Bording a cat.

Well in August I'll be gone for about a week with the whole wedding plans. I would love to leave Emmett at home, but my parents will be attending the wedding and I do not trust my brother alone with the cat at all. Since he makes it very clear how much he dislikes cats...not that he would hurt him or anything.

So, I was thinking of putting Emmett up at a bording place. Now anyone ever do this? And what kind of questions should I ask? I don't want to worry about Emmett while I'm gone, and I want to make sure this is a good place for him.

I didn't know there were boarding places for cats! With us, we always had neighbours take care of them. One time, my family left for two weeks to visit relatives in Holland, and we had a neighbour (who happened to be the breeder of our cat, as well as their kid being my friend, which is how I came about getting the cat in the first place). The neighbour also had the responsibility of putting the daily paper into the house, same with mail, and they would fill the cat dishes in the process. I don't think anyone scooped the litter boxes though... but nobody was killed because of that

With Buffy and Willow, in October, our grandpa died and we left for 4 days to go to his funeral (which was about 12 hours away). We couldn't find anyone to take care of Buffy and Willow. Well, the same neighbour who took care of Grizzly all those years ago was offered to us kids, but Willow is a freak about strangers and we turned it down. Plus, both cats are indoors and they're always trying to get outdoors, and we couldn't trust a stranger to take extra precautions to make sure they didn't get out. What did we do? We set out 5 bowls of cat food and water, for the 4 days, and locked the door that leads downstairs, along with the front door. The neighbour then would get the paper by the front door, along with the mail, and would enter the house through the back door. He'd set the papers down near the door that leads to the basement, safe from harm from Willow. Buffy and Willow have 2 litter boxes, one upstairs (what they had to use) and one downstairs (that they were unable to get to). And when we returned? we discovered that they'd eaten all the bowls within 2 days, or so it looked like. And Buffy dashed towards us at top speed, having missed up terribley. I know Willow missed us (I could see it in her eyes) but she acted cool about the whole thing ("Oh, you left? I didn't notice... So, well, did you get anything for me?")

I hope you find some answers for your boarding thing. I may try it next time we have to leave somewhere

Axl was boarded for the first time last year. We chose the cattery because it has a very good reputation, my Dad visited beforehand and was very impressed.

Visit a couple of times before you choose, that way you should see anything out of the ordinary.

I worried like mad about Axl but he came home a healthy happy cat (if not a bit heavier )

My advice would be to visit as many as you choose. They will not mind at all showing you around if they ar reputable. If they dont ask for up to date vaccination certificates dont use them. Do they carry insurance and who is the vet and does he come out often and what would you be paying if he had to come out to your cats. The cattery I use will also use my own vet if I wished as long as I had told them first. Check over the cages. Do they have access to an outside space, through a cat flap. Is there seperate sleeping quarters, any exercise ramp things etc. Will the place cater for special diets and do they play with the cats at all. If price is an issue as they can be v. expensive, then see if two can share a cage/cabin.It can be slightly cheaper. As you only have Emmett this is not an issue. All in all are you happy with the person looking after them and does it look clean. When I boarded out mine last year the place even had an isolation unit for cats with lukemia or infectious deseases so their people could go away knowing they were safe and cared for.
If I can think of anything else I will let you know
good hunting
Alexis

I used to put Rosie into a cattery up until my last holiday away which was december when Rosie was uspet with it all, but that was'nt the cattery to blame because she did get fussed over by the owner and the assistants. It's because i have her soft and spoilt LOL.

The cattery was first class!. The cats had their own heated rooms, and these along with their litter trays were cleaned out everyday,and each cat had plenty of food and water in their bowls.

I was always told by cattery owners to always look around the place and ask as many questions as i wanted, which i did.

And a good cattery, as well as being clean, should ask you for a look at your cats vaccinations records.

Good luck.

Normally I leave my boys at home and have my sister come in once a day. When they were 6 months old I went away for a long weekend and felt they were just too young. I contacted my vet about boarding them there. Vet boardings are usually really crowded so contact them early.

Go and visit the boarding facility. Schedule a visit, go see the area. Then a few days later, go back unannounced. Make sure Emmett is going to have his own cage. Also, discuss feeding. Do they use the same brand you use? How much time does each cat get during the day? If you send a toy, is that toy returned? (I lost a ball when I boarded them. Nothing expensive, but made me wonder)

Sandy

All the suggestions so far have been excellent.

An additional thing to consider is security - any place that keeps cats needs to have multiple doors between where the cats are kept & outside, so that if a cat gets out of its kennel area, there are 'airlock' areas where it can be recaptured instead of getting outside and running away.

If you can, try to watch the employees & how they interact with cats - you'll see whether they genuinely love cats, or whether it's just a job.

Ideally, if the place also boards dogs, the cats should be in a separate, quiet area.

I usually board my cats at the cats-only vet clinic, because they're seniors & I want them to have immediate access to vet care if its needed. They have excellent boarding facilities, and the employees all love cats. I've also left them (years ago, before the vet clinic opened) at a local boarding kennel that has a cats-only room, and were pleased with them also - my thin, very shy cat actually gained weight while boarding there. They had a separate, soundproofed room for the cats, with soft, classical music playing. They didn't have a separate outside area, but my cats are indoor cats anyway. They did provide a nice picture window overlooking a pretty garden (lots of trees & birds to look at). The vet clinic also has a pretty window overlooking a garden, too.

Hope you find a good, caring boarding facility.

In the rare instance that I have to board one of my cats, I do so at my vet's office. I only board them if they are ill and need either daily meds or some continuous monitoring. Since I have so many, it doesn't make sense to board them when they have each other to keep company while we're away. And btw, mine charges me $4 per day for cats. Since the vet tech does my home visits, she will bring the cat back to the house if they finish their meds or their health is stable.

If your vet isn't an option, perhaps ask them or vets in your are for a reference to a cattery. There was a time when my vet was booked up over a holiday and couldn't take my dogs (I also board my dogs there). When I asked them for references, I distinctly remember them talking back and forth with each other and making comments like "no, don't take them there, we've been called in too many times to fix up an animal that they neglected", or "they have kennel cough going thru that place right now". Vets get called by kennels when animals are sick, and have great exposure to them. We settled on a place that worked out great for us.

Good luck finding a place!

I think about this too, I do have a neighbor who will feed my cat-but I feel it's above and beyond neighborliness to ask them to scoop boxes and come in twice a day etc.. But I am thinking of putting out a TON OF food and water and a couple extra litter boxes. And then just ask my neighbor to check on him a few times (I will be gone a week) I know I may return to a little mess, like if the box is full he might go along side so I thought I would just fill the bathroom with newspaper. That would be ok. My cat is very social so the being alone part will be hard. But he will be ok. And can adjust and if my neighbor plays with him at least every other day he will be ok.

Ah it's hard. I feel bad, but I know he will probably sleep most of the time as he usually does!

If you leave your cat home alone, please leave LOTS of different sources of water available, and consider the food issue - will your cat gorge & vomit the first day & then go hungry for the rest of the time, or will he self-monitor food consumption.

Please also check your house carefully for hazards like window-blind cords, or anything else he might get caught in or harmed by. Also it's a good idea to have another trusted person serve as backup in addition to the first neighbor, checking in on your cat also. One of the TCS members posted a horror story not long ago about a neighbor who didn't care properly for the cats, and one of the cats became very ill from not eating or dehydration.

I do trust this neighbor, and I know he will come regularly. I am just saying
I may have to keep it not an intense twice a day thing. And my cat has dry food out all the time and he is good about balanced eating.

That's good! We have one cat who will eat all his food at once, vomit, and then go hungry. So we have to board him or have reliable people come over for him.

Yeah he'll do fine with food. My concern is more how he will do socially. I have a long day once a week and when I get home those days he is climbing the walls. But it would be that way in a boarders place too. I mean he has the whole place, small as it is.

Like I said though, one thing that is good is he mostly sleeps during the day as all cats do!