Leaving cat at home while we're away

misfire

We leave our cat for up to a week. My friend and her teen daughter come to feed and check on him (he loves the daughter). We leave the cat flap open - it has a key lock thing so he needs his collar key to get in. The cat is used to going out so he would hate being locked in - plus he doesn't use a litter tray. The cat often spends most of the day in the greenhouse - my house sitters are well trainned they go up there to check on him and see if he still has his collar (my fear is he will lose it while we are away as he did once.. but he was younger then and more capable of catching his own food or nipping into a neighbours and stealing there cats!).

I have heard to many nightmare stories about catteries - and mycat would hate being locked in a cage at a cattery more thanbeing locked in here.

But you must do what you feel is best for your cat and what you are most comfortable with.

morg_monster

Does your cat flap have an "in only" setting?
If the sitter is going to be in the house for ~20mins or so (which seems standard around here at least), could she feed the cat, play with him a bit, then put him outside, lock the door and set the catflap to "in only"? Then the cat gets a bit of a run around outside but once he comes back in he's in for good until the next day.
Of course if neighbourhood cats are likely to come in and stress the cat out this is not a good idea!

We got a microchip catflap for this very reason, so when we are away for 1 or 2 nights they can come and go and once it gets dark the flap locks automatically and they are safe inside for the night. Watching some twazzock drive at 50mph down our single lane 30mph road last night reminded me why we do this... even though the cats are finding it hard as "night" is stretching longer and longer at the moment.

EmptyPockets

If it were me, I would definitely keep the cat indoors while I was away. I would be too worried about him getting injured while outsdie - clipped by a car, caught by a dog - and me not being there to get to a vet quickly, etc... I'd much rather my cats be indoors safe and warm and cosy, knowing that someone was taking care of food and water.

headpin

geri1965 wrote: »

............. I wouldn't lock them in, just in case of a fire as previously mentioned.

Bit of a red herring this one unless you never leave your cat alone in the house. A fire takes seconds to break out and not much longer to spread. Even if a cat was left alone for 15 minutes it could be too long in case of a fire. So not really worth being too excited over as the chance of a fire occurring in an empty house is greater in the first hour than the last day of a 14 day holiday.

Not condoning or criticising leaving a cat just trying to put some perspective on the facts.

Sooz00

mrspanda wrote: »

Hi

When we're not away he has access to outdoors via the catflap during the day/evening, but he is kept in the house overnight. With very few exceptions he spends most of his days indoors napping on the sofa or window, so isn't much of an outdoor type. When we are away we keep him locked indoors... for some reason for this trip I'm struggling with this, feel a bit guilty, and wonder if we should leave the flap open or put him in a cattery.

Do you think it's cruel to lock him inside? He has full run of the house and whenever we've done this before and got home he's been in good condition and seemed content, and has slotted back into his routine well. Any thoughts??

I don't think it's cruel to lock him inside at all. I think it depends on your cat, you say he spends most of his time during the day anyway. I'm guessing he's happy to use a litter tray too. How does he behave when he has been limited to the house before and you have been there (i.e. after any vet treatment/surgery etc).

I've never used a cattery as I haven't ever found one good enough! I use a cat sitter who comes twice a day and feeds and plays with the cats plus does the litter trays and any tablets, etc. We have 9 cats (yes, 9!) and they have always been fine like this. In fact, I can't fault the cat sitter we have at the moment - previously one of my cats always showed his disgust at being left by ignoring me for 24-48 hours after I returned. With our current cat sitter, he is as happy and content as normal!

Good luck with your decision x

dizziblonde

Mine stays in the house while we go away (but she's indoor only) and a friend pops in every day to check food/water/furball. She's skitty too, reacts violently to travelling (with whiffy pukey consequences) and can sulk for England - so a cattery isn't the nicest option for her.

Still get three hours of indignant moggie to apologise to when we get home but she's a spoilt little primadonna anyway!

geri1965_2

headpin wrote: »

Bit of a red herring this one unless you never leave your cat alone in the house. A fire takes seconds to break out and not much longer to spread. Even if a cat was left alone for 15 minutes it could be too long in case of a fire. So not really worth being too excited over as the chance of a fire occurring in an empty house is greater in the first hour than the last day of a 14 day holiday.

I leave my cats alone in the house often, but they are never locked in. Of course the chances of them being killed in a fire are not huge, but I have dealt with fire claims at work (I'm a loss adjuster) in which the pets were killed so it is something I consider.

I'm not criticizing anyone who needs to lock theirs in for reasons of security and I might think differently if my cat flap lead onto the street for example, and it was safer to leave them inside.

mrspanda_2

Definitely going to leave him in I think. I spoke to the catsitters earlier who suggested it might be best given he's been fine before and they said he always seems content when they see him, and also if he did go missing they might not be suspicious for a couple of days as they'd initially assume he was out.

Special collars for opening cat flaps are not an option - he hates collars (he is chipped though).

Roll on a stroppy kitty when we get back! (actually, he's been indifferent before so I suppose that's reassuring in a way )

Gingham_Ribbon

In the circumstances you describe, I think the cat will be fine indoors with a visitor every day. Don't worry!