Advice needed - cat sitter or board at parents?

[katiev]

Dear all wonderful other cat lovers, my husband and I are planning a trip back to his home country for 2 weeks. Problem is I'm already stressing about leaving my darling Bella for 2 weeks, I love her so much I hate leaving her for day!!! Anyways, your advice is needed on whether we should leave her in our house with garden with various family members/ friends coming to stay over etc OR take her to my parents where she would be in a 2 bedroom flat ( quite spacious) but would receive a ton of company and cuddles / attention . They live 2 hour drive away. Bella will be a year old , is a Tabby and loves company, she is quite attached to me and follows me everywhere . What do you guys suggest?

 

[emandjee]

Hi katiev,

Were I in your shoes, and your parents have no other animals (dogs, cats, etc), I'd be taking my two up with me, so long as your parents are ok about it. 2 hour car rides are for sure ok with kitties, they can hold their bladder in for a long time, but you can also place a few puppy pads inside their carrier if you fear of accidents occuring! Make sure you bring all their familiar cat items with you like their bed, favorite toys, litter with their familiar boxes, and food/treats. It may also be a good idea to also get a pheromone spray like Feliway and spray your carrier 30 minutes before leaving, and maybe a towel to hang over the carrier if they start to panic while you're on the road. Remember to place the litter boxes in the quiet areas of your parent's home, and introduce your cats to that part of the house first (so they know where it is and feel more secure in their 'saferoom' if strangers come by and they want to hide out for a while and not overwhelmed in their new environment. As long as you go at their pace and let them explore out on their own, I think it should go well. Crossing my fingers for your two girls! 

Hope you have a great get-away and enjoy spending time with your family, friends and kitties!

 

Edit: My bad, my impression was that you were going to stay over at your parents place, lol. So it seems like that isn't the case. I'd still leave them with my parents IF they are cat lovers and are willing to follow MY personal instructions to the tee (I AM kind of anal about my cats, lol) but in the whole, I guess if I trusted my parents vs friends/sitter, that's what I'd do. It's also just easy to find out how your kitties are doing with your parents, especially if they like felines to begin with. If not, I'd get a friend (another cat owner at least) who is responsible to do all the necessaries to keep your cats healthy--replenish water bowls, feed them the appropriate foods at the right times, and scoop regularly. If they can also give you a text msg with a picture or two or your cats while you're gone, that'll also be another plus!

So, bottom line--it'll depend on the sitter's experience with cats and their dependability. It can go either way! 

 

[hexiesfriend]

My opinion only and what I have always done is to leave my cats at my home where they are familiar and have family members come in and feed them and clean the litter box. I leave worn clothes around the house so they know I'll be back. Once I return it was like I never left.

 

[silverpersian]

In similar situations, I have left my cat with family, at their house. He is very social, and having company more than a few times a day seems to be more valuable than being in familiar surroundings. We have tried it a few times, and he does well with both the car trips and the visit.

 

[kittymomma1122]

When I had one cat we had family come in and feed him and change his litter.  Now we have 4, the only way I leave them at home is if my daughter comes and stays at my house the whole time we are gone.  I am afraid something might happen in between my families visits. Now they go to my parents to cat sit.  They do great with car rides, but they are a little nervous about being in a different house.  My parents home is much larger than mine so they close off a lot of rooms.  I just feel more comfortable knowing that someone is with them 24/7 and if they need rushed to the vet it can be done. My parents enjoy it also, they spoil their furry grand children.

 

[sophie1]

I'd say it depends very much on the cats.  I leave my cats with my mother when I go out of town.  But then, I've been bringing them to her house frequently since they were 3 months old, so it's very familiar territory to them.  And they are very social cats and don't take well to being left alone for long periods.  I gather that's a bit unusual for cats though.

Could you bring the cats to your parents' for a brief visit, like over the upcoming 3 day weekend, for a trial run?

 

[katiev]

Thank you all for your brilliant advice. I was trying to post a reply ages ago on my phone but for some reason a advert for weight loss kept coming up when typing on my silly cracked I phone(maybe it's a hint!).So I guess you all do different things and it works for you. I'm just very, very worried and anxious about leaving her for the first time- she is very clingy , especially with me and follows me everywhere when she's inside. We adopted her young 7 weeks, so I think she considers me her big mum. My parents adore her, have no pets, but i'm worried because they have no garden (they live in a flat by the sea), she would however have lots of cuddles and play time with them. If she was at mine I would worry that she would get stuck up a tree or run away from home!!! My heart would break

 

[katiev]

pps. If it makes any difference I'm in U.K (London) and we need to fly all the way back to husband's home country, South Africa, so very far away!

 

[pisces7386]

I recently found myself in a similar situation; my husband and I were away from home for three weeks. Normally we have great friends and family that we trust to check in and feed our three cats, but in this case we weren't sure how long we would be gone. Also, our kitties are very needy (when it comes to attention) and we worried that the short visits from our friends would not be enough to keep them from getting upset and anxious. 

We drove them the 1:45 to my parents along with all their 'stuff' ( brushes, blankets, beds, treats, food dishes, toys, enough food for twice as long as we expected them to be there, litter box, extra litter, etc) along with stuff that smelled like home ( my unwashed bath robe, a blanket from our bed)... I swear I packed more for them than we packed for ourselves.  My parents kept them in one room for several days and then let them out into the rest of the house once they settled in a bit. I am a little neurotic about these little cats so I left very detailed instructions as to how much food they get  as well as how often to scoop their box.

It worked really well... and as a bonus, when we picked them up the cats were so excited to see us again and to be home again. It was adorable how happy they were!

My one word of advice is to make sure your parents will tell you the truth and not try to keep any problems the cat may have from you. The first day they were at my parents my little sister, trying to be helpful, lied to me and told me they settled in and were eating when in reality they hadn't eaten anything for the first day they were there... I think her reasoning was that the reason we were away was a medical emergency in my husband's family and they didn't wanted us to worry about anything else. I knew exactly how to get them to eat again ... but they went a day without eating because my sister didn't want me to worry.... and then I worried for several days anyway wondering if they were hiding anything else from me. So just make sure they know to tell you everything so you don't worry.