Printable View
I'm not sure what to arrange for Txukka when we leave. We'll be gone for 5 days in December and a bit longer in about February. He's not quite a year old. Our former cat was ok in the condo if someone came in to leave food and check water and his box, but I'm worried that our little Txukka would be lonely and/or get into trouble or wreak havoc in our bigger house.
Boarding?
House sitter?
Go stay with friends?
What do you do with your furbabies?
We have the best neighbors who come down twice a day to feed our indoor babies and our collection of ferals.
We actually make sure we schedule our vacations at separate times because when they are gone, we take care of their fur babies.
Veronica
I have a professional pet sitter who comes once a day. We have two cats currently. When the youngest was still pretty young (I think she was about 4months), we left her in a bedroom by herself for a week so that she wouldn't get into any trouble. She probably hated it, but she survived. We paid the pet sitter for an extra long visit each day so that she could spend plenty of time with both of them. A few months after that, we went on another weeklong trip and just went back to our regular routine of having a pet sitter in once a day. Of course, our house is otherwise cat/kitten proofed. They're alone most of the day anyway so leaving them by themselves didn't seem to pose a huge threat. I wish I could afford twice a day visits, but it's usually cost prohibitive.
ETA: Most, but not all, cats do not do well when taken out of their space/routine. Boarding or moving them to somebody else's house for the week, for me, would be the least attractive options for this reason.
Where we used to live a neighbor (two houses over) would check o them while we were gone. When we are gone for long weekends, we just leave them with plenty of food and water and clean the litter box that morning. If we're gone longer than that one of hubby's co workers will come and check on them.
I admit I board my two fur babies. Partly because Calypso has the very bad habit of pooping near but not IN the litter box :mad:. They're boarded at PetsMart together, and they're out twice daily for some personal play time.
I think if Calypso had better potty habits, then I'd get a neighbor to pet-sit, coming in to check on them, pooper-scoop litter boxes once or twice daily.
I hope I didn't make you feel bad about boarding them. I was just speaking generally about it. What's important is that they're cared for. I will say that this is where having a professional care from them is helpful. I have used several and they have all been immune to animal issues like going outside the box. Our current one was quite understanding of Sophie's issues in using the box as she got old. She's also comfortable medicating them and otherwise humoring their odd habits.Quote:
Originally Posted by bmccasland
Naaa. ;) It fustrates me to no end that Calypso poops on the floor, not in the box. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by indysteel
I just don't think it's fair to impose my cat's bad habits on someone else. Unless I lucked into someone with the same issues, who would be understanding.
Move to Indiana and you got yourself a deal! Or I can move there!Quote:
Originally Posted by bmccasland
Thankfully, we don't have poop issues right now, but I've been there.
Or you could move to NC. I have one that sometimes poops outside the box. Very frustrating indeed.
We always have someone housesit when we go away. Our male Burmese gets too neurotic otherwise. He can't be left on his own for too long. Though it's a little trickier since our elderly female Burmese decided to start using the spare bedroom as her bathroom, meaning we had to get litter trays. Someone (we're not sure who) sometimes decides to poop outside the litter tray as well. THankfully the house sitter didn't say anything, so hopefully there weren't any accidents or she's too nice to say anything!
I have the 'Animal Nanny' come by. He is very reasonable in cost and will do whatever you ask. In the winter, I have 4 heated birdbaths that need to have water added every day, and he will take care of that along with filling the feeders. He even gave Kallie insulin shots when Kallie was around. We live on a corner and one Christmas, he got out the snow shovel and shoveled our walks. He has been very dependable...
Thanks for the input!
There's a local place that has kennels (which they call condos) and an open room with catty stuff.
I'm going to visit up there next week to check it out. Since he came from a place called "Colony 6" at animal control, we think it might be just the thing for Txukka. He is so naughty and such a troublemaker that I'd be nervous the whole time that he had done some mischief or other.
We have boarded ours in the past when we were gone more than about 5-7 days. Since then, we started sharing our home with family, so we have built-in responsibility sharing. We had one negative experience with a boarding facility who clipped our cats nails too short on a 2 week vacation, after that he was a total brat about us touching his toes. Otherwise they have always came home with a little stress but well cared for.
Now, with 1 of our kitties in Austin and just the two of us there, when both of us are gone we have to go back to thinking about what to do. So far, we've only taken about 5 days away for long weekends (Ironman Florida and Thanksgiving) and she's done well on her own. I was a little worried the first time we left, she was definitely having anxiety issues from moving about 2 weeks earlier (there was a couple times when she peed on the bed/pillows), but it actually went well. This time, she's a little more adjusted, so we're not expecting problems.
More than 5-7 days and I'm concerned about the litter box first, and her need to socialize a close second. That's a long time to be lonely for a kitty used to living with 2-4 humans, other kitties, and a dog. ;) I'd probably go pet sitter if we could swing it in our condo, but it'd come down to trust and cost. I know the vet/boarding facility is qualified. We have a lot of neighbors with pets, they might be able to refer someone.
Also, we have picked up a few tootsie rolls outside the target area ourselves. I imagine she's standing IN the box when she does it, just bad aim. ;) http://www.theonion.com/articles/fre...-the-box,8945/
Out of curiosity, those of you that use them, how much are you paying for petsitters? I used to have an awesome neighbor who would baby my cats, but now I've moved and am going to be using a co-workers teenager as a pet sitter. I was thinking $15/day to feed and scoop litter. It's likely he will not even see the cats, so it's not like he's going to spend 30 minutes playing with them. Do you think that is reasonable to offer?
We have great neighbors too. I have such a network now of people I can rely on. And I travel weeks on end sometimes. I feel awful about it but gotta make money. But I have 3 cats who take care of each other. Having one cat I could see it would be hard to leave him. You need another cat! That's my advice. :p
Taking a 2 pronged approach:
Prong 1: On Brandi's advice, we got another kitty. Okay, I wanted another one anyway, and couldn't resist once I saw the pic of a sad small ginger cat.
Prong 2: Hired a local professional cat sitter. Met her today and she's great.