Expert: Ali - 4/7/2009

Question
Hi Ali, how are you? My name is Paul and I have a quick and painless question to ask of you regarding our cat. My wife and I have an indoor cat. We are leaving this Friday to go on vacation until Monday night. It will be just under 4 full days. Can we leave our cat home for 4 days as long as she has plenty of food and water and litter? We could ask someone to come by to check on her but I don't want to do that because of two reasons: One is because our cat always tries to sneak outside and has gotten loose many times and I almost lost her once. I don't want to take any chances with having someone come over to watch her as they may not "guard" the door walking in as I would like it. Secondly, our cat is spoiled beyond the word. She hisses and growls at anyone but my wife and I. So, it would be more of a stress than anything to have people come in to see her. She would either be there to hiss or just run and hide.

So please set my mind at ease and let me know if it's ok to leave a cat home alone for 4 days with plenty of supplies. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Paul


Answer
Paul,

I have a few concerns about not having anyone check in on your cat at all. For instance we all know that cats can get pretty rambunctious so what happens if the cat manages to spill her water on day one, two or even three - she won't have access to water because nobody would know that she had spilled it. If your cat decides to go on a hunger strike it's something that you should be aware of because that can be related to stress but anorexia is also a symptom of some serious illnesses in cats. I understand your concern about having the cat get outside, my cats are also indoor babies with a significant interest in the outside world and they aren't above taking advantage of someone trying to care for them. If your cat runs out of food or is sick she won't have anyone to get her appropriate treatment if nobody checks in on her. You could solve the escape issue by confining her to one or more rooms that have a door preventing her from having direct access to the outside world with her food, water, toys, bed and litter boxes. I'm not sure how friendly you are with the staff at your vet clinic, but you may be able to speak to one of the technicians and ask them to stop by to make sure your cat is okay, I'm sure that they already know that she is a bit scrappy with anyone besides you and your wife. 4 days is also a long time to go without having her litter pan cleaned out, if she's as fastidious about litter box maintenance as my cats that could start a house soiling problem that may be difficult to stop. It's certainly possible to leave your cat alone over the four days with food, water and a few extra temporary litter pans, but I can honestly say I wouldn't be entirely comfortable with allowing my cats to be home alone with nobody seeing to their needs for four days - if it was a day or two I'd be more inclined to suggest that leaving your cat to her own devices would be acceptable.