inevitable herpes flare up

My cat Oliver has been showing signs he will be having a flare up soon which is normal for him to every few months thankfully we haven't had any since February!! You can tell in his eyes though it is coming again I have to go out of town for 4 days my soon to be in-laws will be watching the animals so it is someone who he doesn't really know but he is going to be left at home and he will have my other  cats but my dog wont be there she will be at the in-laws since she needs more than a daily visit. Any tips to at least help him while I am gone. Lately he has gone from clingy to being Velcro he is attached and never leaves my side the second I get home from work till the second I leave he sleeps right next to me now, he follows me around the house all day, he is at the door every time I come home and even if I go in a room I don't want him in and close the door he puts his paws under the door and screams till I open it and either give in and let him in or come out. I have a feeling since my velcro kitty will be very sick by the time I come home after 4 days of being gone. 

You could leave a radio on.  I like talk radio or a "chill-axing" streamed radio station.  Also, for the herpes flare-ups you can get some gel L-Lysine.  Comes in a tube and they will lick if off your finger (if you are lucky) otherwise you can smear it on his paw to lick off.  I add powdered L-lysine to my cats diet when I see a flare up coming on. You can get it from Amazon fairly inexpensively to keep on hand.  Don't buy the tablets or capsules, just buy the power form, human grade is fine.

That' s a tough one.  Does he at least know your cat sitter?  Will that take some time to play with him to help him de-stress, or will he be in hiding the entire time they are there. 

I would at least leave out some of your dirty clothes, like a t-shirt or nightgown or something that really smells like you.  Leave it in his favorite sleeping area so he has something to cling to.  When we go away, we place pillows in the bed like bodies, since our furries are used to sleeping against us.  We also put those dirty, smelling like us clothes on top of the pillow "bodies".  I have no idea whether or not it helps, but it makes ME feel better.  You could have your petsitter turn on different lights so they aren't in the dark all evening and night long, and also if you have that radio tuned to classical music, particularly harp music, they seem to calm best to that for some reason.  And not too loud either. 

He knows the cat sitter he has seen her before it is my soon to be mother in law. He refuses to take any form of medication and when his flare ups happen and he is taken to the vet he is always placed on 2-3 different medications and he always fights all the different forms we have tried and I always end up bloody by the end and of course most meds are twice a day -_- I cant leave any clothes out since my female will pee on them whenever she gets mad at me or anyone for that matter. She takes out her anger on my clothing. We have lights in the living room we leave on for the animals at night. I will try to find something that I can leave out for him that smells like me. He will have full access to my room as well so my pillow and blankets and such will still be there for him along with my fiances who he sometimes like sometimes doesnt depends on the day. 

I would not leave the lights on ALL night, because then it's not the normal schedule for them, unless it's normal for you to do that.  They need as much normalcy as is humanly possible.  Can you get a light timer so the lights can go off around 11 p.m. or whenever you  normally go to bed.  That way it also won't appear from the outside that something is different in case someone is "casing the joint" so to speak

Whatever medication is to be given, cannot it be crushed and put in his food?  Or compounded into a fairly tasty liquid (tuna or chicken) that blends nicely into his food, or compounding into injectibles to be given sub-qutaneously (not all drugs can be given this way though).  If you've having that much trouble giving his meds, then we might be able to help you (at a later date since you're getting ready to leave) in how to either give pills, or how to hide pills.  Someone recently said they have great success wrapping the pills in a small bit of American Cheese slice and then rolling that in FortiFlora and giving it as a treat .  Anyway, we've got some tricks up our sleeves for most things.