Leaving Cats Alone In Home For Hours

[cmx1]

My wife and I are currently taking care of a 9 week old female kitten my daughter and her college roomates decided to get.  The girls have not thought ahead to decide who is technically the owner as well as who will be taking the cat for spring break, summers, and most importantly 2 or 3 years from now after graduation and the answer of "We (her roomates) are all going to share and take turns" to me is not a good idea as I think the cat should have a permanent home instead of being shuttled back and forth from the college to multiple homes.  The girls did not even get shots for the kitten.  I brought her over the weekend for initial shots.  The kitten is adjusting well to our house but my wife and I were not seeking to have a pet, however, we have been thinking of offering to take the cat.

The problem my wife and I have is I rarely get home from work before 7PM and sometimes travel 1 week a month and while my wife gets out of work earlier in the afternoon she has goes to her elderly Moms and evening ot 2.  We also have no other children at home. 

Is it very negative to leave a cat especially a kitten alone for minimum of 8 to maybe 12 plus hours 5 days a week?

 

[talkingpeanut]

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but you should consider getting a second kitten. It's marginally more work, they'll entertain each other, and no one will be lonely.

I do agree that your daughter and her roommates are not responsible owners at this time.

 

[margd]

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but you should consider getting a second kitten. It's marginally less work, they'll entertain each other, and no one will
Be lonely.

I do agree that your daughter and her roommates are not responsible owners at this time.

Ditto!

 

[rarepuss]

Second cat is definitely your answer. I am daily out of the house for 12 hours a day, from 7 AM to 7 PM. This includes weekends as well as I like to go out. My two cats are incredibly social and do very well together for long periods of time without me.

They have also been adjusted to long vacations since they were very young and I recently came back from a 10 day trip to find them insanely happy and super. They needed absolutely no adjustment to get back into normal routine. I did leave them with the cat sitter who came by twice a day to wet feed them. I also have a house keeper who cleans my apartment weekly and I believe having a good support team really helps you and your animals.

I only feed wet food and do it on the schedule of three times a day. I do not feed or leave dry food out. They never wake me up at night and have a solid almost human schedule.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but they are brother and sister from the same litter. The breeder who I purchased them from said they really bonded well and she was selling them only if they Went to the same house hold.