Trying to decide between a cat sitter and Board and care

[Sergel02]

Hi all.

My parents and I live together and are planning on a family trip in April or May, which may be around 7 days.

We now have 2 cats (we had a 3rd who passed away recently sadly which I've posted about) who we’ve left before and had family come and watch. One cat is strictly indoors and the other we’re concerned about is an indoor/outdoor cat. She was a stray who kind of adopted us. Got her spayed and vaccinated.

To try to make it short:

• She sleeps and naps inside the house but goes out during the morning and early evening until bedtime. She's usually out for around 6-8 hours in a 24 hour total.
• She goes crazy if she’s in the house too long during the day and starts scratching the furniture and windows, and chases our other cat out of boredom.
• She can use the litter box though.
• No coyotes or raccoons but other cats in the area.
• We traveled last year for 11 days and she was outside and seemed okay (the whole block seems to play with her) but we still worry. She’s been attacked before at night by a stray cat.
• We have family who can come check in the cats but they only stay like 5-10 minutes, and miss days sometimes. They're busy with their own lives too.

I’m thinking of maybe hiring a sitter who can come in twice a day and let her out in the morning and in at night at least. The hard part is my dad does NOT trust strangers and doesn’t want one having access to inside the house. We could maybe have a sitter come and just check on her outside, but without access to food or water they can't do much.

Boarding is an option but I’m not sure how good it will be for her (our first cat we boarded years ago, but she got sick at the place though).

We could let her stay outside and have family check on her and let her in, but they’ll never come back to let her out until the next day. We have a warm and clean shed in the back she could go in, but other cats can get in too.

Last option is one us stays home and we don’t go on a family trip.

 

[Kieka]

Are you willing to install a cat door? I have a microchip cat door so that only my cats can go through it. It allows them to come and go as they please (although I do set a curfew) but keeps all others out. It uses their identification microchip but they also have a tag on collar option (breakaway collars!). We have had the same situation of someone coming by once a day and the cats have indoor and outdoor access when they want it. If you aren't willing to install it on the house, maybe the shed. The cats catch on pretty quickly with a little training.

 

[maggie101]

Leaving her out the possibility of her disappearing is too high to risk it. She may have trouble being boarded like most cats do. My cats are too afraid and hiding so she will not ber crying to be let outside. You could see if purina calming care helps. I can only get that at my vets. Other option is get her used to being inside only. It will less likely be a problem for the people taking care of her and the cat when your gone

 

[maggie101]

Kieka has an excellent suggestion of having a cat door and microchipped

 

[iPappy]

On boarding...if that's the route you go, how far would you be able to travel? There are a FEW places that offer cat suites with very safe catios for cats who are used to being outdoors, but I don't know if this would be enough to keep her happy or not. Plus, it might be more pricey than your own vacation, so that's something to consider as well.
Before I got into the boarding business, I did pet sitting. It always made me nervous leaving other peoples cats outside. My fear was a stranger would upset them, they'd "escape" outside and then refuse to return to the stranger who scared them. It was never an issue, but I always had that fear at the back of my mind.
If you use a pet sitter, ask for references, and look into them. Not all sitters are created equal and I've heard people raving all positives about sitters on places like Rover, and horror stories I couldn't make up if I tried.

 

[cejhome]

I used to be a pet sitter. Ask your vet for any recommendations for a good pet sitter. Make sure they have professional pet sitting insurance (get proof). If they have employees, make sure they are bonded. If I understand Rover, correctly (the problem with Rover, is that it is a sort of middleman? Sorry, I am too lazy this morning to read much about them - allergies! If it is, then you may have the same issue as a contractor you get from Home Depot to install something. Neither Home Depot or the contractor will accept responsibility for any issues. They will play the blame game on each other.

Professional insurance isn't that expensive for a pet sitter. If it is their business, then they should have it. Do you have Facebook or Nextdoor for your area? Ask there as well. Definitely get references. Have them come for an interview. That visit should be free. Do they show up? Are they late? Is their vehicle in decent shape? Are they themselves tidy? What are their policies? If they are a single person business, do they have a backup person in case something happens to them? Make sure they send you a text at least once a day.

I did quite a few 2 x per day visits for people, and I did have a few with an indoor/outdoor cat and an inside only cat. They did have a good shelter and place to put out food during the day for the indoor/outdoor cat, in case they didn't show up in the evening. Never leave food out overnight outside - it will attract vermin.

Another possibility is a good family friend or a mature, trustworthy family member (that you know will NOT give the key to your house to someone else (family or not)) if they decide they are "too busy" to come take care of your kitties for a visit. I'd still have them text you once a day.

With either scenario, make sure you have a backup person that can step in if whoever you get to take care of your kitties doesn't contact you daily as they should.

Type up an instruction page for your kitties - info on both of them, how much food for each, where to feed them, how many times a day to clean boxes, health issues to watch out for, if they love to play and with what, etc. Make sure you leave contact information for yourself/family you are travelling with and at least one other person for any emergencies that is not traveling with you - a good friend or another trustworthy family member.

If you hire a pet sitter - they can also bring in your mail, alternate lights, etc. When I was a pet sitter, I'd also check the water heater (if it was a tank type), etc. every few days to make sure everything was okay. I had 2 instances of hot water heater tanks leaking at pet sit client's houses while they were gone. I'd also check basements after big rain storms (had 1 house that had water issues after a big storm). I experienced a lot of interesting things when I was a pet sitter (years and years ago).

Well before I was a pet sitter, my in-laws lived close to us and we asked my mom-in-law to take care our our kitty for a few days while we were on a trip. She ended up not wanting to do it (even though she said she was happy to - they lived a couple miles from us). She gave our key to another one of her sons - she didn't even ask us about it. He was an adult, but he was not a responsible or trustworthy person. He ended up sitting there and drinking wine and leaving a broken glass in our dishwasher - and leaving an open bag of chips in the pantry (in the South!). That was the last and only time we asked family to take care of our kitty. After that I found a professional pet sitter.

 

[maggie101]

I will be using rover.com when needed. I got an immediate response she lives 6 minutes away. If you live in the US ask on nextdoor

 

[Sergel02]

Thanks for all the recommendations all! I’ll have to keep weighing the options. We’d be in another country and usually do go internationally so it’s not like we can just run home unfortunately.

There is a local agency that has a main sitter and backup if that sitter can’t make it. Again though my dad would never allow a stranger access to the house even with cameras, and I don’t think there is any way to convince him otherwise. The house is honestly more important and anything or anyone else.

There are some board and care places, though many are dog focused.

One option I didn’t think of until now is to ask our cousin to come and pay her for it. She doesn’t live far now, and has a cat and been with her whole life. She works as well, but sometimes if you’re paying someone they will try to make time (and since she is family she won’t risk doing anything to the house).

of course I’d have to see if she says yes lol.