Taking a trip with mixed feelings

We are leaving on an 8 day trip in 3 days and while I am looking forward to going on this vacation I am also nervous about leaving my 13 mo old kitties for the first time.  I am having someone come in twice a day to feed them and do litter duty.   He probably will never see them as they are "runners" whenever someone comes over.    

I have the caretakers sweatshirt which I have left out where they sleep.  I also bought the Feliway spray (don't trust the plug-ins due to possibly catching on fire).   Any other suggestions?  He was over the other day but they took off under the bed.  

He loves cats and I hope they will be craving attention as they will be missing us.  

Honestly I very rarely go on a trip without taking my cats along. I only have had one person watch them when I have left them home, who they are very familiar with, so they don't go and hide. I have only done this a few times, but they were very comfortable and happy while I was away since they are used to being around them.  I would be very nervous leaving my cats with anyone else as I don't know how they would act, if they would be stressed or not come out all day from hiding. My cats are not used to being around many people and will hide from almost everyone.

I would suggest that prior to your trip having them come over and spend time with the cats so that they get used to it somewhat. If this is possible it helps a lot.

detroitcatlady said:

 
Honestly I very rarely go on a trip without taking my cats along. I only have had one person watch them when I have left them home, who they are very familiar with, so they don't go and hide. I have only done this a few times, but they were very comfortable and happy while I was away since they are used to being around them.  I would be very nervous leaving my cats with anyone else as I don't know how they would act, if they would be stressed or not come out all day from hiding. My cats are not used to being around many people and will hide from almost everyone.

I would suggest that prior to your trip having them come over and spend time with the cats so that they get used to it somewhat. If this is possible it helps a lot.

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Just curious, how do you take your cats with you on trips? Don't they get stressed being in unfamiliar spots? And what do you do without litter boxes?

I went on a 10-day vacation in August and left my cat in the care of a friend who came over once a day. My cat knows her, so that worked out well, and he's an incredibly social cat, so he would be right there waiting for her and would want to play when she came over.

Still, I missed him, and I followed the good advice of people here and asked my friend if she could send me some photos of Bud while I was gone. That helped ease my mind. And when I finally got home after 10 days way, Bud was so excited he literally threw up right then and there. I've seen him sick before and this wasn't it, he was genuinely too excited and overstimulated when I got back.

I've been traveling with my cats since they were young kittens so they are very used to it by now. My cats are very easy going about it - really surprised me. My male cat Pumpkin is the only one that has had anxiety traveling from time to time, but I found that keeping him more comfortable in the car and creating a familiar environment while away (traveling in a camper so not sleeping in a motel or staying with someone I know) is better and then he stays calm. The majority of trips I take are like this so most of the time it is just like a second home to them. I always have a litter box in the car (I've taken both regular and disposable litterboxes and put them on the floor in the back seat so that I could let the cats out of their carriers to use). I have a larger size carrier for each of them so they have room to comfortably move around and they usually sleep most of the time they are in there. I always bring food and water and make plenty of stops so they can use the box. I have an SUV so it's easy for me to let the cats out of the carriers in the car without opening the doors and having any risk of them getting out.

I am not sure how this would work for a cat who is not used to traveling. I would suggest getting them comfortable traveling first. Of course it depends what type of trip you are taking (flying, driving, etc) as how to prepare them for it really depends on how you are getting there. Almost all trips I take are in the car. If I'm going somewhere I can't take a car I leave the cats home and have someone watch them since I don't fly very often and I honestly don't know how they would handle it. If I have to stay at a motel and take cats I usually just leave the "do not disturb" sign on the door at all times and bring along plenty of their stuff so that they are comfortable and occupied and do not get too curious with the objects in the room (my cats are still young enough that they will play with anything in sight). It is MUCH easier to travel with an older cat than a kitten. The only troubles I had while traveling were when my cats were in their kitten phase teething and climbing the curtains. Now that they are older they pretty much just find a place to curl up and get cozy which makes it so much easier. It helps that there are 3 of them so they keep each other company.

It really just depends on what you are comfortable with and how your kitties are with traveling. It is a big thing for any cat to get used to the first few times so I definitely wouldn't recommend without doing some trial runs. In some situations it is better to leave your cats with someone  than to take them with.

Just arrived home.  Caretaker never saw the cats during the whole week he watched them for me.   They were both out greeting us within 5 minutes of our being home.  Right now Lucy is waiting for me to sit down so she can join me.  

So thrilled it went well!!!!!

I have 4 cats and 3 of them will come out for my cat sitter. The 4th one she never sees.  My cat sitter is a friend who has been in our lives for years.  My one cat hides from anyone except us.  Even if we have company over while we are home and the other 3 are hanging out Starbuck always hides.  We have had since 2006 when she was 6 weeks old. When she was a kitten she loved everybody.  As she got older she started to hide from everyone else.  She will still eat and use the litterbox but does not let anyone else see her.  Starbuck tends to hide under my bed and my cat sitter knows this if for some reason she had to find her. 

My kitties are both really shy and will hide under the bed if anyone else comes into the apartment.  They do warm up to people once they get to know them, though, so I am hoping to find a regular cat-sitter so they don't have to keep meeting a different person every time. No luck yet though