Possibly leaving cats alone for 36 hours, any advice?

lisajane8482

We are going away in a couple of weeks time. We will be leaving at 7am on Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening around 7pm. I am trying to find someone we (and the cats) know and trust to come and see to them on Saturday evening and Sunday morning but am not having much luck. I will not put them in a Cattery as they both hated it and behaved aggressive and high strung when they were in there which is the complete opposite of what they are like at home. It also took a few days for them to forgive us for 'abandoning' them. We really don't want anyone in the house that we don't know so a pet sitter is out of the question plus one of our acts gets really high strung when new people come around so I think it could stress him out.

If they both ate dry food I would not be so concerned as we have 2 litter trays that they use at the moment plus 3 spares we can dot around the house and plenty of water/food bowls. Obviously we will be cat proofing everything so whilst we are away they can do no damage to themselves or anything else. My only concern is that one only eats wet food so obviously we cannot leave 36 hours of wet food out. Everyone I've spoke to say he will be fine and will just eat the dry food if there is nothing else available but I can't help but think that's just plain evil.

I really have no idea what to do at the moment, I know they'd be best left at home where they feel safe and comfortable and I still have a couple of people left to ask but I do think that I need to have a plan B in place just in case I do need to leave them completely alone.

catkins

What about those timer feed bowls? I don't know much about them but they might keep wet food fresh.

I have very occasionally left my cats for about the same length of time although mine will eat dried food if they have to! I have just given them a largish amount of wet and then left a few bowls of dried and a couple of bowls of water down. They have litter trays too.

I have felt guilty but they have always seemed fine. Like your cats, mine get stressed by the journey to the cattery and then when in the cattery barely eat.

I do usually have someone come round to feed them/clean litter trays and check they are ok if I go away but, as you say, it's not always possible to find someone to do that.

missindecisive

if you leave plenty of dried food around, extra bowls and extra water plus litter trays, they will be fine in my opinion...although I'm sure someone will soon come along and tell me otherwise. You could leave some wet food out for the first day that you are gone, then give them some more when you get back,,they will be ok. They will be more at home in their own house if they get stressed in a cattery.

Slinky

I'm sure they'll be fine. We tried doing the same thing with our cat once, left a load of food in the kitchen, litter trays etc. He had access outdoors through the catflap. When we left him, we thought he was outside. When we got back, it turned out he had been upstairs with no access to the kitchen as the door was shut, so got left all that time with no food/water/litter tray. The absolute star, he'd kept his legs crossed all that time so we didn't even get payback of having to clean up for our mistake. He was a bit hungry and thirsty and slightly cross, but survived. Somebody I know shut their cat in a wardrobe for 2 days, again it was fine.

You're leaving them in their own home with plenty to eat and drink, they'll be there to greet you when you get home.

Yolina

I leave mine for that amount of time with no problem at all - extra bowl of water and I put their wet food out just before leaving, then they get some again as soon as I get back. There's some dry food in case they're a bit peckish (though obviously they try to make you believe that they haven't been fed for a year or something :rotfl:and therefore absolutely starving).

mellymeepmeep

We used to leave our Lily for weekends alone, just left enough food for her and water and she didn't even blink upon our return... don't think so really cared if we were there or not!

paddypaws101

I think you will be more stressed than the cat TBH, but personally I would rather have a stranger (pet sitter ) come in than no one at all.
have you tried asking in the vet office....sometimes the nurses will pet sit 'on the side' or if not they should know of a locally regarded sitter.

meritaten

I would leave enough wet food for two meals and lots of water dishes dotted around. Dry food can be safely left. and if cat is hungry he will eat it.
you have enough litter trays I see. OK all probs taken care of! no reason to give a perfect stranger a key and invite them into your home! (might invalidate your insurance if you later find anything missing).
its a day and a half! hardly any time at all! I wouldn't worry, just go and enjoy yourself!

aliby21

I've used the timer feeder thing when I have been going away for the weekend. The one I have has two chambers you can set for different times, so can set it to ping open Saturday evening and Sunday morning. It has one of those cold pack things you put in the bottom to help keep it food fresh if necessary. Of course my super fussy cat would sometimes eat and sometimes not, but it was there if she wanted it. And she had the biscuits down which as others have said if hungry enough they will get eaten.

Yolina

aliby21 wrote: »

I've used the timer feeder thing when I have been going away for the weekend.

I tried one of these many years ago, unfortunately one of the furries quickly worked out how to open it (by pawing at the wheel thingy until the notch lines up in the open position) :rotfl:so had to abandon that idea.

arbroath_lass

I wouldn't leave mine for that long without someone coming in to check on them, sorry. They would probably be fine but I would worry all weekend.


You do get food bowls with timers as above. Makes sure it works properly before you go, though. I had one that the lid didn't often pop up on. (I was really lazy and used it so I could have a lie in on the weekend).

ETA whilst it would be good to get someone who could come in Saturday evening and Sunday morning even someone managing Saturday and Sunday lunchtime would be better than nothing, reducing the time they are left alone.