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I have a wonderful old cat, maybe about 18 years old or older. I saved her life many years ago by bringing her home from work. She was totally feral at that time and very afraid of people.
She's very affectionate with me, follows me around the house, wants me to pick her up, lays on top of me and so on. She's almost like having a little dog and I spoiled her and have no regrets.
She's never lost her intense fear of people other than myself. If she hears the doorbell ring, she'll run and hide like her life depends on it. If anyone comes into the house, it's the same thing. She'll never come out while there is another person here.
I have to go out of town for 2 days and one night. I'm making this as short as possible because of her. I'm torn whether or not to hire someone to give her wet food a couple of times a day while I'm gone. They would come in, clean her bowl and put new wet food in it, then leave. I know this will cause her a good amount of stress a couple of times each day. Normally, I give her fresh canned food 3 times a day and she eats whatever she feels like when she feels like. This has worked well as she's very healthy for her age.
I also leave some dry food out for her, for no other reason than sometimes she enjoys nibbling on it. I'm now debating whether I should just leave the dry food for her, or hire someone to come and give her wet food which would stress her out but she really loves the wet food.
Is there a right or wrong answer? I'm leaning towards leaving just dry food. I'm going to be leaving early on a Saturday morning and coming back late the following day. I'm afraid she'll be stressed out enough wondering why I'm not coming home as I usually do.
If you think you not being there will upset her, then I'd lean toward keeping the rest of her routine as normal as possible. Maybe 3 times a day having a stranger in - though in and out quickly, minimum upset - would be a lot, but once or twice? It's only 2 days and cats are resilient, but at her age I'd want to keep her diet as close to normal as I could, especially with other stresses. Just my two cents.
Why not compromise and have someone come over once a day to give her wet food? If she gets hungry, she'll still eat the dry food and it won't entirely through her out of her routine, while not disturbing her multiple times a day.
She will hide while they are there, so let them come & give her the wet food she loves. And clean the litter box too. Maybe once a day would be enough. Even though she dislikes visitors ( mine do too) I think she would be happier getting her normal food & a clean litter box.
My son's cat is like that. She comes out of hiding about ten minutes after the person has left and seems fine. I'd have someone in twice a day for wet food, fresh water, and litter box.
Thanks everyone. I'll hire someone to come in twice a day, give her fresh food, clean her box and so on. I'll instruct them to ring the doorbell before entering. That will give her time to hide before they open the door, otherwise she'll be at the door thinking it's me and panic when she sees a stranger.
If you still have time before your trip, maybe you could introduce the person to your cat before you leave?
Normally that would be a good idea with a standard cat. I guarantee you she would hiss and scratch to get away if that person comes within 7 ft of her. She sees every human except me as a serial cat killer
If you still have time before your trip, maybe you could introduce the person to your cat before you leave?
I dunno, my stray that was dumped in my yard at 5 weeks, 2 lbs, took weeks to even come out when my Dad came over. Now they are friends. My daughter and granddaughter came March 30th, Delta hid the whole time, she came out at dark for a few minutes. They could find her under the comforter or in the closet and was able to try to bond. Weirdest thing I've ever seen, for a whole week. When they left it took 2 hours for her to come out and be normal with me. That's what happens when you live alone and the cats have no socialization. The other 2, 6 and 12 year olds caught on quickly and were pretty comfortable with the girls.
I think once or twice a week, come in and feed, change water and clean cat box, she may never see the cat, but you know she'll be well taken care of.
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