Boarding Cat Vs Leaving At Home

[Kgraham1511]

I am planning on going on vacation in late October. I have a kitten about 5 months old currently. He is very outgoing and not afraid to meet new people. When we first brought him home he never hid from us. By the time I go on vacation he will have been with us about 4 months.

We will gone about 3 days. I am wondering if he will be better off having someone check on him once a day or boarding him.

I would hate to leave him with only someone checking on him since he is very social.

I am leaning towards boarding since he takes to new places well.

Thoughts?

 

[Kieka]

Depends on if you have someone you trust who can come over. If so, I lean towards home since it means less exposure to other animals (who could spread some illness to him) and less stress for him in adapting to new surroundings. I get where you are coming from with the worry about him being alone, but more boarding type situations don't do much more then feed them and maybe a short play session. If you have someone you can trust you can ask them to spend at least 30 minutes at your house each time to play with him. Or, if they are a close friend with no pets of their own, see if they wouldn't mind watching a movie or having a meal at your place while you are gone so he has an extended period of time with a human in the house to interact with.

 

[Azazel]

Home is always better than away if you have someone who can come by and spend time with him.

 

[Pjg8r]

I also say have someone come to your house. It helps if they come over and meet your kitten ahead of time. I travel often and I think it’s harder on me than my cats.

 

[daftcat75]

Since the vacation is in late October, I would suggest not only finding a sitter or friend who can meet the kitten ahead of time, but also doing practice feeds/care sessions to work out any kinks in communication and expectations before you’re too far away to close that gap.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

I think Evie would combust if we boarded her. We would come back to a little pile of orange and white fur. That being said, we have someone that comes by twice a day (my cats eat wet food only, no dry left out). They love her! Look for pet sitters in your area.

 

[basscat]

We have two "shop" cats. One lives inside, One lives outside. We load each one up with plenty of food and water every Friday and both are fine every Monday.
Three day weekends are treated the same. Every so often they go four days.
Done that every weekend for many years and never had a problem.
Long ago we boarded a cat for a four day vacation and will NEVER do that again.
They said they would keep her away from the other animals. Gave us a tour and showed us how nice the place was and gave us a run-down on daily/nightly routines. All looked GREAT!
But, I guess all that was just for show.
They didn't realize little Satan packed such a big punch.....They put her in a wall of small cages surrounded top/botton/sides with dogs. And then nobody there was brave enough to get her out. When we went to pick her up they made us go back and get her because she had already torn somebody up.
Basically, they got caught.
She came home covered in fleas, Had not eaten since she got there, Freaked out and Terrified.
I'll never board another pet again.

 

[Kieka]

We have two "shop" cats. One lives inside, One lives outside. We load each one up with plenty of food and water every Friday and both are fine every Monday.
Three day weekends are treated the same. Every so often they go four days.
Done that every weekend for many years and never had a problem.
Long ago we boarded a cat for a four day vacation and will NEVER do that again.
They said they would keep her away from the other animals. Gave us a tour and showed us how nice the place was and gave us a run-down on daily/nightly routines. All looked GREAT!
But, I guess all that was just for show.
They didn't realize little Satan packed such a big punch.....They put her in a wall of small cages surrounded top/botton/sides with dogs. And then nobody there was brave enough to get her out. When we went to pick her up they made us go back and get her because she had already torn somebody up.
Basically, they got caught.
She came home covered in fleas, Had not eaten since she got there, Freaked out and Terrified.
I'll never board another pet again.

I had a similar boarding experience with a place that said they'd do a lot and ended up doing nothing. Luckily, the place I went with had me place the cats in the kennel and take them out in a cat wing of the place. But the cats were in the exact spot I left them, the food amount was the same after several days (so either they didn't eat or were fed the wrong food) and their litter box was uncleaned when I picked them up. I board only with my vet since then when I have to. Nothing fancy but at least the vet will make sure they are eating, understands why I feed a specific food and will alert me to any medical issues right away. Plus my vet is cat only so no worries about dogs scaring them.

 

[Kgraham1511]

I do have someone that would come by my y house while we are gone.

My only reservation about someone only spending about an hour with him is that he would get bored the rest of the time. And I know a board cat gets into trouble, especially at his age.

Afraid I would come home to see eaten cords, blinds shredded and so forth.

I did find a boarding place that is cat only that comes highly recommended.

Anyone with good boarding experiences?

Thanks

 

[Azazel]

I do have someone that would come by my y house while we are gone.

My only reservation about someone only spending about an hour with him is that he would get bored the rest of the time. And I know a board cat gets into trouble, especially at his age.

Afraid I would come home to see eaten cords, blinds shredded and so forth.

I did find a boarding place that is cat only that comes highly recommended.

Anyone with good boarding experiences?

Thanks

I honestly don't think it's worth it just for one weekend. It's really common to have cats come home with viruses or stressed out after boarding. Just make sure you put anything dangerous away or in a locked room before you leave. Having someone come by once is a much better option than boarding in my experience.

Even if you don't have a timed feeder you can still freeze some wet food in advance and ask the sitter to put it out when they're leaving so that it defrosts and provides another meal for your cat.