Separation Anxiety FOR ME!!!

Hi, sorry I have no suggestions on how to make it easier. I hate leaving my kitties too. I don't think I have ever been gone for 8 days, tho maybe 6 once or twice long ago. I left for ONE overnight stay last week and missed them terribly!

Good that you are leaving something with your recent scent. Cats are pretty emotional beings (like you!) as well as being very telepathic. While you might not see this as an opportunity from one perspective it is - practice sensing him at a distance and feeling that connection that is ever present. I believe that you are so bonded that you have already been doing that for years; meaning I am sure there are times that you were in another room from him and just knew he just woke up, or x, Y, or Z. So my suggestion is to use this connected sense but now at a greater distance.

Cats typically think in pictures so after taking a few breaths to calm yourself and relax, imagine your guy and perhaps imagine him enjoying lying on a sunny spot on the carpet, or playing with you, or being petted. A friend of mine taught me to show a picture in my mind to my cats as a motion picture showing them how many times they would see it get dark and then the sun come up so that they had a sense of how long it'd be before you were back. Each time the number of night/day cycles of course will be less.

No not crazy about the telephone. I was cat sitting for my friends 4 cats and put her on speaker phone frequently. All the cats responded differently from walking away, to one of them rubbing the phone on its face where the scent glands are just as if she'd be marking the person if they were physically present.

Enjoy your trip; it is only your physical body and your cats physical body that will be separated; the most important parts of your beings will and are always connected.

I have never left any of my kitties that long either, I am wondering if yours might benefit from a Feliway Diffuser while you're  gone? It has helped immensely with my female kitten KC, she freaks out if I leave her for a minute.  It is a good idea to leave lots of your clothing around so she can get your scent as well.  I have  a friend who purchased a  security video cam so she could check in on her two older kitties. Have fun on your trip!

I had exactly the same experience when leaving my cat for two and a half weeks. I was so depressed and worried for him. I had a friend check in with the kennel halfway through to make sure he was ok (he was). When I went to pick him up he was meowing like crazy - he NEVER meows - and for the first day and a half after he came home he was like "talk to the paw" with me - but after that he actually became more cuddly and affectionate than he was before.  So yes it will be difficult for both of you but it will all be ok in the end!