Taking a vacation, especially an extended one, can be a welcome break from the day-to-day, but it also introduces stress when leaving your cats at home.
The following are some thoughts and considerations based on many years of being a cat parent and approaching vacation care in varying ways for different cats.
I’m also including tips on preparing for a good experience for your cats and the caretakers you engage. This is different for every cat, owner, sitter, and home situation. I’m merely sharing impressions from 20+ years of being a cat parent.
Cat Sitters Over The Years
When my spouse and I first adopted cats, our attitude was much more laissez-faire than it is today, decades later. Originally, we were comfortable leaving our two cats at home for a couple of days with lots of food and water or having a friend come check in once or twice for longer trips.
This changed when our kitty Gremlin had a health crisis during a trip that could have been caught more quickly with a higher level of care (she ended up being fine and living a long and happy life, but it was definitely a wake-up call for us).
At that point, we were fortunate enough to have a vet who boarded cats and cats who were fine being boarded, so for many years, that was our solution. This was especially welcome when our cat Junilla developed diabetes and required twice daily insulin injections in her last year of life.
We were incredibly thankful to be able to have her cared for by professionals in a comfortable and familiar environment. Interestingly, growing up, my parents and I had a diabetic cat, and their solution was to get a cat-loving medical student to come twice a day to administer her injections!
After our two original cats went to the Rainbow Bridge, we welcomed two new kitties into our lives over the course of a couple of months. Initially, we boarded the first one at our vet, but it was clear she didn’t like to travel and was much more of a handful than our previous girls!
When we adopted our second cat later that year, we decided the time had come for in-home pet sitting. We had good luck with a vet tech from the same office coming to our home, but unfortunately, she relocated, and we were in need of someone else.
Through a lot of research and recommendations we found an absolutely amazing pet sitter whose full-time job is running a pet sitting and dog walking business. She’s insured, has fantastic references, and is wonderful to work with. We’ve been using her ever since.
But that’s not the end of the story! Because our sitter is a full-time animal care professional, I try very hard to work with her as I would any other professional.
Alice’s Cats Ishii and Satai.
Tips For Working With a Professional Cat Sitter
Here are some things I’ve found that make the relationship go well for both of us:
Plan Ahead. Confirm the dates you need sitting as soon as possible, especially if it’s at a busy time of the year.
Pay in advance to show good faith.
Share Details. Share any changes in routine, set-up, etc., in advance. For example, we recently introduced a water fountain for our cats, so I made sure to mention that and provide detailed instructions for use.
Make it Easy. Make sure any necessary supplies are available, for example, paper towels, sponges, dish detergent for washing bowls, wet food can covers, etc.
Show Good Hospitality. Access to your WiFi, snacks, bottled water, etc., especially if there’s an expectation that the sitter stays for some period of time to play with the cats
Emergency Planning. Provide emergency contact information to the pet sitter as well as the pet sitter’s info to our emergency contacts. This went a bit awry when my doting parents sent a very detailed missive to our sitter about how much they adored their “grand cats”…without identifying themselves! But we all had a good laugh once it was sorted out!
Trust Them. Try not to pester the sitter while traveling. Finding someone you trust means trusting them. I admit, I do check our security system logs to see when she comes and goes, but I try not to beg for updates and generally assume “no news is good news.” It helps that our sitter is great at sharing pictures and updates, but I also recognize she cares for a lot of people’s pets. And she knows I’m a helicopter pet parent, so she’s patient and understanding with me!
Express Gratitude. Show appreciation once you are home. I always let the sitter know when we’ve gotten back and confirm that things are in order. I frequently tip her for an extra day, especially for longer vacations or if she’s done something extra (like cleaning up a hairball or spending more playtime with them)
Stay in Touch. Be available if something doesn’t go according to plan. I make sure to keep my phone on and check for texts and messages often. We’ve only had one snafu in a number of years. Still, our sitter appreciated that I was able to call her right away and get things sorted out (all was well; a power outage disabled her normal means of entering the house, but we had an alternative).
Recommend them to others!
Professionals vs. Friends
I want to say a couple of things about choosing a professional pet sitter versus a friend, relative, neighbor, or child of someone you know.
For my family, the peace of mind that comes with someone who does this for a living is priceless. While we never want to have this situation, it is worth saying that if something ever went wrong, we could end the relationship without further consequence or drama.
Over the years, I’ve had coworkers, bosses, employees, and friends offer to pet sit or offer to have their kids pet sit. It’s always well meaning and in the context of “I/my child love cats!” Of course, I’ve never said, “How could we move forward if our cats were ever hurt/lost/worse while you or your child was caring for them?”
I would much rather pay a fair market price for a service than even contemplate that situation. I know these people mean well, but this is definitely something to consider before one offers pet-sitting services or accepts them from a friend or relative.
Again, every family and pet is different and people need to make choices that make sense for their situations, these are simply our criteria and thought process. I hope this has been helpful – above all, I adore animals and want them and their people to be happy and safe!
Alice has lived with and cared for cats most of her life, starting when she was six and her family adopted two orange tabby girls (one of whom lived for over 20 years!). She and her husband are currently the people of Ishii and Satai, the fluffiest, silliest, and most beautiful of babies. Alice supports the clowder through her work as a manager of Analytics and Informatics at a major academic medical institution in the Midwest.
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