Do you ever go on vacation?

[Efrat]

I know it might sounds like a weird question... but ever since we have cats we find it very hard to travel together! only once my boyfriend's father came here (from The USA) to take care of our cat while we went to the states on holiday... other than that we have to go with others... I was in England with my friends last year, and Ilan went on vacation with his brother, but we miss travelling together.
Problem is - Ilan's parents live in the states and so does his brother, my parents don't have the time and the will to look after my cats ( they want real babies instead and think I'm crazy to have 4 cats...) my brothers hate cats, and all my friends either live too far away or are not resposibble enough... There are no good cat shelters here where you can leave your cats ( I have seen them all, and they are b-a-d)
what do you do??? I did find a nice girl that I met on an Israeli cat forum that leaves 10 minutes away from me, but I don't really know her (never met) and even ifI think she will do a good job, she can only come once a day as she works far away... Do you think once a day is enough? I'm not sure....

[lynnestankard]

How sad Efrat - we're lucky and have a wonderful cattery very close by - they have great big 'houses' (cages is a horrible word) and our three go together and are always so well cared for - they can be outside or inside as they choose - and they can see the ducks on the pond!!! :D
Then of course we have our daughter Elizabeth who lives very close - and when we go away for a short time - ie a week - she comes over with her doggie Trickie and cat sits for us - as well as emptying the freezer!! Our furbabies love her and Trickie so there's no trouble at all (just the expense LOL!) And thats the plan starting Tuesday when we're going to Spain for a week! Yippeeee!!:D :D

So I think we're very lucky.

Lynne

[Pam]

Efrat my daughter will be "cat-sitting" for a couple in a few weeks. They are good friends with her in-laws and were mentioning one day that they wanted to go away and leave their cats at home because we all know that cats don't particularly care for changes in their daily routines. Her mother-in-law mentioned to her that my daughter loves cats and has one of her own, and just this past week she met the woman and the kitties who will be temporarily in her care. It is about 3-4 miles from her home and the woman only asks that she come once a day to feed and scoop the litter and maybe give them a scritch or two under their chins! :) Maybe you could ask around. It is quite possible that "a friend of a friend, etc." might put you in touch with a cat lover close by. Good luck!

[Ila]

We go on vacation every year. I have a very dear neighbor that checks on Misty and spends time with her when we are gone. She plays with her about an hour each time she comes over she says. She loves animals as much as we do. I have the best pet sitter in the world. Misty would not be happy at a kennel and she is so good with her. I just give her details of vet and etc. before we leave and I know she is in better hands then if I was there myself.

[Former User]

We haven't gone to any vacations yet while having Casper and Kitty. But when we do, we have a cattery here where we can leave them in a good care :)

[Edwina's Secretary]

If we go for just a weekend we leave Edwina alone with enough food and water. Longer than that we hire someone to take care of her. We boarded her the first vacation we went on after she joined us and we just think she is happier with a sitter. We have had people actually stay in the house (my preference -- she doesn't like to sleep alone :eek: ) or come by once a day. We are going on a trip in a few weeks. My niece, who is a college student in Chicago, will stay on weekends and my stepson will come by every day that she isn't here. He does his laundry, watches HBO, etc. and spends at least an hour with her while he is here.

When I was in college, house sitting was an easy way of earning extra money!

[LoudLou]

Louie goes to stay with the Grandma's and Grandma comes over acouple times a day to love on the Meezers... We are VERY lucky that My Mom only lives down the street and loves her "Furry GrandKids" to pieces..... We are never able to go away longer than about 2 days though.... which is about all I can stand to be away from my babies anyhoo.:rolleyes: ;)

[Randi]

It's a big drama every time we go on vacation, we have to dope Fister to get him into the transport box. He's determined not to go in!!

The very first time, he went to a cat pension an hour away, the owner was a vet and had very nice surroundings, it was in the country and he could go in and out as he pleased. It was december 1998 - and the very day we had the famous storm (poor Fister!).

Anyway, when we came back - after being grumpy for a while - he was very curious to check out our suitcases and here's a picture to show it.

http://www.netsnapshot.com/users/6765/images/th_PJZl-cCoBQIAAAjpYbU_6765_10.jpeg

[Heather Wallace]

You should use someone like me, a pet sitter. I look after most of the animals in my own home but some people prefer me going to their house if their cat is a bit nervous.
That is the best option I think.

Here is on eo f my regular customers Riesa, the ginger tabby, she come to my house to stay, she sllps mostly.

[Gio]

LOL This is one of the good points about your parents having to come and live with you :D :D. I'm one of the lucky ones, since my parents came to live with me I have live-in cat sitters! :D If for some reason they are not available one of my sisters lives less than 5 minutes walk from me and she is more than willing to look after then, she has 3 of her own so I oftern return the favour.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I use a pet sitter. Peanut would be a complete basket case at a boarding place. :rolleyes: I pay $14.00 per day for her to come in once a day, make sure they have fresh food and water and she spends 1/2 hour with them - and also collects our mail. The longest we've left them like this is 10 days. They are always real happy to see us when we get home, but they are fine and no worse for the time alone.

If we are just going for the weekend, we leave them alone also. They are fine alone, and we figure they keep each other company, which is why the rug is in a pile in the middle of the floor everytime. :rolleyes:

Efrat, if you don't have a pet sitter available, you might want to make a point of meeting the girl you mentioned and getting to know her a little. She could become a valuable resource. And maybe if you trade visits (you see to her kitties while she's gone) it won't cost you much. At our rates, $14.00 a day doesn't seem like much, but when you add up 7-10 days worth, it does tend to get a little expensive. I do it because I feel they are worth it. Otherwise you might want to do like others mentioned and see if you can find a friend of a friend of a friend who would be willing to come in. I would just make darn sure that they are true animal lovers, and that you can totally trust them before going anywhere though, so you don't come home to any unpleasant surprises, cat related or otherwise.

I think your kitties will be just fine with someone coming in once a day since you do have 4 of them to keep each other company. They will miss you, but they will be just fine.

[thelmalu99]

I am fortunate enough to have a roommate who really loves my cats, and the feeling is mutual. They LOVE their Auntie Rachel. She takes care of the babies for me if I need to go away.

Even before Rachel came to live with me, and Charlie had not yet gone to the RB, I would go away for the weekend sometimes and just leave out enough food and water and an extra litterbox. I would feel guilty about leaving him all weekend since he was an only cat, but I would just give him extra lovins when I got back.

[Logan]

Oh, I don't know what you do in Israel!! But here, I have always left my cats at home, with a neighbor looking in on them, even when I boarded the dogs. Then, I found out about a website where I could search for a bonded petsitter. I found the perfect one, and she comes and takes care of everyone, in our home. Usually, she comes twice a day, more for the dogs than the cats, and I pay her $16 US dollars per visit. It isn't cheap having all of these animals, but Butter and Mimi can come and go as they please, and Honey and Lilly get lots of attention and spend the night inside, so they won't bark and bother the neighbors. It has worked out perfectly for me. But I sure do miss them when I am away! :(

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by Logan
But I sure do miss them when I am away! :(

That's the biggest problem. ;) I know they are fine at home, but it sure is hard for me to fall asleep without the extra weight of Peanut on top of me, or Tubby next to me. And coming back to an empty hotel room just isn't the same as coming home to greetings of head bumpies and wall scratchies. :)

I thought that would all be taken care of when we bought our motorhome, but instead it just brought up a whole new set of questions like, will the cats like being in the motorhome? Will poor Peanut be so scared that it would be better to leave her home than put her through the trauma? How much trauma will having the cats along put Terry through since he worries about them so? And there is no way we would bring Tubby and leave Peanut home alone, so do we attempt it or do we just leave them at home like they are used to, knowing they are being well taken care of and we just put up with our own missing of them?

Oh, such tough questions. :)