Cats alone... how long?

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:24:15 -0500, "MaryL"
-OUT-THE-LITTER wrote:


"Ablang" wrote in message
...
I was wondering... How long has anyone here left their cat(s) alone
when going on a short vacation, with everything taken care of, of course
(automatic pet feeder, plenty of water, lots of litterboxes out, etc).

What's the longest you've left your cat(s) alone, and what extra
things did you put out to make it easier on both of you?

I live in a small apartment and left my cat for 4 1/2 days once when I
went on a trip and couldn't find anyone to take him. I had my niece
(I don't know my neighbors and wouldn't trust any of them with my key)
come over once to clean his box and make sure he had enough food.
That was when he was eating unlimited dry, so I left about 3
containers of food for him. I have to say, I worried about him the
whole time I was gone and thought about him the whole way home. Now
that he is eating only canned, I would never leave him without having
someone come by and feed him daily for me. I put all his toys out for
him and left the heat at 65. It was March, but I live in Oregon,
where it rains a lot and our weather is pretty unpredictable. I also
left the light on in the kitchen. You have to know my cat, but when I
got home, he was as happy to see me as a puppy would be. He never
sulks or acts mad at me like I've heard some cats do.
I have also boarded my cat at a vet and that works well, too, but
people can't always afford to do that.
I don't call it irresponsible to leave a pet if you make arrangements
to have someone check on it for you. Irresponsible would be to leave
a cat outside or leave it to totally fend for itself inside and ration
it's own food and water. They are our pets, they are our children,
but they aren't human and they don't need 24 hour human interaction to
survive.
pepsi