A Couple Days with a Dog?

ObeseChess

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Hello again everyone!

Very brief backstory and then into the important stuff. I rescued Sassy a few years ago when I was still living with my mom, previously Sassy had been living on the street in that neighborhood. Sassy is a 13 year old lap cat who absolutely loves people and attention. We are completely inseparable when I am home, she just follows me around purring and nuzzling me. When I went back to work through Covid, she stayed home with my mom, who was working from home, and spent most of the work day sleeping on my mom's lap or desk.

I have since moved out and Sassy lives with me now.

Sassy is, again, very much a "people" cat and gets a little bit lonely even when I go to work. In the years I've had her, has never been left alone for longer than "overnight," which she handles totally fine but is always happy to see me when I come home.

So. Next month I am going out of town for four days. I could hire a cat sitter, but even if someone was able to come multiple times a day for feeding (she gets fed at breakfast and dinner, as well as some medicine in pill pockets before bed), I worry she would get lonely. So normally the next plan would be to drop her at my mom's place since my mom loves her, except that since I have moved out, my brother has moved in with his dog. The dog is rambunctious due to his youth, but he is small (shih-tzu mutt) and friendly. He has met cats many times before and is very friendly and gentle with them. My mom, brother, and sister-in-law all work from home so the two pets would never be left in the house unsupervised.

I am thinking that since this is familiar territory (she spent years in and around that house) with familiar faces, this is probably an alright course of action vs suddenly leaving her alone in my 700 sq ft apartment alone for four days. My question is - how do I do this? Do I bring her over and see how they interact and go from there? Do I bring the dog to my apartment for a bit to make sure they get along on her turf? What's the move?

Thanks!
 
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ObeseChess

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Cool, okay. I might bring her over for a few hours when I am there and just see how everything goes, but I suspect you may be right about the scents.
 

MonaLyssa33

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I think since 4 days is such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, it would be less stressful for her to stay in her own home and have someone visit her often or even see if someone would stay with her the entire time you're away.
 

neely

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Since you mentioned your mom, brother and sister-in-law all work from home would it be possible for them to take turns visiting Sassy in your apartment while you're gone? I definitely would not bring your brother's dog over since that's Sassy's territory.
 
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ObeseChess

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Since you mentioned your mom, brother and sister-in-law all work from home would it be possible for them to take turns visiting Sassy in your apartment while you're gone?
Yes, that was Plan B if spending the weekend at grandma's house wasn't going to be a good idea. We all live about ten minutes away from each other and I have friends who love her, too, so I'm sure I can rally the troops!
 
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ObeseChess

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Just as a fun update - a friend of mine is temporarily staying with me while waiting for a new apartment to be ready, and Sassy got used to the presence of their 14-year-old pomeranian almost instantly. We kept them separate for a day or two so they could sniff under the door, and while they still keep their distance from each other, they're completely fine being in the same room. Sassy just hangs out on her cat tree and observes, occasionally goes over for a sniff, and then heads back to her cat tree.

Sassy remains the most relaxed and lowest maintenance cat on earth.
 
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