and left their cat.

I would never do that to my cats.
We have sitters for long periods. Look up www.trustedhousesitters.com, they have a pet sitters section.

 

Robot feeders are a wonderful invention but if we're gone more than a night or two we pay someone to come in once a day to feed them wet food (only dry food from the robot), freshen up the water (essential), clean the litter box (cats can be fussy about that kinda thing), and also to interact with them for a bit (because, you know, mental well being).

 

Most adult cats are fine being left home alone for up to 24 hours, under the right conditions


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I went to a neighours funeral a few years ago. Doug was a Native Indian (can I say that) and an elder got up at the funeral and talked about animals and the care of animals. He said that an hour of our time (humans) is many more hours to an animal so if he's correct, 24 hours to us could seem like many more hours to an animal. The reference that day was about horses.

 

Our cat is an indoor cat. He is very affectionate and loves being with people. Anyway, we've found a local lady who will take him into her home for a week so problem solved I can leave guilt free. Thanks for the responses.

 

we've found a local lady who will take him into her home for a week

cats will try to return to their "home" and try to escape every chance they get.
if the nice lady is close by , not too much of a problem.
if she lives further away , there might be a problem .

might be better to have her check in twice a day on the cat instead.
hint , rekey / change the front lock after you return ( just in case )

 

i think one day maximum is what any vet would recommend. Depends a lot on the cat. Ours sleeps 20 hours a day but still gets freaked out when we go away. We have people come stay full time when we go away, and he still gets pissed that we aren’t around. Cats be weird.

 

I know you did find yourself a cat sitter but we've left our 2 cats home alone on many occasions for days, (4 - 5 days if I recall) never had any issues. lots of food and water available, toilet seat up in case they run out of water.
They may have used walls and other odd items as scratch posts though

 

cats take about 2-3 weeks of being kept indoors to realize this is their "new" home.
let them out before that and they'll likely disappear.

just make sure to tell her NOT to let the cat out for any reason , till you return.
not even on a leash.


AKA : gone like a rat up an aqua duct.

 

cats take about 2-3 weeks of being kept indoors to realize this is their "new" home.
let them out before that and they'll likely disappear.

just make sure to tell her NOT to let the cat out for any reason , till you return.
not even on a leash.


AKA : gone like a rat up an aqua duct.

oldjoat is right on the cat's home. Contrary to dogs which are attached to their owner/master, cats are attached to their environment. I always joke to people moving with cats, that the best that could happen to their cat would be to stay where they are and let the new owners be their servant.

Cats freak out when they are moved away from their pad. If you can get the nice lady to come over, even just once a day, that would be way better for your cat. One window at her place left open with a screen, cat's gone.

 

We have two. One we’ve had for over ten years and has been fine when we’ve been away (we had other cats over the years too so he wasn’t alone).

The other one we now have is about five and we’ve had him almost four years. Until this past April we hadn’t been away overnight since getting him (Covid kinda obviously stopped that for a few years).

In April we were gone from a Thurs to Sun and my MiL came over twice (briefly) to feed them and clean the litter box.

This particular cat didn’t do well being left alone for a little over three days with his buddy cat and a brief human visit.

Soon after we returned he was spooked for a few days and became ill. Not serious, but he was sick for a week or so.

Long story short, some cats adapt well to being alone while some evidently don’t.

 

If you decide to leave your cat at your home leave a radio going. Mine prefers talk radio. Preferably sports. News channel gets him depressed.

 

I guess there are three considerations:
1) behaviour
2) adequate nutrition
3) boredom and habit

So, does this cat engage in any problem behaviours, like climbing up on places where there are things that could break, or chew on things? Do you have to shoo the animal away from some places that you won't be able to protect while away?

The question was asked about what sort of eater the cat is. That sort of dictates how food is to be dispensed. Do you leave out as much food and water as is necessary for the period of absence? Do you use some sort of food dispensing device? Do you ask someone to come in and put food out every couple of days? Does the cat mind dry food or does it insist on wet food only? (There's a great scene in the Elliot Gould film "The Long Goodbye", where he tries to fake out his cat with a brand of food the cat doesn't like:

)

Personally, even though I've had a few cats, I'm not of the view that cats get "bored". "Bored" is pretty much a human thing, although pretty much all animals sleep better if they've had an active day with lots of things going on and information to process. Do appliances that make noise, be they radio, TV, or other, provide "stimulation". Not likely, but they do provide some sense of continuity if the animal is accustomed to hearing stuff on, and continuity is helpful.

I don't think anyone has asked you, or at least you haven't said: how long are you planning to leave the beast on its own?

 

I don't think anyone has asked you, or at least you haven't said: how long are you planning to leave the beast on its own?

We have a cat sitter booked. May be a few days. I think our cat would be fine alone but I'm glad he'll be with a human.

 

Smart move. Now you'll be able to take your mind off it while you're away. Enjoy your trip!

 

Cats are MUCH easier to deal with (as far as leaving them alone) than dogs.

Dogs will go mental even if they have plenty of food and a place to do their business. Most will damage the place.

Cats, you can leave alone for a few days as long as there's food and water. You may come home to a stinky litter box, but not to a house full of chewed furniture and shredded pillows, LOL.

We don't really go away much, or at least we don't leave them alone often, but it's not as much of a problem as if we had three dogs.

 

My parents have a big cat that is almost feral but seem to like them just fine.
When they leave for winter vacation (usually 2 weeks) they let the bucket of dry food open, PLENTY of water buckets everywhere, 4 litter boxes and leave the toilet seat open.
They never had a problem in like 10 years.

 

that cat has them well trained .