Most cat parents get stressed at the thought of having to leave their cat, even if it’s only for a couple of days. And while you might be tempted to leave your cat for a weekend and just leave enough food and water for her, this is simply not a good idea.
Dr. Mikel Delgado, a feline behaviorist, owner of Feline Minds, and a post-doctoral fellow at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, recommends not leaving your cat alone without someone coming to check on her for more than 24 hours. ““Cats may overeat due to stress, knock over their water dish, or get injured — so it’s not okay to just leave them with a big bowl of food and keep your fingers crossed,” Delgado told Inverse.
For more information, please read How long can I leave my cat alone on Inverse.
If you don’t have a trusted friend or family member who can care for your cat while you’re away, it’s best to hire a professional cat sitter. You can find my tips on what to look for when hiring a sitter here.
I just could not leave my cat alone for more than 8 hours. Even that seems far too long especially now after spending so much time together during the lockdown. I try to take her with me when I travel but when I can’t I have a trusted friend who comes to feed her. I know at some point I will need to hire a cat sitter to come once a day while I am gone. Her litter needs to be cleaned, her water needs to be changed and she needs a little attention too!
I don’t trust anyone with my cats, now two are on thyroid medication and one has only 3 legs and one of the thyroid boys has heart failure. I take them for boarding where they are well known, and can be transferred to my local vet if needed. Since COVID we have only been away for a week at a time four times in 2 years.
We have six but one of them is disabled – his back legs stopped working 3 years ago – so he needs help every few hours for ‘necessary things’ haha! He’s such a good boy. At night, he sleeps in his bed next to mine, and calls me when he needs something – he’s hungry, he needs to poo tray, he’s cold/hot; I use a process of elimination to discover which haha!. He’s such a darling boy and he knows I love him, and I know he loves me!
The others are fairly normal, but I hate leaving them for more than a few hours, half a day at max.
Food, and water are needed, but a clean waste disposal would have to be. I recommend a cat sitter. Things happen, and cats are sor of children. Curiosity “can” kill them. Or at some point hurt them.