Longest you would leave cats home alone?

I've only left Meeker and Draco for a week at most, but that's because I never had anywhere to go that would cause me to be gone longer. I had my very good friend cat-sit while I was gone, and I know that he loved the cats and would stay with them literally all day.

The longest we've left our cats was 10 days.
BUT, that was with my best friend...the person that has Gracie and Lizzie's Mom...coming in twice a day to clean the litter boxes, give them food and fresh water and play with them.
They love her, she loves them so I felt comfortable leaving them in her care.

The longest Ive left them totally alone was 5 days. They had food left over when I came back. The longest I left them with someone coming and checking on them was 3 1/2 weeks.

I may be extreme, but I wouldn't leave them alone overnight. Hubby and I took separate vacations this year (which wasn't altogether a bad thing, since I got to visit more with my family than we usually do when we travel together).

Originally Posted by gizmocat

It helps if you have a friend whom the cat knows. The next best choice would be a bonded cat carer who came to your home.

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I so agree- we have a close friend who is a cat lover that spent a week terrorised by Radar
Arranging for a cat to stay at home with friends in the house has to be easier than a cattery imho

My own personal experience...

I will leave mine for the weekend with my MIL checking in on them at least once. When we got married we left them for 2 weeks with a co-worker playing with them (and feeding them, etc) once a day. I think Baylee would not have handled leaving the house and staying in an unfamiliar plcae... and she really warmed up to our catsitter by the end of it.

But every cat is different, so...

Originally Posted by 4crazycats

The longest Ive left them totally alone was 5 days. They had food left over when I came back. The longest I left them with someone coming and checking on them was 3 1/2 weeks.

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We've left our cats alone for 4 days, though it was unplanned. We had gone away for a weekend and left instructions for our normal cat-sitting friends to check in on them but after one day, they had a family emergency and had to leave, at the same time we had a death in the family, the cat-sitters didn't know who else to trust, so they put out tons of food and water and the extra litter boxes and when we came back they were fine. Still had food and water in the bowls and one of the 3 litter boxes was barely soiled.

We've only ever been gone overnight, but mostly just due to lack of vacation time, not because I'm afraid to leave my kitties home alone. We have a bunch of very good friends who are all cat people and all of them know (and are known by) our cats, so we have people we can trust to take care of Spike and Oz. When we're gone overnight, we'll have friends come in to feed the cats in the evenings and then again in the morning, and that's always worked out just fine.

Indefinitely, as long as someone was coming in once or twice a day. The only time I've ever boarded my cats was when I moved and had to be out of my old place before my new place was ready so I had to spend a couple of nights on a friend's sofa. Otherwise, cats are so territory oriented that they are much better off in their own homes.

I definitely wouldn't leave a cat for more than 24 hours without anyone checking in, especially a male cat. Urinary blockages can come on suddenly and they're fatal if untreated. I've seen enough that I'm totally paranoid about this!

WELDRWOMN said:

Personally, two days is the most I would leave my cat alone. I would rather board her with the vet than have anyone in the house to take care of her.

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good point ,but boarding can be expensive, and to have her locked up in one of their cages ,That would bother me  

that seems like a better idea ,rather than have people you don't know  in your apartment, and doing heaven only knows ,but my poor baby hates to be left alone .she's very needy

We leave ours for the weekend (leave Friday evening, come back early Sunday), and that's about as long as we'll leave them without someone to check on them.

When we go away longer, there is a highly recommended and regarded sitting service that we are lucky enough to have in our area. We have a regular sitter who always comes in and handles our ladies and my fish. She is very careful to follow all instructions to the letter and has called us with questions a time or two when it was needed.

I never even thought of a sitter  for my cat,,which would be cheaper? boarding at a vet around 21 dollars per day or a sitter, any one like that in my area of new westminster bc ?I would like to take a break, but will feel guilty leaving my baby alone for a few days or so...
 

I have a girl that I know who comes and stays right at my house while we are away.  She looks after the garden and my potted plants in the warmer months.  I've known her since we were teens so I completely trust her and I can relax that my babies are in good hands while we are away.  What we pay her varies by how long she is here; but I can't compare because my area may be very different and I've never looked to board them.

Gerard Danjou said:

I never even thought of a sitter  for my cat,,which would be cheaper? boarding at a vet around 21 dollars per day or a sitter, any one like that in my area of new westminster bc ?I would like to take a break, but will feel guilty leaving my baby alone for a few days or so...
 

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I'm not sure which would be cheaper, but the sitter service is generally less expensive here. The one we have is a service the works with people who are assigned to an area, so you have a regular person for your area. If you use the service regularly, you tend to have the same person. They will also come every day or every other day depending on your pet's needs, and the sitter is usually more than happy to spend a little time cuddling a cat. It's considered the equivalent of walking a dog.

A couple of years ago I left Bella with my daughter and her 2 cats and 2 dogs for 1 week when I went to my mom's house in Chicago. My daughter told me Bella hid under the the computer  desk and hissed at my son in law when he wanted to pet and feed her. She was very nasty to my daughter and she said she will never watch her again and hasn't. I would hate to ''board'' my cats. You never know how they treat the cats there. If I can't take them with me next time I just won't go. But if there was an emergency, maybe.

And when I go out for the day for arrands I leave Bella & Thunder for about 3 hours with plenty of food & water.

dejolane

I've left Hester for two weeks with a family member coming over to take care of her.  

I suppose anything could happen... just like anything could happen while I'm in the next room not paying attention to what they're doing.  Nobody has their eyes directly on all their cats 24/7.  I mean, I'm not the only cat owner who sleeps at night and has a job, right?  

I would probably be afraid to leave my cats at home and have to depend on my daughter to feed them. She may forget to come here and feed them on her way past after work.

dejolane

We left Casper for 5 nights once, only because our neighbor flaked out on us to care for him and we had nobody else to watch him.  Vacation was fully paid for (cruise) and we were knocking on their door up until the day we left wondering where they were.  Said neighbors, are very nice people, have cats and we're friendly with them.  Turns out they had an emergency out of town and totally forgot in their haste to leave to let us know they couldn't watch our cat.  I have no idea who was watching their cats.  I assume some family member.

We had no options at that moment.  We would never board him to sit in a cage for days on end and couldn't find a pet sitter nearby.  We were relatively new to the area at that time.  Casper is a very well-behaved cat, and pretty self-sufficient.  We weren't worried about him getting into trouble on his own.  He already was eating from a self-feeder for kibble and we got a large water dispenser for him.  

But we were concerned about something happening to the house of course (or, even what if the food bowl stopped working?), and him not being able to fend for himself.  Honestly, we would never leave him that long again; we thought about him every day and were really worried about him.  He was fine when we got home, other than the litter box being rather rank, and him clearly missing us bunches.

Now we have 2 cats, and there's no way we'd leave both of them for that length of time.  Luckily, we found someone to watch them now, so that won't have to happen.

regarding sitter ,how would I  look into this, most likely will call the SPCA here in vancouver BC.ths,