What to do with Ally when I go away next month?

My family and I will all be going to Denver and Minnesota over the course of 1 week next month to visit two of the law schools I'm considering. Ally will be about 4 months old then.

What should I do? I'm worried about boarding her at the vet, as I've always noticed that my dog seems to come back traumatized. Unfortunately, my parents claim that they don't trust anywhere else (the reality is that they're just stuck in their ways).

I was thinking about the possibility of just leaving her in the house instead? She already stays confined to my bedroom by her own desire. She only leaves that room when I'm around. I've got feeders for water and food that would last well over a week. All I'd have to get is an auto sifting litter box.

My fear though is in not knowing how Ally would react to being totally isolated for a week and being on her own. Being abandoned as a kitten by her mother, I worry about leaving her alone for an extended period of time triggering bad memories and an anxiety reaction.

What are your thoughts on how to handle the situation? If you know of a good place to board animals down here in South Florida where they treat the animals well and help alleviate any anxiety they have - let me know please.

PLEASE don't leave her alone that long! Especially since she's a kitten and needs playtime and attention.

I'd have her boarded if you can't get someone to come and see her at least once a day every6 day - she's very young and will forget about it quickly.

I brought my concerns up with the family and told them that I would prefer if we split up the trip.

They want to visit Denver on their own for personal reasons. Fine... they can do that and I'll stay home.

I need to visit law schools... I will have to do that in small trips by themselves and have my family take care of Ally while I'm away.

Hopefully, my family will see the reasoning behind this and be ok with it. It's not just Ally. I'm pretty sure if we board our 17 year old dog, he won't survive the stress.

Don't you have a friend who would be willing to check in on the cat?

Is there anyone to pet sit? Sometimes techs at the vet's office offer those services. Or they know of good people. Ally is too young to be left by herself for that length of time, IMHO. It would even be better to board her somewhere.. where maybe she will have other cats to play with if she is not too scared.

Gosh, I wish I lived nearby. I would take her a for a few days ... she is a total cutie!

I could not leave that little cutie alone for that long. We went away in Nov for 4 days, although my son's were only away for 2 & we left Blossom in the house with exta food, water & 2 litter boxes. She was fine but I felt guilty for leaving her for that long.

I leave Trout alone for maybe 2 days (a weekend) without someone checking on her. Once it gets up to 3 days, I have someone come in every other day to make sure everything is alright.

I would have someone come in each day to freshen her water, etc. and also to spend some time playing with her. 4 months is awfully young to be by herself that long. She can get into a lot of messes that way, some of them dangerous.

Don't you have a friend who would be willing to check in on the cat?

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In order to do that we'd have to give somebody out of the family the alarm code and a key. My family doesn't trust anybody with those two items unfortunately.

Additionally unfortunate is that my family decided that they are not ok with splitting up the trip.

My mother is going to call her brother and see if my aunt and uncle can take care of the dog and Ally. I'm concerned about that though because they have 2 dogs of their own and I don't know how they'd react to a cat.

Given all of that information, if I were you I would check into Cat-Only Boarding type facilities. Before my sister moved from the Twin Cities, and didn't have anyone who could look after her kits, she boarded them at a cats-only facility. She said it was well worth the money. The cats were cared for very well, had their own "suite" together that was very homey. She also didn't want strangers in her home. She said the cats were not overly stressed and seemed pretty normal when she picked them up.

Personally, I either have my in-laws or a bonded/insured pet sitter take care of my cats. But I can sure understand some people don't want strangers in their homes.

Originally Posted by LawGuy

In order to do that we'd have to give somebody out of the family the alarm code and a key. My family doesn't trust anybody with those two items unfortunately.

Additionally unfortunate is that my family decided that they are not ok with splitting up the trip.

My mother is going to call her brother and see if my aunt and uncle can take care of the dog and Ally. I'm concerned about that though because they have 2 dogs of their own and I don't know how they'd react to a cat.

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If that happens, I would strongly recommend and urge your aunt and uncle to keep Ally segregated from the strange dogs... for her safety. Do you think they would be willing to do that? Actually I would INSIST, eventhough they would be doing you a favor.

I would avoid boarding and would definately want someone coming in at least once a day to check on her.

Also, beware of using an automatic litter box without a long (months) trial period first. She may not use at all or she may use it for a time then decide she doesn't like it. Of course, she may also be fine with it from the start but you want to be sure she will use it consistently before you never her alone with it. Otherwise you may come home to a very unpleasant surprise.

There is got to be a compromise from your family.... Maybe they will digest the situation and agree to have someone to come to the house to pet sit. You can also look for a professional sitter, bonded and insured, and have the person stop by your house to meet your parents prior to the trip...
Also: there are sitters that will take the kitty into their homes, instead of going to yours... that way you have the best of both worlds...
I travel often, but I don't trust to leave my kitties alone - I have someone come in at least 2x/day to check on them... A lot can happen in a week...
Good luck!

If the alarm code is the only concern, most of them allow for temporary code assignments so that someone can get in and out with their own code and don't need the family's personal one. Then you can delete the temp code when you return. Just wanted to share as I wasn't aware of this feature initially.

Many pet sitters are licensed, bonded, and insured. I would hire one to stop by. The longest I've left my cats alone was 3 nights, when I was taking the bar exam.

I used to board them and they were fine. Ally is a kitten and will be ok. She won't like it, and it will take her time to get over it when she gets home, but you'll feel better knowing that she has water and a litter box and food and everything she needs. There is a cat-only boarding place where I live, maybe you have one by you? Water bowls tip over, litter boxes fill up and you won't know how she'll react to an automatic one, cats can eat all their food in one sitting or an automatic feeder can malfunction, she could get stuck somewhere, her collar could get caught on something, you just never know...

A solution was reached. My brother didn't really want to go on the trip anyways, so he's going to stay home to take care of the dog and Ally.

Originally Posted by LawGuy

A solution was reached. My brother didn't really want to go on the trip anyways, so he's going to stay home to take care of the dog and Ally.

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That's a good solution!