Leaving My Cat for Two Weeks

I do not know if the radio will do much. Better to leave some dirty clothes on the bed so the cat can smell you even when you are gone.

The cat will get on with the neighbor--they fall in love with anyone who feeds them.

They’ll never understand & they’ll never forgive you.

I wouldn't leave the radio on unless it's normally on when you're home. Your cat will be fine even she never comes out to see the neighbor, as long as she's fed and her pan is clean, she'll be fine for two weeks. Make sure she has toys and sleeping spots.

Cats sleep 23 hours a day. It’s awake only when you’re around. She’ll be fine.

R1 has a good idea. She should be fine with the neighbor coming in. This is much better than boarding her somewhere, because at home she'll be in a familiar environment. I don't trust places that board animals. I know that some may be fine, but we boarded my partner's Labrador Retriever when we took a lengthy trip and when we got pack the dog shied away from us whenever we put a hand on her. I should have left her at home with the cats, because my partner's mother was coming in to feed them.

Agreeing with everyone so far. Let the cat stay at home. You never know, if the neighbor comes in, puts the food out, then sits quietly in your house for awhile, the cat may come around eventually. I have a very skittish cat who warmed up to the sitter after one feeding.

If it makes you feel better, buy a cheap webcam to keep an eye on the cat.

Get some extra-special treats the neighbor can give your cat when she visits. Soon, the cat will associate her visits with "DELICIOUS SNACKS!" (i.e., a positive experience). And I second the suggestion to leave some of your (worn) clothes out for the cat to snuggle in.

Thanks for your replies. I have often posted about my cat on here and gotten good advice. She was a stray who lived outside for a couple of years before I coaxed her inside. (The last post was when she disappeared for a couple of days and finally turned up outside the door. I was a mess for those two days and DL helped me through it.) My neighbors know her and she knows them but even though she is very affectionate with me, she tends to run and hide even when familiar faces (like the neighbor and cleaner) appear. I've had the neighbor come and sit with me while I held the cat and she didn't appear nervous -- let herself be petted and was calm. I'll have her come in again before I go to try and let her get even more accustomed to her (she's a lovely lady who really loves her and used to feed her when she was a stray). Still, from what I'm reading, two weeks is a long time and they suggest having someone live in, which I can't do. When I cut my last vacation short because they told me she wasn't eating, she gave me attitude for an hour and then was fine. I have to go to another city to help my sister who's having an operation and I can't come home early.

Also, has anyone ever tried to use the phone to talk to the cat when you're away. Did it help?

Don't talk to your cat on the phone. It will just confuse her. She will be fine with the neighbor and if she is feeling lonely, she will warm right up to the neighbor. If your cat is like mine, you will get a cold shoulder when you return but she should get over it quickly.

[quote] I'm planning on leaving the radio on. What else can I do?

I once did this for my dog. So many people had recommended it. Guess what? He shat in the kitchen (that was often his form of communicating what displeased him). No more radio.

[quote]Also, has anyone ever tried to use the phone to talk to the cat when you're away. Did it help?

Yes. Helped freak him out.

How could that cat ever ever been a stray? Who could have abandoned such a lovely cat?

Another vote for no phone, no radio.

After your cat figures out you're not coming back for a while, and someone else is feeding her, she'll warm to the new caregiver. Cats know what side of the bread their toast is buttered.

Tks. I'm laughing because I ordered a radio which arrives today. I will keep it turned off. She was kicked out of her former home (my hated neighbor across the street) for shitting in their boat which was in the garage where they kept her, alone, and separated from their other cats. She has never missed the cat box. That's not her, btw, in the pic. But it's pretty close.

[quote]How could that cat ever ever been a stray? Who could have abandoned such a lovely cat?

Gurl, it's from Wikipedia.

I agree with everyone that the cat will be fine without OP (nothing personal, it's just the way cats are) as long as the neighbor provides regular food, water, and litterbox cleaning. If the neighbor comes over at roughly the same time(s) daily the routine will be comforting (cats tend to be creatures of habit) -- if the neighbor wants to sit awhile, the cat can come out and socialize if in the mood. A radio on low should be harmless -- something calm like NPR, no loud shouting or sound effects, just a quiet murmur of human voices -- but the cat probably wouldn't miss it either if it's not normally part of the environment. Leaving a few shirts and socks with OP's scent in various spots around the house can help to assure the cat that OP's not gone for good.

PS: OP, your post at R8 suggests that you need to work on your use of pronouns. The sentence quoted below is particularly amusing/confusing -- I had to edit it in my mind by calling the neighbor Mary and the cat Bootsie, to avoid picturing you petting the calm neighbor who didn't appear nervous:

[quote] I've had the neighbor come and sit with me while I held the cat and she didn't appear nervous -- let herself be petted and was calm.

I had a very shy cat with strangers even though I adopted her at 7 weeks--it was just her personality with strangers. She was always an indoor cat since I'd had a previous cat killed crossing the street in a quiet neighborhood and I learned my lesson. I went away twice for a month or more. Both times I had two different women (friends of friends--I only met each one briefly) stay in my place and feed my cat, etc. while I was gone. My cat did fine (in fact in one case, I think she was more attached to the caregiver than to me--this woman said all animals loved her). This leads me to believe that for certain cats at least, it's any port in a storm. Also, if you can find someone you'd trust enough to have them stay in your place, that's the very best solution.

My upstairs neighbors leave their cat alone occasionally when they go on trips and basically he cries almost all the time after the first night. It's torture for me--the floors are thin. I fed him (but he mostly kept himself hidden) on one trip and then they got someone else to feed him but he HAD been a more or less feral cat before and he always assumes he's being abandoned so he always howls when they don't come back after a night. So if you value your relationship with your neighbors (if you live in an apartment building), I would suggest finding a full time companion. My neighbors are mostly very quiet when they're home so I guess they don't GAF that the cat tortures me when they're gone; they don't have to hear it.

r19, do your neighbors know their cat cries when they leave him? I would feel awful if I knew that, and would offer to take the cat or stay at their place while they are gone.

R19, have you offered to take care of your neighbors' kitty?

Ditto to forgetting the radio and leaving dirty laundry around. Not to be gross, but underwear and undershirts are best for this. Cats operate on scent and the familiar whiffs of you will calm her.

Make sure you leave some blinds or curtains open so she can look outdoors. Make a hideout for her in your bedroom closet, and maybe a few other places she might like; place a blanket or pet bed in there with one of your shirts. Leave the door slightly open or prop it open with an old shoe or something. Make sure she can’t get accidentally locked in there, though. We keep our litterbox in the basement, and leave a sign on the basement door t lling the catsitter to leave it open.

I have two semi-feral cats I adopted 12 years ago. They love me and follow me everywhere, but hide from everyone else. Don't overthink this: Yours will do fine on its own as long as someone is feeding, watering, and changing the litter box regularly. I agree with leaving some of your clothes and shoes out -- the clothes on a bed or a comfy place where the cat can curl up with your scent. I think that will go a really long way to making your cat comfortable in your absence. As for the pet-sitter, if it's a situation where the person is being paid to do this, big fucking deal if they don't get direct interaction with the cat. My pet sitter, who has taken care of my cats for 6 years now, always jokes about whether I really DO have cats. She never sees them. But then she sees the litter box, ha ha. She doesn't really care, as long as I leave her a check and give her a tip. The cat will be fine. Probably stand-offish for a while when you get back. Ignore him/her and unpack. Within 30 minutes it will be as though you never left. Take all this off your worry list!

^ Also agree with leaving some spots where the cat can perch and look outside. It's like Kitty TV.

^ Yes to leaving some spots where the cat can safely and comfortably perch and look outside. It's like Kitty TV!

Off topic - I have a great male cat who stops by daily to be fed by me. He's orange, and I call him "Cat." Anyway, he has always had this dried, dark brown slimy yuck around the rims of his eyes and down his nose. I know that it must be coming from his eyes as a sign of illness/disease, but shit, he'd have been dead by now if that was the case. Could this be a sign of poor diet or allergy? I feel bad for the guy, but I can't take much more of an interest other than buying him food and giving him water. My dog tried to eat him the other morning. Any ideas about his eyes? Other than that, he seems really healthy.

Tell your neighbor to keep in mind that if the cat seems to use the cat box frequently to pee, that is a sign of a bladder infection. A bladder infection is a common response to the stress of having a pet's routine significantly altered. The cat goes to the litter box repeatedly due to the urge to pee. Bladder infections are very painful and should not be ignored.

OP, your cats will get even when you return. Trust me on this. Whenever I am away and return my cat will then shit on the dining room table or in my shoes to get even. This is the only time she does this.

r20: Thanks for asking about whether my neighbors know about the cat's distress. My neighbors do know that he cries loudly because I tell them every time they go away (plus they've experienced his anxiety at least once when they were away for a longer time. ) They keep going away and leave him alone anyway. I did feed him for one very long trip and have no trouble feeding him again (they found somebody else thinking that would solve my problem) , but I don't want to stay in their apartment--I prefer my own. They are too cheap to pay someone and they know I really have no recourse other than complaining to them because we have shitty landlords who basically would love to get rid of me because of my rent controlled low rent. And if I complained to the landlord about the cat, they would get thrown out, and they know I won't do that because I'm a decent person. So since they don't have to experience his howling themselves, they don't pay someone to take care of the cat. I guess it's a question of money; I know they're not in a high tax bracket. Again, thanks for your concern.

I remember you and your temporarily lost ragdoll cat! That thread was great and it’s very sweet how concerned you are for your kitty. Burst out laughing at my desk reading about the reaction of various pets to radios and phones... 😂😂😂

R26, it sounds like a chronic condition, such as sinusitis in humans -- I've seen it before in ferals and they don't die from it. If you feed him canned food, try mixing some Lysine with it -- it's an enzyme that boosts the immune system, comes in powder form with a little scoop in the jar, available at pet supply stores -- add 1 heaping scoop to a 5.5 oz can of food (it's tasteless). Good for you feeding him, ferals have a hard time in the city through no fault of theirs.

[quote]PS: OP, your post at [R8] suggests that you need to work on your use of pronouns. The sentence quoted below is particularly amusing/confusing -- I had to edit it in my mind by calling the neighbor Mary and the cat Bootsie, to avoid picturing you petting the calm neighbor who didn't appear nervous

HA! Yes, noticed that after I posted. Funny. Funny/Nice, too, how these pet threads never turn into snarkfests: "Your cat's gonna DIE OP!!" Thanks for all the tips. Leave my dirty underwear out? Uh, no. Not with the neighbor coming in. I'll wear a t-shirt for a couple of days. Also, the neighbor lady is the person my cat first went to when the hateful sow's boyfriend threw her out (after they DELAWED her) and so she knows her. This neighbor has sliders onto her deck and the cat just stood there and howled until she was presented with a dish of cat food. They only live here half the year so I took over and now she (pronoun for Cat) is all mine. Again, many tks! PS The radio just arrived. LOL.

[quote]I remember you and your temporarily lost ragdoll cat! That thread was great and it’s very sweet how concerned you are for your kitty.

You're very kind. I was a blubbering mess until she showed up again. And I'm NEVER a blubbering mess. Funny what these pesky varmints do to you.

My mom feeds feral cats that come to her back door. Some of them get infections from time to time, and she treats them with antibiotics. She bought amoxicillin that's sold by fish supply stores online. The pills are the same dosage size as the pills for humans, but probably made with fewer safety requirements. When you order them from the fish supply store, the price is reasonable and you don't need a prescription. (There's no way in hell she would be able to get those cats in a carrier and drive them to a vet.) She crushes a quarter pill and mixes it in the food she gives them.

My cat was a stray kitten when I got her and grateful for a home. She’s very attached to me, but I have to leave her for a couple of weeks at a time several times a year. Someone comes in to feed her every day and she survives okay. (Last time, she actually did bite the hand that fed her, though.) I think she just sleeps most of the time and waits it out, but who knows? She’s glad to see me when I get home. I have boarded her before too, but I believe she prefers staying home. She was kind of clingy after her stays at The Fur Season (+ it was expensive).

R34 And we wonder why there is so much antibiotic resistance.

Thanks for your replies.

For the time away, to keep your kitty less stressed, more tolerant of the changes- Feliway, or one of the equivalent pheromone products.

Don't put oral antibiotics in the stay cat's food, especially amoxicillin! It is not useful for chronic conjunctivitis in cats (most commonly due to Mycoplasma, Chlamydia, Feline Herpesvirus, occasionally allergies). Lysine supplements, as already suggested, are actually recommended for long term adjunct treatment ocular- upper respiratory infections in cats.

[quote]OP, your cats will get even when you return. Trust me on this. Whenever I am away and return my cat will then shit on the dining room table or in my shoes to get even. This is the only time she does this.

LOL !! The worst she's done is attitude. I walk in the door after having been away and sit down in the living room. She looks at me, gets up, and goes into the other room for a while. My friend's cat actually shit in his open suitcase while he was getting ready for a business trip. The cat was so crafty, he didn't realize it until he was unpacking in his hotel room.

For those who must give a pill to a cat, try crushing the pill and then dissolving it in a little hot tap water -- stir the resulting liquid into canned food that has a flavor strong enough to mask any taste from the pill. Of course, when the cat gets well and no longer needs the pills, it will still insist on having hot water added to canned food and refuse to eat anything else, but that's the price of living with cats.

Amoxicillin can cause diarrhea (in cats and people both), which can be a serious problem with a feral cat whose elimination isn't observed the way a housepet's is. Diarrhea causes loss of fluids and minerals and electrolytes -- if it proceeds unnoticed and isn't treated, the cat may well die.

Feline herpesvirus is what my cat got after being in a boarding cattery for 3 days. His eye was messed up for 2 months, and despite the vet's assurance that it would come right, I was a wreck thinking he was going to lose his eye. A visiting feeder or a pet sitter is definitely the way to go.

This isn't fraulounge

R43, gay men love cats too! There's more to life than French bulldogs, you know.

Indeed, contrary to popular belief, we fags do love pussies.

UPDATE: I only had to be gone a little over a week and I've been back for two days now but my cat is still punishing me. I know she's here because as soon as I get into bed and turn out the lights to go to sleep she comes out and eats, uses the litter box, etc. I have seen her three times: first, when I came in, she looked at me and walked into the bedroom and her "safe" place under the bed; second, she came out, made a loud meow, and then -- against all affectionate entreaties -- slowly walked back into the bedroom; and the third time happened a couple of hours ago when she came out, walked closer to me, meowed plaintively, and, once again, walked back into the bedroom. At this rate I figure I should see her around New Years.

The cat has forgiven me. Finally. Just after I made the update.

Speaking of familiar smells, don't make your bed up before you leave. I left mine a rumpled mess while I was gone for a few days, and my cat slept on it all the time, especially on my pillow where he left an indentation of his body (all those hairs!).

One last thing, be sure you don't have to run a very quick errand once you return like buy milk, etc. as she might think you are leaving her again and start to freak out. I had run out of toilet paper as my cat had completely destroyed the roll on the dispenser while I was gone----so when I left the apartment to run to the shop across the street to get more, he was crying so loud I could hear him on the ground floor (I love 4 flights up). I felt terrible and it took awhile before he knew I was home to stay.

People who claim cats are not affectionate are just plain wrong. When they love you, they love you hard.

[quote] People who claim cats are not affectionate are just plain wrong. When they love you, they love you hard.

R48, I'd like to believe that our pet cats love us. But I think that we're really just part of their environment and they're used to us. I've seen the same kind of extreme reaction when a piece of furniture has been removed -- not a beloved comfy chair, just a new refrigerator where the old one used to be -- or a tall floor lamp in a corner replaced by a (quite charming) round table with a short lamp on top. No real harm in anthropomorphism, but I do think we're taken in by it sometimes/often.

R49 our cat is so needy he will chase you down to get his affection. It's his time, all the time. He will howl and pace until you pick him up or follow him to his favorite sleeping spot.