How do you leave a cat for a week without feeling terrible about it? That's the question most of us are quietly asking while booking flights in November. Cats are more adaptable here than you'd think, as long as you set it up properly.
Should You Use a Cat Sitter or a Cattery?
Whereas dogs attach to people, cats attach to places, completely changing this decision.
Your cat feels safe because everything smells like them and sits where it always has. Put them in a cattery and all of that disappears at once, on top of you being gone. Keep them at home with someone dropping in, and they only lose one thing instead of everything.
A cattery still makes sense if your cat is on medication or has a health issue that needs checking during the day. For most healthy cats, however, home is the easier option.
What to Leave Your Cat Sitter
Write it all down instead of running through it at the door. A sitter with four houses to cover over Christmas will forget half of what you said before they've reached the car.
7 details every cat sitter needs from you:
- Feeding times and amounts, including any treats and where everything is stored.
- Litter tray location and how often you normally scoop.
- Your vet's details plus the nearest emergency clinic.
- Medication instructions written clearly, with doses and timing.
- Hiding spots, so your sitter doesn't panic when the cat hides on day one.
- Your contact details and a backup person who can get into the house.
- Anything that scares them, like the vacuum or the doorbell.
A photo of your cat helps too, particularly for a sitter who has only met them briefly.
6 Things Your Cat Needs While You're Gone
#1 Their routine kept the same.
Nothing reduces a cat’s stress quite like sticking to their normal feeding schedule.
#2 Visits often enough.
Once a day is the minimum for most cats, and twice is better for anything longer than a few days.
#3 Their own scent left alone.
Ask your sitter not to wash bedding or deep clean because those smells are what keep the house feeling safe.
#4 Nothing moved.
Putting up Christmas decorations while you're away will only add stress to a cat already missing you.
#5 Some interaction.
Even shy cats benefit when a sitter simply spends ten quiet minutes in the room, rather than just topping up food and leaving.
#6 Something to scratch.
A stressed cat scratches more, not less, so don't move whatever they usually use. If your Cat-e-Corner lives by the sofa, it should still be there when you leave.
What to Expect When You Get Home
Your cat may well ignore you for a day or two, and it isn't sulking, however much it looks that way. They've spent a week in a house that slowly stopped smelling like you, so they need a bit of time to adjust to you being back in it.
Expect more scratching for a few days as well. Your return changes the scent balance of the house again, and re-marking is how cats reclaim a space that feels a little off. Clingy behavior, extra vocalizing, and following you from room to room are all normal in the first week.
What isn't normal is a cat who stops eating, hides constantly beyond a few days, or starts going outside the litter tray. Those are reasons to call your vet, never to wait it out.
Final Thoughts
Your cat will be absolutely fine. They'd much rather you stayed, obviously, yet a familiar house with someone popping in twice a day beats every other option you've got.
Leave good notes, keep the routine the same, and ask your sitter to change as little as possible. Then go and enjoy Christmas properly, and get ready for a frosty welcome the moment you walk back through the door. It usually passes by day two, right around the time you stop apologizing.
While you're here,
Have a look at our other holiday guides on hosting with a cat and keeping your decorations safe on the Hilde & Phil blog. And come follow us on Instagram @hilde.phil, where Hilde and Phil spend most of their time ignoring us too.
