how to your cats react to your absence?

orangey

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I have been gone for 7 days on a honeymoon and my cats are acting strangely. We had a few friends look after them and give them food, play, etc. But now that we're back it's like the cats don't know what to do!

I have one cat who is normally attached at the hip to me and he's just kinda chill at first. Then, he meows over and over and makes circles around me as if to say 'never do this again!'

how do your kitties react to your being gone?
 

emeraldsongbird

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Ooooh Bella get soooo sassy with me. Well, if it's a few days that I'm gone, she will come out and look at me, meow all diva-like, and prance to the other side of the room with her nose up in the air. Then, after an hour or so, she comes and cuddles and starts purring and all that.

If it's like, I leave her in my room while I go out for the day, and come home, she comes right up to me and wraps around my legs to welcome me.

Man, I love cats, and especially MY cat!
 
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orangey

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do you think cats have a sense of time? ie 1 day verses 7?
 

emeraldsongbird

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Wow, you know, I've never thought about that. Surely they can feel time going by. They're also on routines, you know, and can probably tell... wow, that's such a good question. Maybe I'll ask my dad, see what the vet science people think.
 

missymotus

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Originally Posted by DeeDeeMay

None of my three cats take much notice really
Neither do mine, they're thrilled if new people come by to feed and play with them instead of boring old mum
 

algebrapro18

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I remember when I was gone for 10 days and Tom was staying with my parents he basically ignored me for the first 24 hours of being at my parents house and then he started to come around. When I leave for a day of classes he always meows at me when I come home and then demands immediate attention(jumps into my lap and headbutts my chin).

He will never let me say goodbye either. I like to when I am going to be gone for more than a day and he will never let me. He watches me pack and then goes and runs away from me when I try to say goodbye. It actually hurts a little that he doesn't want that last contact but oh well.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by Orangey

I have been gone for 7 days on a honeymoon and my cats are acting strangely. We had a few friends look after them and give them food, play, etc. But now that we're back it's like the cats don't know what to do!

I have one cat who is normally attached at the hip to me and he's just kinda chill at first. Then, he meows over and over and makes circles around me as if to say 'never do this again!'

how do your kitties react to your being gone?
Here is a secret that not that many people consider. My cats both head over by the phone answering machine when it rings. I know they are listening. So I leave a nice long message for them, telling them what nice cats they are. I know they are listening to me and I also know it makes them happy to hear from me!!
 

moonlights mom

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Moonlight hates it. When I get back, he'll give me an evil look and then turn his tail on me.
He shows me that he's mad but after a day or two he's back to his sweet self.
 

natalie_ca

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I'm not gone for long periods. In 2004 I was in the hospital for 2 weeks and when I got home my cats wouldn't leave me alone. I had a cat pasted up against me on either side for many weeks, and they followed me wherever I went, not that that was abnormal, but it was worse.

When I go out for the day and come home, both come to the door to greet me, even Chynna who is pretty hard of hearing. When I'm home she has certain spots she sleeps, and when I'm out she will sleep on the back of the couch or the bed so she can see me and feel the vibrations when I come home.
 

momofmany

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We just got back last night from a 10 day vacation. While Scarlett and Stumpy snuggled in bed with us last night for a short time, they are all a little tiffed at us right now and still playing hard to get. That will pass by this evening when we relax on the sofa.
 

sakura

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Chloe HATES not being around us. She loves to be near people (except she doesn't like unfamiliar people, so really it's that she loves to be near us). When we go away for the weekend, she is always incredibly loving when we see her. She likes to lick your face anyway, but she will groom you for an extra long time. She also purrs like crazy. My SO came back once (I was still away) and said he'd never seen a cat show so much emotion.

Matilda's kind of ambivalent about it. I think she likes that her routine is back to normal and in that sense, she misses us. It's not the same as Chloe though. She'll purr a little and rub against you but that's it.
 

mezlo

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I was gone 36 hours over the July 4 weekend, which was the first time I'd been gone overnight since I got Missy and Ashley. When I returned they both greeted me as usual and didn't seem to care that I'd been gone longer than normal.

Mez
 

mom of 4

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We've had some work done on our house this summer, which involved restricting the dogs and cats to a limited area. Their routine isserious changed. So the cats were locked up in their room - mew, mew, mew, mew, mew, mew, mew, mew - and the cat gate was used to keep the dogs upstairs. When I couldn't take it anymore, I put the dogs in the cat's room (after moving the food and litterbox) No more mews.

When we visit my daughter, all five stay at her apt with her kitten (Harper is my Talley's sister) and they get along. They aren't stressed or mad (my daughter however, get tired of taking the dogs out since we stay with my mother
)
 

purrrplej

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The first time I was away from Simba for a long period of time (two weeks), he gave me the cold shoulder and pretended not to know me for a few hours. But now he's used to me going away for months at a time (he lives with my parents now), and he's always happy to see me - comes and greets me right away, and sniffs me and all my belongings as if to confirm that he's not dreaming. He's not really affectionate, though, so the most he'll do is sit in the same room with me - he won't rub on me or look to get petted or anything.

Murray has never "punished" me for going away. He'll react quite happily when I reappear. The first time I went away for a few days, he reacted by joyously playing with a toy I had bought him that he had, until then, completely ignored. Whenever I come back from a vacation, he comes running to meet me, meowing up a storm, rubs on me, looks to get petted, etc. The one thing he does that's unusual, however, is that while I'm away, he's been known to try to sneak past the pet-sitter out the door. I don't know whether he wants to go try to find me, or what.
 

zoeysmom

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Belle and Delilah seemed to be used to us leaving them alone for the day while we worked. However, when we've left them overnight (actually, they seem to know even when our work day is longer than usual), we've heard about it when we get back. As soon as we walk in the door, Belle meows. They both roll over so they can have their bellies rubbed and ask for lots of attention. Things get back to normal pretty quickly.

My upstairs neighbour told me today that while we were gone, they were outside and the kittens sat in the window meowing at them and putting their paws up on the window! I feel so bad! I have made them into such big sucks and then I leave them alone.
 

roobear

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I have to leave my cat with my parents when i go to uni and apparently he wanders from room to room looking for me. He won't talk to me for a couple of days when i get back he doesn't like it when i come home just for week or so cos as soon as he's got used to me being back i leave again. I think the only thing he likes about me going is i don't take up room in 'his' bed. But i make such a fuss of him when i'm at home.
 

siggav

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Depends on how long I've gone though, but when I go away for Christmas (around 2 weeks and she's boarded at a cattery) she'll be really restless and vocal when she comes home when I'm back. Telling me all about what happened when I was gone and how unfair the whole thing was and how I should never do it again.

I have a video from just after last christmas where you can hear her complaining at me:

She's not this vocal normally.

ETA: For shorter times being gone, my parents told me when they stayed at my apartment with me that when I went away for work etc. Nikita sat at the door waiting for around 10min or so every time I left. Basically sitting around and seeing if I'd just ran off outside with the trash etc. After roughly 10min she'd decide I'd be gone for a while and went about pestering my parents for attention or going to sleep or some other cat thing that she does.
 
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