cat left home alone for a few days

Fridaycat

Thanks for sharing, blue_monkey. I think that just underlines how each cat is different, just like how all living beings have different personalities.

I too live in the country and 3 of mine are rescue moggies, but are completely different to yours - Friday would be with me 24 hours a day if she could . At the moment, she is resting on my arm, making it really difficult for me to type with Harry the biggest soft lump sat behind purring, trying to get a look in, though I won't let him as he is soaking wet as he's just come in from the rain. My 3 moggies have the freedom to go out during the day, and they do like to explore the fields around our house, but they always come in for a snooze/play/cuddle and I see them for many hours each day. (My two Bengals do not have as much free rein outside, so I see them for much longer).

But even in your circumstances, you are still the saying the same as a lot of others on here - if you are away for more than 24 hours, there is someone you rely on to come in and feed the cat. You would not leave them to fend for themselves for days on end and hope for the best.

zagfles

blue_monkey wrote: »

I see my cat for about 5 minutes a day - food time. That is it. Other than that I have no idea where she is but I often see her wandering down from the meadow. I have been away overnight and left double food out - any more than that and our neighbour pops in. I've had 5-6 cats over the last 15 years and I've never had a cat that wants to be in the house being fussed and sitting by the radiator - but that could be because we have rescued them and they are independant or maybe it is because we live in the country and there is always more exciting things going on,

Yes, same with ours. But we don't even have a cat-flap, when we go away they stay outside, and we get a neighbour to feed them twice a day. They have a den which they sleep in, they are perfectly happy.

I think it's far more cruel to keep cats in the house all the time, someone I know does does this after one of her cats got run over. She's putting her own peace of mind ahead of the cat having a life IMO...

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Buttonmoons wrote: »

they are independent and pretty self sufficiant (catch own food if outside etc)

Mine haven't managed that in nearly 14 years.

The 8 year old hasn't even managed to get above sofa level when outside in her entire life. She's only just managed to get on top of the wardrobe with a lot of help from graduated height furniture.


The kitten would probably end up eating something toxic. Or pouncing on a crow and getting flown off back to their nest on its back. Something ridiculous, at any rate.


As far as I am concerned, cats are quite individual - one person's tomcat might be perfectly capable of sleeping in the shed or greenhouse, getting food by visiting an elderly neighbour, some are precious little flowers who would go into kitty meltdown if their carer was away for more than five minutes (or closed the bathroom door to use the toilet :cool:) and some will, in the absence of someone they know and trust, without food and shelter, die, terrified, cold and starving.



Someone coming in every other day isn't perfect, but it is better than not bothering (I would have swung for the person who 'forgot' personally) and a cattery - well, yes if I couldn't guarantee regular contact - but could be immensely distressing, compared to having a nice person come in and talk to, fuss and check over the mob.

I have been away for a week and had someone come in everyday. The cats were fine. I have also been forced to be away from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening without recourse to a sitter (emergency - no professional sitters were available with ten minutes' notice) - there was still food left in the bowls when I came back and the cats were more concerned whether I was going to open a tin of mush than anything else when I walked in.


My cats really don't give a monkey's who turns up at the house, so long as they have the opposable thumbs necessary for opening the food.


I'd pay for a sitter everyday/every other day by first choice, and only then, if that wasn't possible, would I send them into a cattery.

Buttonmoons

I dont think one of my cats could catch anything either, Im pretty sure she is missing some vital brain connectors, but her vacant little face is too cute, and she is the one who greets me at the front door, which is very sweet, she comes running up trotting along with her tail kink, and clumsy looking face (although, its all fake as she then leads me to the cupboard and glares at me until I feed her, not turkey/beef/anything in gravy/no tuna unless fresh etc etc)

The other cat, is probably a good hunter, he catches flys as they fly past the window, but he is scared of everything! Although I dont understand his actions, as he craps himself with the doorbell goes, but runs towards the door......then backtracks and runs under a bed. Without fail. Every time. Its pretty funny to watch, but not if he trips you up en route!

You've reminded me though, although I go away for a long weekend, ex goes in everyday to feed the fleabags, but if I look back at texts, the entire time Im away, I mention the cats/ask if he's fed them/did the litterbox - and usually there is a reply from him calling me a crazy cat lady, and then calling one of my cats "gay" Although, he did pick the apparently "gay" cat (he just likes to lick your pits, he isnt gay, he doesnt care if your male or female :rotfl:)

Im madly considering getting another cat ......3's a charm they say

Edit - I just noticed asbo cat is batting a non applicator tampon around. Who needs expensive toys :rotfl: Ah, so thats why I keep finding fat tampons, I just saw him pick it up in his mouth like a dog and drop it into his water bowl, he likes to make a game out of it......and soak my floor.

KxMx

Blue, your set up sounds ideal to provide a home to semi-feral cats I volunteer with my local CP and we are always looking for farms/rural spots where we can relocate such cats.

~Chameleon~

My only concern with leaving cats unsupervised for extended periods are with those that have access outdoors. You never know when they might get themselves into trouble. Things that immediately spring to mind are animal attacks, RTAs, getting caught in fencing (especially collar wearers) poisoning (common this time of year with anti-freeze around) all of which could have fatal consequences if immediate help was not sought. There are far fewer risks to an indoor cat and I have indeed left my own cats for 2-3 days unsupervised but with plenty of food & water available.

zagfles

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

My only concern with leaving cats unsupervised for extended periods are with those that have access outdoors. You never know when they might get themselves into trouble. Things that immediately spring to mind are animal attacks, RTAs, getting caught in fencing (especially collar wearers) poisoning (common this time of year with anti-freeze around) all of which could have fatal consequences if immediate help was not sought. There are far fewer risks to an indoor cat and I have indeed left my own cats for 2-3 days unsupervised but with plenty of food & water available.

Don't see why the risk is greater if the owners are away. Ours are often out for 10 hours at a time while we're at home, they won't get immediate attention if something happened as we'd think nothing of it if they'd been out for 10 hours. If someone finds them our mobile numbers on the collar so they can call us, wherever we are, and if we're away we'll ask our neighbour to deal.

Person_one

zagfles wrote: »

Don't see why the risk is greater if the owners are away. Ours are often out for 10 hours at a time while we're at home, they won't get immediate attention if something happened as we'd think nothing of it if they'd been out for 10 hours. If someone finds them our mobile numbers on the collar so they can call us, wherever we are, and if we're away we'll ask our neighbour to deal.

10 hours is much less of a risk than say, 72 hours. It doesn't really compare.

When I had rats I didn't even leave them alone longer than overnight.

Croatoan

Risk doesn't really work like that. Time is far from being the only variable and risk doesn't necessarily increase over time. How many cats for instance are injured by owners stepping on them as they circle around their feet at meal times, or while they charge up and down the stairs, or just get beneath their feet? An indoor, and possibly even an outdoor, cat may even be safer without us around because of the lack of day to day human activity around the house and the likelihood that without us disturbing it, it will likely spend more time sleeping.
This is of course not a call to leave our cats unattended for days on end, simply that the dangers a cat faces without us around needs to be offset by the dangers it faces when we are around.

~Chameleon~

zagfles wrote: »

Don't see why the risk is greater if the owners are away. Ours are often out for 10 hours at a time while we're at home, they won't get immediate attention if something happened as we'd think nothing of it if they'd been out for 10 hours. If someone finds them our mobile numbers on the collar so they can call us, wherever we are, and if we're away we'll ask our neighbour to deal.

Because if you're at home and your sick/injured cat manages to drag himself home then you will be immediately on hand to seek veterinary treatment. If you were away for several days then the poor cat wouldn't receive that help until you returned, by which time it may well be too late!