Leaving cat during vacation

[owe johnst]

I am going away for 4 days and leaving my cat at home.

He is pretty chill, not neurotic like many cats, but I feel terrible.

I have a professional sitter coming to spend time with him every day but I wonder if he will think I disappeared and he will be traumatized.

 

[hexiesfriend]

If I am going in a trip I will leave clothes I've worn littered throughout the house. This way your cat will be comforted by knowing you will be back.

 

[pippapurring]

I'm an American living in Sweden, so I travel a lot for work and to visit family in the US. I think leaving traumatizes me more than it does my cats, haha. I think as long as your sitter spends quality time with your kitty every day and his environment isn't disrupted (clean box, food on time etc) he should be just fine. Cats usually sleep 2/3rds of the day anyways, so to him, it'll be more like you're gone for a day! One thing I like to do is leave something I've worn a lot recently like a sweatshirt in one of my cats' favorite places to sleep. Whenever I come home I notice it's been covered in fur and they tend to enjoy sleeping on things that smell like me even when I'm around. You might consider doing that to offer a bit of comfort to your kitty while you're gone