Can't cope being away from my cat :(

lallorona

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I suffer from anxiety, & being out of town for days causes me to get anxious and wanna go home already. I had to go out of town for 3 days and I left a lot of food and water for my cat, a lot more than necessary because I just wanna be at ease that she won't starve and has more than enough water to drink. I come back Sunday morning but I want to go home now. I live 4-5 hours away from where Im visiting. This isn't the first time I leave my cat for 3 days. However every time I go out of town I tend to start worrying and overthinking. I can't seem to cope being far away and Sunday is taking forever to get here. I made sure all doors and windows were properly closed and locked, & I left the kitchen light on . I left 4 bowls of food and water, even though she finishes one whole bowl of food in 2 days. And I didn't even bring my blankets with me in case she wanted to snuggle under them like she usually does. But I still worry about her. I think about worse case scenarios and it worries me even more that I start to panic and want to rush home to make sure she's ok. I am not used to leaving her and I don't think I ever will. I miss her so much, and waiting for tomorrow to end is torture for me. It's making me depressed and I can't socialize with my family because my mind is somewhere else. :'(
 
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betsygee

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I'm sorry the separation causes you so much anxiety.  Next time you go out of town, can you have a friend or neighbor stop by and check on her and maybe text you a photo of her or something?  
 

catpack

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I agree. Having a friend or pet sitter check on her daily would be my advise too. I always have someone check on my animals, even if I am gone for only 24 hrs.
 
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lallorona

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I don't have anyone that can stop by to check up on her. She also hides when she sees strangers so even if someone were to check up on her she would hide, and doing so they would say "I didn't see ur cat" which will cause me to get a panic attack because I would Assume the worse. Good thing I go home in a few hours. I just wanna go home to see she's ok and hold her. I miss her so badly and these few days were filled with worrying.
 

LTS3

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Do you like the vet techs at the vet's office? Ask one of them to pet sit for you next time. Many vet techs pet sit on the side for the extra money. Or ask the vet techs for pet sitter recommendations. Yelp.com and Care.com are good places to look for pet sitters and reviews from current clients.

To make it easier for anyone to check on your cat, try minimize the number of hiding places by closing all doors (bedroom, closet, etc) and keeping the cat contained in just the main living area. Meet with the pet sitter a few days beforehand to go over care, your expectations (actually go find the cat and make sure she is ok, don't assume the cat is just hiding), and what to do in case for emergencies and how to contact you.

There's a similar thread about leaving a cat alone and having anxiety over it: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/301017/new-owner-question-about-seperation There are suggestions there on how to cope, such as using a remote web cam to check up on the cat or calling the pet sitter for updates and pictures.

Having anxiety sucks
I hope you are seeking treatment for it or will at least consider it so that the anxiety doesn't take over your life. Try not t think of worst case senarios. Nothing good will ever come out of that and just makes the anxeity 10 time worse than it needs to be. Your cat willbe fine for a few days if you leave out plenty of food and water. For more than a few days, I really suggest having a pet sitter come by once a day to check in on the cat and clean the litter beox.
 
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lallorona

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Do you like the vet techs at the vet's office? Ask one of them to pet sit for you next time. Many vet techs pet sit on the side for the extra money. Or ask the vet techs for pet sitter recommendations. Yelp.com and Care.com are good places to look for pet sitters and reviews from current clients.

To make it easier for anyone to check on your cat, try minimize the number of hiding places by closing all doors (bedroom, closet, etc) and keeping the cat contained in just the main living area. Meet with the pet sitter a few days beforehand to go over care, your expectations (actually go find the cat and make sure she is ok, don't assume the cat is just hiding), and what to do in case for emergencies and how to contact you.

There's a similar thread about leaving a cat alone and having anxiety over it: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/301017/new-owner-question-about-seperation There are suggestions there on how to cope, such as using a remote web cam to check up on the cat or calling the pet sitter for updates and pictures.

Having anxiety sucks :grphug2: I hope you are seeking treatment for it or will at least consider it so that the anxiety doesn't take over your life. Try not t think of worst case senarios. Nothing good will ever come out of that and just makes the anxeity 10 time worse than it needs to be. Your cat willbe fine for a few days if you leave out plenty of food and water. For more than a few days, I really suggest having a pet sitter come by once a day to check in on the cat and clean the litter beox.
Thanks. :) as for pet sitters I don't trust people I don't know to be around my cat. I guess it's an overprotective thing. Lol I would never leave my cat for more than 3 days. 3 days is the max for me, anything beyond that id rather stay home. I refuse to take any medication for anxiety because I hear it may get addictive, so I'm considering counseling :) and as u can see I'm already home and I was very happy & relieved to see that my cat was ok.
 

LTS3

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Thanks.
as for pet sitters I don't trust people I don't know to be around my cat. I guess it's an overprotective thing. Lol I would never leave my cat for more than 3 days. 3 days is the max for me, anything beyond that id rather stay home. I refuse to take any medication for anxiety because I hear it may get addictive, so I'm considering counseling
and as u can see I'm already home and I was very happy & relieved to see that my cat was ok. <3
I refuse medication, too. I tried counseling for awhile but that wasn't helpful at all. Plus the doctor kept pushing medicine like it was the only solution. There are different types of counseling available so maybe I just didn't find the one that was right for my situation.

I'm overprotective of my cats, too. I've never had to be away from them, fortunately, but t have people I trust to feed the cats and clean the litter box. I know the cats won't get the same level of care that I woud provide but at least they'll get fed and played with and some Human interaction.

Boarding the cat is also an option but can more stressful to the cat. I had to board my Aby once before when I had work done in my place and didn't want my troublemaker Aby in the way of the workers. I used a local boarding / grooming place that I was familiar with. I interviewed the place before hand to make sure that they would be able to feed my Aby his raw food, what they did for emergencies (fortunately a vet hospial is right next door), etc.
 

polsmum

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I just dropped off my beautiful little cat to an excellent cattery where the people are very caring. Even so, I feel terrible, as if I've abandoned him. Unfortunately, I had no other option and I just hope he's ok. Have to be away for a while, but am missing him badly.
 

LTS3

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I just dropped off my beautiful little cat to an excellent cattery where the people are very caring. Even so, I feel terrible, as if I've abandoned him. Unfortunately, I had no other option and I just hope he's ok. Have to be away for a while, but am missing him badly.
I know it's hard to leave a pet at a boarding place but if the place is reputable and the employees are caring and you've aked lots of questions and gotten satisfactory answers, your pet is in capable hands
It was hard to leave my Aby at the boarding place for a week but I knew he would be safe and well looked after there. I didn't call the boarding place to check in on my cat but it's not unreasonable (or uncommomn) for a pet owner to call and ask for updates and even ask for pictures of your pet to be mailed or texted to you.
 

irinasak

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I hate leaving my cats, too, and I hate taking them with me even if I have the chance. I would much rather sit at home with them. But as this isn't possible all the time, I would rather have someone make sure the food is fresh (I feed wet and raw) and scoop the litterboxes, even if my cats will hide.

We are currently researching some wireless cameras so we can check on them while we are away.

As for the anxiety, I use Bach remedies, valerian extracts in different homeopathic stuff, l-tryptophan, calming teas and they work for me - might as well be placebo, as long as they work, I am fine with that.
 

polsmum

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Thank you both so much for your kind and helpful comments. It's reassuring to know others feel like this too. I know the cattery is brilliant and I trust them. I just know he won't understand! But thanks again LTS3 and Irina Sak. Xx
 
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