Anyone Else Not Take Vacations Because Of Your Cats?

[Tobermory]

We did a three-day vacation two years ago and it didn’t go well. We had just lost 20-year-old Max and I thought that the two 13-year-olds would be fine. I got a professional pet sitter to come once a day, but I stupidly thought they’d be okay with free feeding dry. The problem with that was that they hadn’t eaten dry for a long time; they had been on wet food only.

We got home on a Friday afternoon and I found bloody diarrhea in several spots in the room where the litter boxes are. I don’t blame the sitter; I’m pretty sure it started after she was there that morning. I think the combination of the abrupt change to dry food with the stress of us being gone so soon after Max’s death caused Iris’s bowel issues. She got progressively worse that afternoon, and at 2 a.m. I had to rush her to the emergency vet. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t been home. So I’m very reluctant to go away again. If I do overcome my anxiety about being gone, I’ll definitely have the sitter come twice a day and feed canned food.

 

[daftcat75]

Tobermory , I hired a sitter from care.com. I had her come out once for a training feed. Then I had her come over for a few practice feeds. Microsoft has a pet sitter template available for MS Word that had things like food, meds, contact information and anything else useful. I color coded everything with stickers. Food got one color. Meds/supplements got another color. The measuring spoons for the supplements got the same color as the supplement. The instructions got the same color as the supplement, food, or medicine (and the spoons.) It was pretty much idiot proof. I watched her on the camera on the practice feeds and asked her to give me notes, feedback, or text me while she was there if she had a question. Over several practice feeds, I developed the confidence to leave Krista in her care for four days. I watched her the first couple of feeds on the camera and then I was finally confident we had worked out any bugs and she was following the instructions and Krista loved her. I watched Krista do her furry foreman act on the kitchen counter with her during meal prep. She finished her plates like a champ. And the two of them would play or cuddle for long enough to know whether Krista was going to use the bathroom after that meal. I highly recommend doing practice feeds while you are still in town to work out any kinks with your instructions or your sitter BEFORE you leave town.

But like you, I learned all this the hard way. I hired a different sitter before this one and she was all wrong. But I didn't know it until after I was already out of town. Krista hated this sitter. She left the big overhead kitchen light on after dinner and Krista didn't sleep at all that night. She spent the entire time in the "when is daddy coming home?" spot on the bench near the door.

 

[MissClouseau]

That's me this year. Forget going on a vacation I refuse to leave her for a day. Her immune system is vulnerable by my standards (she couldn't even get vaccinated this year yet!) She's so use to being my side most of the day as I work from home, I'm scared if I go away longer than like 12-14 hours she will get too upset and that might do something to her immune system.

 

[Lotski]

We only have one cat, but she's extremely affectionate. The first trip we did after we got her, was Disneyland (Paris). From Thursday morning until Friday evening. Since she's so affectionate, my 20-year old nephew agreed to stay at our house while we were gone. She didn't eat as well and vomited a few times.

Next trip was five days of Lisbon. My niece was eager to 'catsit' and housesit, so she was here almost the whole time. But again, less eating and vomiting. Four days at the seaside: same. Last trip (4 days in Stockholm): same.

Since I also don't like flying and am not that much into travelling, I don't like going away for more than one day now. Mostly because of our cat Penny. She has hepatic lipidosis and is on a feeding tube, so now I'm actually more 'scared' to leave her for a longer time. I think it'll take a lot of time before I feel comfortable enough again to go away for a little longer.

My boyfriend and I are both on the autism spectrum, and we notice we're much more sensitive for worrying and overthinking. Especially me. There's still stuff I'd like to do, but I get anxious when I think about leaving Penny.

 

[Winchester]

We have 5 cats and The Beast (a beagle). I'll go away every once in a while for a weekend, but it's rare for me to go longer than that. Rick goes away for union business and he might be gone about a week or so, but I stay home with the kids, more so because I don't fly.

We do have a pet-sitter, who will come in twice a day to feed and to scoop. I'm not sure what she charges anymore because it's been a while since I've been on vacation; it used to be $22 a visit, plus $1.00 per mile from her house to ours, over $50 a day. Plus, we board The Beast, which is now about $25 daily. So it can be an expensive proposition just paying for the kids' care. My sister and BIL come in for about an hour at night, just to make sure the cats are OK.

The last time I went away for longer than overnight was when we went to Canada to see ACDC in concert; that was a four-day trip, maybe around 2014 or 2015. A couple months later, we went to Pittsburgh to see Mark Knopfler in concert, which was just a weekend. Now, to be fair, Rick and I did have a two-week trip planned to go to New Orleans last month. Unfortunately, that whole thing fell through, due to circumstances beyond our control.

 

[di and bob]

I'm so glad to see there are others who don't leave for extended vacations! My cats free feed on weight control dry plus their wet food, so leaving overnight isn't a problem (so far). I'm training the outside cats to use a feeder that is 45 inches off the ground (and somehow a raccoon is still getting in, but at least most can't). We take a overnight trip out of town two to three times a year. My husband is constantly complaining we can't go anywhere, he loves to travel. Some day i will have to look into the pet sitter services they have here in town so maybe we can leave for two nights!? we haven't had a vacation longer then overnight for 10 years. Bob's folks are too old to get around anymore and we have no neighbors that I would trust. Besides, our gardens and his remodeling ventures take up most of our trime. Sigh....I wish there was a good solution!

 

[les26]

Sigh....I wish there was a good solution!

Maybe all of us on here could "cover" for each other since we all feel the same way lol!

 

[di and bob]

I wish, I would trust any of you! But I live in Nebraska and most people don't even know where we are! LOL

 

[Talien]

I don't, but I don't need to. My Cats are my vacation from the BS of everyday life.

 

[VinceL]

Fortunately for us, there is a professional petsitting company that has 2 wonderful women who take care of our 4 kitties when we go away. We try to keep our trips to less than 5 days. But, sometimes it is unavoidable such as when our son got married in Spain.

The good news for our kitties is that they also get to go on a vacation once a year. We have a condo in Florida, and each winter we take them to the condo for about 3 weeks. It's a 2 bedroom condo, so there is plenty of room for everyone. Our screened-in porch overlooks the pool area, and they love to lay out there watching the goings-on.

 

[KarenKat]

Maybe all of us on here could "cover" for each other since we all feel the same way lol!

I wondered that too! A network of catsitting services that we share

 

[les26]

I don't, but I don't need to. My Cats are my vacation from the BS of everyday life.

Sometimes our 9 ARE the BS of everyday life lol!!!! For the most part they are good but some days....

 

[daftcat75]

This has become my new normal for so long that I sometimes forget it's not normal. I converted my bedroom into a home office (bed into front room) so I can work from home and feed her around the clock. I feed her every four hours because she has weight to regain and portions to grow. We're making progress on both. I have an arrangement with my boss to work from home. I call it "paw-ternity leave." I often don't leave Krista for more than five hours. I feed her every four so not much longer than that and I'm coming home to a hairball or an acid barf or both.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

We have a wonderful sitter who comes twice a day when we need her. The only "long" vacations we have had away from the cats was when we got married (a week). Everyone did fine. The sitter texts us multiple pictures whenever she feeds and scoops. What is really holding us back from big vacations is cost (of both the sitter and the vacation itself...ahh) but I would feel comfortable taking longer trips if we could.

We take "weekend trips" maybe 3-4 times a year to make sure we see family occcasionally. Our closest family is 3.5 hours away- too far for just a day trip.

 

[angels mommy]

I never went anywhere when I had each of mine as well. Not that finances would allow me to do much, but at least a weekend away once & a while would have been nice. Especially only being 45 minutes from Myrtle Beach! ( Not that I'm a "beach person" w/ this fair "burn only " skin, but just to get away). Back in the beginning when I first had Angel, I did go away for just a weekend with my sister & mom, to an aunts house up in the mountains. (6hrs away).
Luckily, I had a client/ friend who was a cat person too, (so Angel knew her), came & stayed at the house. She worked, but was there after & at night. Thank goodness, because this is back during the first 2 yrs when he still went outside. ( But mare him come in at night). I remember my mom & sister coming to pick me up that morning, & I teared up & cried a little, because I had never left him before, & of course was a little worried. (I was a first time meowmy & leaving for the first time).
Everything went fine though. I was still doing a little work out of the house back then, (she was a waxing client) and I couldn't afford to pay her, so I paid her with a facial or a massage, I can't remember which. She was more than happy for that!

 

[Hlee]

We don't go on vacation too often either.
For the last few years we have had old cats and I never trusted they would be good about taking meds etc from anyone else so we stayed pretty close to home.
We only have 1 old cat now and 2 young ones.
Our old guy does not need any meds except miralax but he is kind of a psycho kitty so it may still be awhile before we go anywhere still.
I do have a good friend catsitter who sends me pics and video when we are gone which is very reassuring!

 

[mservant]

I've only been on short breaks since I started living with cats. My mom used to be happy to come and stay over to be with them for a few days. These days even if her mind was still willing her body wouldn't keep up with the litter clearing.
If I have lodgers I get on well with and both Mouse and I trust them I do still get away a few days at a time but it's always staying with friends who have cats so I don't miss Mouse Too much.
Planning a little trip soon and will have a couple of different people looking after Mouse so one of my biggest worries is how to stop them being conned in to thinking the other person's forgotten to feed him. .

 

[MoochNNoodles]

If we never traveled we would never see family. So NOT traveling is not an option for us. Fortunately we have a great sitter we hire who can handle medications and all that with senior cats. It is stressful trying to arrange things sometimes though. It's actually worse for me if we have go go away while my gardens are planted. I have too much out there to not pay someone extra for watering everything.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Our vacations last 5-6 hours and usually includes shopping and lunch. I am certain if I left overnight or longer, I'd come home to find humans locked in cages and the dogs and cats both helping themselves to the food, so yep, no vacations for us.
If that fails, there's always google earth. One night we went to Alaska, then Hawaii, then South Africa, Northern Canada and several places in Europe in 2 hours. Beat that
We make our own vacations with day trips and being thankful we have living dependents that need us

 

[Tobermory]

Krista hated this sitter.

That’s another barrier to going away, the fact that my cats are all scared of anyone but us. Even my stellar sitter in Colorado had issues with Max, Iris, and Lily although they gradually came around and at least let her see and feed them.

But Iris and Lily are much older now and even more people averse, Lily has litter box issues, and Mocha was semi feral when I adopted her and was terrified of everyone at the place where I adopted her, even the most patient and loving of cat volunteers. I couldn’t even pet her for weeks after I brought her home. So they’d probably hide from even the best sitter in the world which would pose a real issue for anyone trying to feed and medicate them. I’d love to head over to Yachats on the coast for a few days, but I don’t see it happening.

I’ve even thought about renting a motor home and taking them, but that’s not really practical and they’d hate it. I’d worry about them bolting out of the door or something going wrong with the a/c while we were out hiking.