Going on holiday and leaving cat...

pollyanna24

Wonder why she won't use the catflap. Maybe if she has no choice, she will use it to get in and eat her food, or does she not even know what's it for? I know it took us ages to get our cat used to it, but now it's a godsend as we just let her get on with her own life.

As long as there is food in her bowl and the dog bed is in the living room (the day she lets that dog sleep in her own bed is a long day coming), the cat is happy.

crank_girl

We have 3 cats who have varying degrees of comfort with the cat flap. One won't go out but will come in. One will go out but won't come in. The other will go both ways but gets very stressed using it. The simplest and safest option for us is to keep the cats in when we go away. Someone comes to feed and fuss them and change the litter once a day. They are always fine when we return.

Dick_here

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Wonder why she won't use the catflap. Maybe if she has no choice, she will use it to get in and eat her food, or does she not even know what's it for?

We've two catflaps, one is kitchen door to conservatory, the other is conservatory door to garden. We've had to seal up the external one again as our cat won't use it and another one came in at night (regularly) and ate our one's food !

She'll use the internal one if we hold it open but not otherwise, so I guess it's a fear of pushing it open. We don't know her history, so who knows though. It's not worth forcing the issue as I see it.

ailuro2

We have a see-through cat flap so the cat isn't sticking it's head into the unknown, she always has a look out first to see if anyone's there. The last cat used to do that too.

but this new cat has a look to see who's in the house before she comes in too..

Dick_here

I've just thought, as we've got a shed should we leave the door to that open in case she wants shelter, or is there a risk that a fox or something might trap her in there at night ?

Dick_here

Any thoughts, fellow pet lovers ?

mr218

hi

i would rather keep her indoors all the time as you would have some peace of mind that knowing the whereabouts of the cat.

we have similar issues with our beloved pooch. we once left her for 4 days with plenty of food (she eats dry food) and water. but it was hell on us as we kept thinking about her all the time and how she was coping. at that time she was still an indoor cat. our neighbour offered to look out for her, but the cat was very timid (been with us for 4 months then) and would not even come down and would hide away from any strangers. when we came back she was a bit more clingy than usual for a few hours but otherwise she was fine. but i felt very bad for leaving her alone in the house and felt it was not fair on her.

since then we have taken only one holiday and that in the Uk where we took her along. the trip up and down was sheer agony as she had some road sickness apart from being very scared in the car.

we want to go on holiday now and i am thinking of asking my neighbour again. although the cat does go outdoors from time to time, she can be kept inside for a few days. also she is a lot more mature and confident now and i am confident that she will be ok if our neighbour fed her everyday.

my other options are to look for cat sitters who come by once a day or so and feed the cat, water plants , turn on / off lights etc. even though they are not cheap, atleast you can call them and keep on top of them. with a neighbour you are not in a position to demand anything. you just have to be grateful for anything they do (as is rightly the case).

kennels are not an option as she does not really adapt well to change in surroundings.

so i would recommend a cat sitter or a thoughtful neighbour and dont let her out if it can be helped

crank_girl

We have used cat sitters in the past. They have been brilliant - real cat lovers that spend a good amount of time with our precious cats. Most are happy to groom them, give medication etc.

I'd recommend finding someone who has been CRB-checked for peace of mind.

Dick_here

Well, we had our holiday and the cat survived being left out during the day and fed by the neighbours. She had our bed to herself all night too... a great success all round !