Holiday cat sitting this year

[susan denning]

I have no idea what my family's plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year are, but am trying to think through what my options would be in case my parents and I visit my sister's family overnight (she lives about 2 hours away from us). The last time I had someone cat sit for us was just before our state's stay at home order hit, and I ended up sending her a gift certificate by e-mail. I have two cats who are on separate prescription foods, or I would just leave food down for them.

One option would be to put Trixie (the older cat, on KD food) in our laundry room and Felix (on Royal Canin SO) in our garage. The advantage of this would be that I wouldn't have to have anyone come into our home. The disadvantage would be that Trixie hates the laundry room and managed to claw the cat flap (leading to the garage) open one time I tried that. Another concern would be that she has been know to pee over the side of the litter box if the litter gets too high (which it might do if the box wasn't cleaned and clumps built up on one side). My parents would hate that if it was inside the house (as opposed to the garage), and I don't blame them.

A second option would be to have my friend who has cat sat for me before check on both cats in our garage. I don't know how my parents (who have been cautious due to being in their 80s and contacts of my sister who finished chemotherapy less than a year ago) or my friend would feel about that, so would need to have that conversation with them.

I'm curious what other people have done, or plan to do.

 

[klunick]

We have always left our cats home alone but we've never had issues with needing separate special foods before. Is there a place you can board them for the day?

 

[felinelover2]

Or pay a cat sitter to come in and feed them their separate foods in separate locations, and scoop the litter box? That is what we do - she charges $20 per 30 minutes and we just have her come in once a day. Our cats don't get lonely as they have each other, but just need the basics attended to while we are gone.

One other option is investing in an automatic cat feeder that can distinguish between cats. They wear a tag on their collar and the feeder only dispenses their food when they enter.

I would also think it would be fine for your friend to check in on them both in the garage if no one else was home and you provided them with some gloves to use (assume the concern is your parents catching COVID).

We too are stumped by our holiday plans this year. We usually travel to see family but it may be quiet time at home this year (our parents our both older and we don't want to take the risk).

 

[neely]

Since you will only be gone overnight but both cats are on separate prescription foods I would suggest calling the original pet sitter who watched them prior to the stay-at-home order. If you decide to do this I would call far enough in advance since it might be difficult to get a pet sitter over the holidays. I think it would give you peace of mind knowing that someone was looking after them, e.g. separately feeding their prescription food, cleaning the litter box, playing and spending time with them. Even with our best intentions sometimes things happen and we can't get home when we expect to so having someone come into the house would be helpful. The reason I mentioned this is because we live in an area that gets cold winters, (snow/ice), and holiday travel can be iffy sometimes..

Best of luck, I hope you find the perfect solution and enjoy your holiday plans.

 

[susan denning]

Thanks all for your replies. I will check with my parents and with my pet sitter friend to see what they are comfortable with.