My boyfriend's parents have a really big vacation house in the country area. It is a 1 hour and a half car ride from where we live. The house is maybe 5 times bigger than our apartment and no one lives there. It is only used in the summer as a vacation house.
As we will have a very light summer because I am an assistant lecturer and my bf is renegotiating his contract to work from home, we are seriously considering staying there for longer periods during the summer. But that will only work for me if I will take my kitties with me. The most I have been away from them is for 4 nights and I do not want to stay away from them longer than that - on the 4th night all I did was look at photos of them and talk about them, even if I knew that their sitter was great with them (she is a very good friend and stays with them when we are away).
The ideal scenario is that the five of us (me, my boyfriend and the three cats) go there and stay for at least two weeks, to let them get used to the place and if they seem fine, we could stay for maybe two months. Of course that at first they will stay only in our room, and if they settle in well we will let them have the roam of the house. They have these long stairs from the living room to the first floor and huge hallways and I can imagine them running all over the place. The living room alone is bigger than our entire apartment. They would be indoor only, as they are now.
However, I am pretty sure that dumb, dumber and dumbest will not see the house as big and fun, but scary and traumatizing. We tried taking just Sophie there last summer and she stayed under the couch and I stayed on the floor crying and begging her to come out. On the third day we went home. Amelie is even shier and I do not want to traumatize her (she hides all the time when someone comes over, only allows me and my bf to touch her), so all hope is on Harley, the bravest of the bunch, who has this profound curiosity that makes him come out of the carrier and explore the place even when at the vet's office.
Of course we would take their stuff with us - litter boxes, toys, beds.
So am I day dreaming or is this possible?
As we will have a very light summer because I am an assistant lecturer and my bf is renegotiating his contract to work from home, we are seriously considering staying there for longer periods during the summer. But that will only work for me if I will take my kitties with me. The most I have been away from them is for 4 nights and I do not want to stay away from them longer than that - on the 4th night all I did was look at photos of them and talk about them, even if I knew that their sitter was great with them (she is a very good friend and stays with them when we are away).
The ideal scenario is that the five of us (me, my boyfriend and the three cats) go there and stay for at least two weeks, to let them get used to the place and if they seem fine, we could stay for maybe two months. Of course that at first they will stay only in our room, and if they settle in well we will let them have the roam of the house. They have these long stairs from the living room to the first floor and huge hallways and I can imagine them running all over the place. The living room alone is bigger than our entire apartment. They would be indoor only, as they are now.
However, I am pretty sure that dumb, dumber and dumbest will not see the house as big and fun, but scary and traumatizing. We tried taking just Sophie there last summer and she stayed under the couch and I stayed on the floor crying and begging her to come out. On the third day we went home. Amelie is even shier and I do not want to traumatize her (she hides all the time when someone comes over, only allows me and my bf to touch her), so all hope is on Harley, the bravest of the bunch, who has this profound curiosity that makes him come out of the carrier and explore the place even when at the vet's office.
Of course we would take their stuff with us - litter boxes, toys, beds.
So am I day dreaming or is this possible?
