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Hi all, we are going away for 5 days in June and trying to figure out what to do with the furkids, as this time my son won't be able to take care of them. While the dog can go to a kennel if necessary, I would not choose this option for the cat. One option would be to have someone stay at our house and take care of both our pets. But then I started thinking, do you think it would be more stressful for a cat who is scared of strangers to have a stranger stay in the house for 5 days, or just to have a stranger come and visit twice a day?
We had both versions - be sure you know the person!!! and have an emergency back up. Visitations may be less stress full as there may not be a lot of interaction. Be ready to kiss up once you are back:>)
I think a person coming in several times a day would be less stress on the cat. When we go away, a neighbor comes in severl a times a day to feed/clean.
Either someone visit or stay. If you have someone stay then you won't have to bring dog to boarders. As long as you can get someone trusted to stay. I wouldn't think it would freak the cat out too much as long as the person understood the cat is a fraidy cat and not to try and pick up. Even my totally paranoid cat who most people never saw because he would hide came out of hiding to inspect someone I had stay over for a week. Fraidy cat started to sit in the same room as sitter and stare at him, but must have enjoyed someone being around because he never came out of hiding when people were there for just visitors.
Yeah, can't figure him out. We recently had two big guys doing some work in the bedroom and the cat just stayed on the bed and stared at them but when my Mom came for a visit for two weeks, the cat refused to be in the same room with her until the end.
We have a professional cat sitter come in twice per day to feed/pet the cats/scoop litter boxes/etc. She will sometimes text and/or send us photos, which is comforting.
We had used a friend for many years, and had a tough time finding someone who we trusted come in. We found our sitter on Care.com. Please note: if you sign up for the free version you will get bombarded with emails from people. You'll need to do some screening. Other sources are your vet's office (some techs will pet sit), there's a couple of aps now with screened sitters (haven't used them), craigslist (again, screen and ask questions).
We have a professional cat sitter come in twice per day to feed/pet the cats/scoop litter boxes/etc. She will sometimes text and/or send us photos, which is comforting.
This.
I would highly recommend hiring a pet sitter from the following organization: https://www.petsit.com/locate
I used this one particular sitter from that organization several times when I lived in Everett, Washington. She was absolutely fantastic and I wish I could clone her. Very professional, will also take out the garbage, etc. My cat got to know her pretty well and they sort-of became "friends." Well worth the money!
I would highly recommend hiring a pet sitter from the following organization: https://www.petsit.com/locate
I used this one particular sitter from that organization several times when I lived in Everett, Washington. She was absolutely fantastic and I wish I could clone her. Very professional, will also take out the garbage, etc. My cat got to know her pretty well and they sort-of became "friends." Well worth the money!
I knew there was another professional place but could not remember what it was! The trouble we had was that we live west of the Milwaukee area. Most sitters won't drive this far west, and when we tried to find a sitter there, nothing was in our area.
The point I'm making is it's worthwhile to explore several options far ahead of time.
Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions! We have some trustworthy people in mind, the only question is whether it would be better for the shy cat to have them stay over or just visit. On the other hand, it would be better for the dog to not to go to the kennel...
Hi all, we are going away for 5 days in June and trying to figure out what to do with the furkids, as this time my son won't be able to take care of them. While the dog can go to a kennel if necessary, I would not choose this option for the cat. One option would be to have someone stay at our house and take care of both our pets. But then I started thinking, do you think it would be more stressful for a cat who is scared of strangers to have a stranger stay in the house for 5 days, or just to have a stranger come and visit twice a day?
Some on here do not like to hear this, but every year, my two sons and I go away together over Thanksgiving from Wednesday to Sunday. For 30 years, and with various cats, we have been doing exactly that same thing. Each year, we put out a ton of food, gallons of water, and a bunch of litter boxes, and we leave our furbuddies in the home they know and feel secure in.
We don't want anyone coming in because one of these little escape artists might slip out, and that would be tragic. When we get home they are generally relaxing, but happy to see us.
Like I said, some people might not agree with this, but it works for us, and cats, by their very nature, are pretty independent little creatures, and they do just fine. Even in our regular routine, they are home alone from sometimes 8 am to midnight or later, because we go to our shop after work a lot of days. So, they are used to entertaining themselves.
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