<p>H and I will both be out of town in a few weekends, as will the person we have had come in and check in on the cats when we have been gone before. Instead of asking another person, we are thinking of leaving the cats alone (from a Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon). I am a little worried because the cats–there are two, litter-mates, about 9 months old–have never been left alone for more than 24 hours. Mostly I am worried about the litter box. It almost always gets cleaned twice a day (morning and night). So far the cats have been excellent about using the litter box and I do not want that to change. Might they rebel if it doesn’t get cleaned for two days? Should we get a second litter box, or would that just confuse them? (I would rather not have two litter boxes permanently.) Anything else I should think about?</p>
<p>Finding someone else to come in and check on the kittens?</p>
<p>Just stick a second box out for the time you are gone. We leave our single cat alone on occasion for 2 nights…without having someone check on him. He would run under the bed anyway!
Cats are not that particular…just put the second box away when you get back. You could try the whole thing out once before you leave…just to see how they deal with it!</p>
<p>Also, my house sitter would leave animal planet on the tv on for the cat and dog during the day! Spoiled beasts.</p>
<p>Your cats should be fine at home for two days-just leave enough food and water. I dont think you need an extra litter box for two days-but if you leave for a few days-an extra litterbox placed nearby to the ordinary box should work fine!</p>
<p>I’d suggest setting out the second litterbox several days before you leave so that they can get used to it while things are still “normal”. After you return, leave it in place for a few days, until things feel normal once again.</p>
<p>The other thing we do is leave a couple of big bowls of water, and make sure the toilet lids are up – just in case of unplanned prolonged absence.</p>
<p>When the cats were still with us, we paid a neighborhood middle schooler, $50/week to clean the litter once a day, put out fresh dry food and water, bring the mail and paper in, and take the trash can up to the street once a week. If it was just a day or two, I would pay them $10/day. I was lucky in that a family with 3 children shared this job for almost 10 years; as one got older and involved with high school activities, the next in line took over.</p>
<p>I would think if you two were ok with dry food only, that you could leave them with an extra bowl of food and water, along with an extra litter box. My only concern with them being so young is if they have a habit of getting into things and might they knock something over and break it, could they unravel some fabric and swallow something, might they chew on plants? Not trying to scare you, but my two were daredevils when kittens!!</p>
<p>Our family does it “The LasMa” way. ^^ Never a problem, and the cats are generally more affectionate when we return than when we leave.</p>
<p>We often leave our cat for a couple of days when we go to our lake house. If we are staying 3 nights or more, we bring her. With a big bowl of food, a big bowl of water, and plenty of fresh litter, she does just fine.</p>
<p>Although…one time, when she was 1 or 2, we went on a cruise for 8 days. My sister was supposed to stay at the house to take care of her, but when she arrived, one of the side doors was open (apparently wasn’t secured and had blown open). She was freaked out, had a policeman walk through the house to make sure all was well, but couldn’t bring herself to stay there (big house). So she would just come by every day to make sure the litter box was in good shape and food and water were good. Kitty got so upset by the solitude that she proceeded to shred every single one of our dining room chairs. These happened to be the only really obscene splurge I had ever made with my decorating. Ten chairs with extremely expensive fabric just destroyed by this traumatized feline.</p>
<p>That was about 8 years ago, and I still haven’t re-covered them because 10 chairs’ worth of fabric and labor is just so expensive.</p>
<p>Grrrr…Still, I love that kitty.</p>
<p>Our cats stay home alone. It’s what makes them so much more convenient to have than dogs! When we had someone watch them the person left a window open and they both got out - one never came back. Ours don’t travel well so we would never take them with us, they’re more comfortable in their own environment. </p>
<p>If we’re going to be gone more than 5 days we have someone come and check on them.</p>
<p>In addition to lots of dry food (we use automatic feeder), bowls of water and clean litter box, I also leave a toilet lid up. She has never run out of water from her bowls, but it makes me feel better than she will always have access to water if something should happen.</p>
<p>Its nice that you have two, so they won’t get lonely or bored. I have left my cats for up to 7 days with plenty of food and water, extra boxes (and toilet lids up). It has never been a problem.</p>
<p>Left single cat over weekend, she did well with advice as above. The only addition – make sure you check cat’s location before you leave! We were gone overnight once (less than 24 hours), and when we came home I called and called my indoor kitty. She was pretty shy around others, but always came for me. Went through the house, finally heard a fairly faint mew – apparently, when I was packing, she thought my sweater drawer looked like a great place to explore! She spent the time we were gone shut in that drawer (yikes). Once I localized the sound, opened the drawer, she shot out and headed directly to the litter box, then to her water and food, then to me. She had managed to not have any “accidents” in the sweater drawer, and she had also not clawed a fiber on my sweaters. Needless to say, we always checked to make sure we laid eyes on her every time we left after that!</p>
<p>^^^^awwww, poor kitty. :(</p>
<p>In agreement with ilovedcollege, leave the cats 2 litter boxes. Make sure they have freshly replaced litter, in clean pans, just before your departure. I would also suggest leaving water and dry food in two bowls each, if you have room. My cat won’t drink her water or eat food if it has hair in it. The problem I’m having lately is my cat is 13 years old and prefers softer, canned food because it’s easier for her to eat. Unfortunately, canned food doesn’t do well sitting out for longer periods. My cat seems to prefer being left alone as opposed to having a neighborhood family watch her. We just returned after being gone for 4 days. After the first day, my cat wouldn’t even come out from her hiding places and would quietly “hiss” at her caregivers if they tried to pet her.</p>
<p>I agree. Leave two litte rboxes and get a “vacation feeder” so there’s plenty of dry food and water. We usually also leave a second bowl of water somewhere else in the house.</p>
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<p>Cats are fairly low-maintenence, at least compared to dogs.</p>
<p>The only thing I can add is to look around to see if there are any doors that need to be propped open. What I mean is, try to make sure they can’t accidentally shut themselves in anywhere. I came home once and my cat had managed to shut herself in the laundry room.</p>
<p>I agree about making sure they have more than one source of water.</p>
<p>I second the recommendation to check all doors. We have a “self closing” door to an office, and sometimes it doesn’t latch. One of our little guys is especially talented at pulling it open and running in, and it often will latch behind him, locking him in. We’ve come home more than once to find him locked in there. Fortunately never for an extended period of time, but it gives me nightmares to think about, so we are careful to check it if we’re going to be gone overnight. We also leave the toilet lids up. </p>
<p>I would think that if they’re used to having a clean litter box twice per day that you would DEFINITELY want to leave an extra box (or even two) for a 2-day absence.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the litter box. Sometimes I don’t clean it for a week and its ok. 3 days is fine. They need fresh water tho.</p>
<p>The only problem I see is they will be lonely that long and if it was one cat I think it would get bored but they can keep the other company.</p>
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<p>That wouldn’t necessarily be true for every cat-some cats are particular about their boxes and will find another place more to their liking, like a potted plant or other similar place. I would never go a week between cleaning our litter box. After 3 days it is just gross.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 well maybe if you have more then one. I only have one tho.</p>