Making Pet-sitting Experience Enjoyable for Pet

[Todah Tear]

I have to be out of the country for 2 weeks. During that time a friend is going to keep my cats at her house. How can I make this transition (albeit, short-term) less stressful on my cats?

I am open to any pointers.

Todah

[Tinbasher]

I have to be out of the country for 2 weeks. During that time a friend is going to keep my cats at her house. How can I make this transition (albeit, short-term) less stressful on my cats?

I am open to any pointers.

Todah

Make sure you take familiar things that smell of you for them to snuggle up on and try and keep to the usual routine as far as possible. If there going to be let out at their temporary home don't be surprised if the don't fetch up at their real home!

But being cats I suspect if they are well fed they won't notice you're away!!

Tom

[Todah Tear]

...But being cats I suspect if they are well fed they won't notice you're away!!

Tom

Good suggestions...yeah they do enjoy a good meal and nap combo. I'll make sure the keeper has plenty of catfood w/gravy on hand. They'll never know that I am gone.

One of the cats gets so stressed out when she had to ride in the car; she didn't used to, but on the last trip, she was really nervous and got car sick. Since the person lives about 20 miles away, I want to reduce the stress on her from the car ride, then a new envronment, then a new handler.

Todah

[Zollinger]

We take our Oscar camping when we go and he also stresses out in the car. I called my vet to see if he had and suggestions on what to do and he said to give him 25mg of Dramine about an hour before we leave. He said that some cats have inner ear issues while traveling. The Dramine in addition to throwing a towel over the carrier so he could not see any motion did the trick. The hard part was getting the pill down his throat without him spitting it back up.

[Todah Tear]

Thanks for the Dramine tip. Is there a special one for animals or will the kind for humans do?

[Zollinger]

Human kind. I had to split it in half. I also tried the grape favored chewable kids kind. That was a total failure! He spit it right back up and started foaming at the mouth. My husband kinda freaked out thinking I killed the cat.

[jss06]

Last time we were gone for an extended stay, we hired a pet sitter to come to the house every day. It is ay less stress than anything else on the pets.

Is it possible for your sitter to come to your house?

[Tinbasher]

Last time we were gone for an extended stay, we hired a pet sitter to come to the house every day. It is ay less stress than anything else on the pets.

Is it possible for your sitter to come to your house?

We have a friend who does this for us and our cat is certainly a lot less moody when we get back.

[Todah Tear]

In the past, when I have had to be gone for a week, a friend came by every day after work to look in on them. This friend has since taken in an ailing father and does not have the time.

The person who is willing to look after them lives over 20 miles away, so "everyday" visit is not an option.