Do your cats get stressed out when you’re on vacation?

[auggie]

I went on vacation for five days and my son looked in on the cats.
According to him Auggie and Schatzie were hiding the whole time and Phoenix was whining. When I came home I had to pull Auggie out from underneath the bed several times. I felt so guilty seeing her so stressed out. Everything is OK now and I think I’m forgiven. My spoiled brats got some new toys and much extra attention.
Schatzie in her new cat bed:

They didn’t have an extra large one to fit Phoenix.

[catmandu]

I HAVE ONLY REALLY BEEN,ONE ONE VACATION,THE TRIP,TO COOPERSTOWN,TO SEE THE BASEBALL HALL,OF FAME.

AND WHEN I CAME HOME,THE FOUND CATS,WERE ALL SITTING AROUND,AS THOUGH,I HAD JSUT BEEN AWAY, A FEW HOURS.
THEN GAIN,THET WERE MUCH HAPPIER,WHEN I BROUGHT,OUT THE TINS OF CHICKEN OF THE SEA TUNA FISH,THEY REALLY LOVED THAT.

AND THEY LOVED,THE CRAVE CAT FOOD,TOO.

[NoahsMommy]

Yes...my cats eat a lot less and tend to hide until I'm home. Poor things!

I'm having my surgery on Tuesday and my friend CiCi and her hubby are coming over to watch them. I usually move the food and add a water bowl to my bedroom because Jonah doesn't leave the closet or under the bed.

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

Ally and Connor are fina as long as they are still at home. I have a house-maid who treats them like absolute babies (hand-feeds them ham every morning etc ) so they are in their own ome being looked after by someone who loves them.

I once put Ally in a cattery and I will NEVER do it again - she was a bag of bones when I picked her up

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

They sure do!! About 1,5 year ago, the cats went to a "cat-hotel" during our trip to South Afrika. When we returned, Maya had lost so much weight, and Inka wasn't any longer friendly to her. I think they didn't like the food they got there....
This year, they stayed home, because our son Jo was here too. No problems this time!!

[LaRana]

My cat just seems to have an initial squeak meow when we get home. I think he just doesn't meow for a while since he doesn't have anyone to talk to while we're gone.

We're gone all day while we're at work & he has a view of a beautiful park with people walking their dogs, squirrels running around, birds eating their seeds, and people playing volleyball to stare at through our porch glass doors, so he keeps himself entertained throughout the day between his naps. And his naps consist of burying himself under blankets that we leave on the couch for him.

He sure is a lovebug when we get home though. We'll get home & his foodbowl will be wiped clean & even the little broken pieces on the floor will be gone (vacation munch OUT time). We'll go to feed him, he'll take a few bites, and he'll run back to spend time with us because he missed us so much. He's a Bengal, so he really likes his hoomans. Then once he's had a decent amount of attention he'll go to snack. But if we go into the kitchen (where he gets fed) and he sees us while he's eating, he'll stop eating to get more attention.

Yesterday, he was snooping around our stuff that we brought home. He was sniffing around one of the plastic bags my mother in law gave us that we had set on the couch, and my husband told him "Loki! Get out of those bags!" and he immediately jumped off the couch, but the bag handle was wrapped around his neck (loosely) & it followed him with all the contents inside (a box of shoes, a wrapped up snow globe). He freaked out & ran into the other couch after he got it off from around his head & walked a few feet away and his little short hair tail fluffled out and looked like a himalayan cat's tail We laughed uncontrollably.

And no my snowglobe didn't break

[JenBKR]

Yep, Katie doesn't eat and they both hide (I don't think anything would make Belle not eat...she's like a dog when it comes to food)

[Killearn Kitties]

No. I'm one that's stressed out. The cats are fine!

I was away last week though, and I didn't worry about them because hubby was at home looking after them. So, if you have a husband there, can I recommend that you might want to leave him at home the next time you take a vacation?

[Mad Mags Moo]

I get stressed out but my girls seem to be fine....they go to Aunty Jane's.....a cattery but it is like a 5 star cat hotel! They actually snuggle up together and become very good friends!!! Not like at home!!!! Then when they get home they just ignore each other again!!! Go figure!

Of course as a professional catsitter i can recommend your cats be at home so it less stress for them and you but what happens when the catsitter goes on holiday!!!!!

[Laura's Babies]

When Rie took off for Colorado in April(?), they left on Friday and she had someone looking in on him and Annie until I got home the following Wednesday... He did not do well "home alone" at all.. He must have just quit eating and he was so skinny when I got back... He had never been left without a human at home all day and he sure didn't like it!

The "protector of my house" in a BIG BABY"!

[Sonia59]

I think Peppito is stressed when we leave him home for a week-end. He seems to have slept all the time inside our bed, and he also eats a lot. The more stressed he is, the more he eats!

We never leave him for holidays, and we try to choose locations where he can come with us! Of course, it means we cannot go everywhere, but it is a choice we make and we don't see it at all like a constraint! Which non- cat lovers do not understand.
I can not take the decision to put him in a Cat Hotel. I am probably unnecessarily overprotective, but I can't accept the idea that he could stress so much in a foreigner place...

Next holidays in September, Peppito is coming with us again, but this time it's my turn to stress in advance because we'll fly there, too far to drive by car with a cat. I hope he will be OK, poor baby! I'll take some Feliway.

[Vermontcat]

Samantha got stressed and angry when we went on vacation.
The night before we left she saw our bags packed and ready to go in the living room.
She peed on the hall carpet to let us know what she thought of that.
My friend and her daughter petsat for us but said that Samantha would always hiss at them when they tried to pet her and she kept giving them the cold shoulder.
At least she would eat for them but not as much as she normally does.
After we were gone for a week, Samantha decided that we had been away long enough and she jumped the barricade to pee on our new carpeting downstairs and she also peed on the bathroom rug.
When we got back home she was happy to see us and wanted lots of petting but got mad when my husband decided to take away the bathroom rug to wash it.
She peed on the hall rug right in front of us to let us know she was not happy!
Finally that night, she got her rug back all nice and clean and she settled back into her normal routine.
Now she's all happy and spoiled again, just the way she likes it.

[LoudLou]

We don’t go away very often, and when we do, my mother stays with the fur-kids. They LOVE Grandma.
However, she has taken up pet-sitting in her retirement and last summer she forgot to schedule time to stay the night at our house with the fur-kids. LOUD Louie didn’t have a problem with that neither did Miss Mocha Bean… Garbonzo Bean on the other hand was VERY disturbed by it . Hubby and I were working production at a county fair and had to spend a week in tour bus, I awoke one morning VERY EARLY to my mother on the cell phone asking my WHY Garbonzo Bean had Pee’d all over my side of our bed . Not what you want to hear first thing in the morning!

So, needless to say YES they get stressed out, or at least one of them does if there isn’t anyone staying at the house. Grandma always stays now, and we schedule well in advance as Grandma is booked all the way till October.

[prechrswife]

I think they do when we leave them home with someone to feed/check in on them, but not nearly as stressed as they do if they have to be boarded somewhere. When we are gone, they tend to do things like knock things off that they normally don't touch, etc. When we go to China early next year, we are going to have a house sitter. I hope that helps them to be a little less stressed out.

[sirrahbed]

Originally posted by Killearn Kitties
No. I'm one that's stressed out. The cats are fine!

This cracked me up!! How true!!