Traveling - What do you do with your cats?

[tmm99]

My DH still w*rks, so we don't take but short trips of up to 2 weeks, and we get a cat sitter who comes over and feeds/pets our 2 cats. It' 25CAD per day for the service, so it's $350 total for 2 weeks, which is not great, but doable.

I would like us to go on a longer trip in a few years, but I am not sure what we would do with our cats, say, if we took off for a month at a time. I can't imagine leaving our cats on their own that long even if someone came to feed/pet them once a day, and the cost for that would go up too. Although $750/mo is still doable, it's an extra expense we need to factor in.)

What do you do with your cats when you travel for an extended period of time?

 

[omni550]

Perhaps find friends who love cats but, for whatever reason cannot have a cat permanently.

Years ago, I was dating a guy whose parents would take vacations for 4-8 weeks. They had a cat and a golden retriever. I love cats and was happy to home their cat for the time they were gone, for free. (In fact, I felt it 'necessary' to keep the cat for 5-7 days after their return, to let them get settled-in without having a cat underfoot. LOL) My job required a lot of travel, so a full-time cat was not for me.

Their dog got farmed-out similarly to a dog-loving friend.

omni

 

[davebarnes]

House/cat sitter for $600 for 22 days.

 

[stepford]

We pay a neighborhood kid (whom we've known from birth and totally trust) $10/day. He's always treated our home and kitties very well (and I know his Mom or Dad would cover for him in an emergency). Good deal all around.

 

[COZICAN]

we're very lucky to have this https://www.aristocatshotel.com/ $25 per day for a 6x6 area with cat tower and window. The girls there are really good interacting with their guests.

 

[IMATERP]

We pay our neighbors $10 a day to come over (feed, put meds in food, clean box, and let cat out on screened porch.). Neighbor comes back later in the day to bring cat in and lock up.

 

[Doribe]

I have a dog, not a cat, but I used a site called housecarers.com to find a petsitter. I found someone I was comfortable with and he house/pet sat for five weeks while I traveled. I live in an area with good public transportation and many tourist activities. No money was involved, just a barter exchange of pet care for free housing.

 

[Helen]

We have a friend who rents a room in a house not too far from us. We pay her $100 a week to live in our house and care for our two cats. She also does yard work. We were gone 4.5 months this year.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We pay someone to live at our house.

 

[dtbach]

My sister-in-law loves our dog and gladly takes her for free. We get her an nice gift from our travels for the pet sitting.

 

[6miths]

I thought the whole idea of cats was that you didn't have to do anything?

 

[simple girl]

When we had cats we used a free exchange service like housecarers.com or trustedhousitters.com. We had sitters stay for us twice - both times retired single women traveling the USA. Great experiences both times.

We now use the same service, but as housesitters. We go places that fit our travel interests and get to live like a local and love on other people's wonderful pets. We love it!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I thought the whole idea of cats was that you didn't have to do anything?

Not ours! If we left him enough food for two weeks it would be gone in two hours.

We’ve used neighbor kids but since we moved several years ago we no longer have that option. Since then we used a great local cat sitting service but she decided to close her business. We changed to another local service but although we asked for two visits per day our Nest thermostat showed she came twice but only four hours apart. No good.

For our upcoming trip we are trying a local boarding service that is run by a lady with a dedicated kitty condo building in her wooded backyard on a mountain and she spends a lot of time with the kitties, they get to come out of their cages, and they each have a window in their cage to watch the birds and other wildlife. She plays kitty movies on the DVD with birds, etc., and when we visited she had a recording playing mother cat purrs which is supposed to be soothing to the cats. She is friends with our vet and came highly recommended. We’ll see how it goes but we have a good feeling.

We looked at boarding with the vet but they keep the cats in cages and they never get to come out, so that’s no good for our little guy.

So I guess I’m saying you have to look around pretty hard. Good luck!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Not ours! If we left him enough food for two weeks it would be gone in two hours.

We never get to try that any more, as our cats have always seemed to have special medical needs for the last decade or two -- shots, glucose monitoring, wet food only (no teeth), oral medications...otherwise we could have had visits every 2-3 days for shorter trips, or boarded ours at our regular vet for longer trips, as they have a nice kitty hotel like the one Cozican mentions:

we're very lucky to have this https://www.aristocatshotel.com/ $25 per day for a 6x6 area with cat tower and window. The girls there are really good interacting with their guests.

But then my partner has a higher stress job than I do, so our vacations are self-limited even in the best of times. I could take off for a few weeks, but they feel like they can't. I can't wait until we retire!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

.

 

[Bamaman]

A kennel charges us $15 a day for taking care of Xena the Rottweiler. They charge the same thing for cats.

Cats don't require the care that a dog takes. Change their box every week and fill'em up with food and water and they're good to go. If I was getting someone to watch my cat, I'd ask them to come in every 3-4 days to check on them. That wouldn't be too expensive.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Vermont has a neighborhood email list called Front Porch Forum. Usually it covers only one or two towns. There are often college kids home for summer (or other) break, or others, advertising for such jobs. Since these are small communities and people know each other, you can usually get reliable references.

 

[cathy63]

DD works in a veterinarian's office and lots of clients ask their vet to recommend in home pet sitters. DD's boss points out that her employee, DD, whom they know because she's taking care of them and their pets while they're in the office, is often willing to pet/house sit.

Since the vet happens to be located in a very upscale area, DD is currently staying in a very upscale home for the next few weeks and enjoying a much shorter commute to work than usual and the benefit of having cats to love and socialize with while at home. I have no idea if she's getting paid, but I'm pretty sure she'd do it for free.

All that is to say that you might just ask at your vet's office and see if they have a similar situation. If not, they'll probably know the area pet sitters from other interactions.

 

[Retired Expat]

We use mindmyhouse.com to find people. We are about to leave for an extended trip and our sitters who we found there and have used before are soon to be on their ways to us here. I listed our house, dates , etc and within 2 weeks had 50 people wanting to house sit our 2 dogs for free.

Lots of retired folks looking to travel for longer periods and try out new places without the high costs. They pay to get to your home and usually that is it. They pay for their food, you pay the utilities usually, references are available. It has been great for us!

 

[Rico]

The Traveling Pet Whisperer

I have a dog, not a cat, but I used a site called housecarers.com to find a petsitter. I found someone I was comfortable with and he house/pet sat for five weeks while I traveled. I live in an area with good public transportation and many tourist activities. No money was involved, just a barter exchange of pet care for free housing.

I've been providing free worldwide house and pet sitting for the past 3 years, mostly through the HouseCarers.com site you referenced and it's been an amazing win/win exchange. Caring for pets in some domestic U.S. locales, but mostly pet sitting in Europe so far. It's pulled all my travel planning skills, propensity for wanderlust & love of animals together in a magical way.

France - West Highland Terrier + 6 cats
Switzerland - Golden Retriever
Ireland - 2 Black Labs + 1 kitten
United Kingdom - French Bulldog
Portugal - 3 mixed breed dogs + 5 cats
Sweden - 1 Norwegian Forest Cat
U.S. - Boxer + Pug + Yorkshire Terrier

I just returned from a 107-day trip around Europe (8 countries) combining pet sits with AirBnb stays to create a quilt of travel adventure. Often times booking as I go with no highly structured itinerary otherwise. Having good technology at hand (laptop/T-Mobile phone plan in Europe/good navigation & communication apps like WhatsApp/ATM fee-free Fidelity Cash Management Account debit card) has made this all relatively easy and keeps me amusingly challenged in this FIRE lifestyle.

My home in the U.S. is lock & go, no pets of my own & everything is pretty much on autopilot while I'm away. Plus I've made & remain in contact with some wonderful friends in faraway places directly & indirectly through these travels & pet sits (neighbors, friends of pet owners, casual conversation with other travelers).

It's always humbling yet gratifying to have repeat requests from pet owners. France & Portugal are such repeat pet care destinations coming up in Dec/Jan. I really think I'm getting the better end of the deal (fun & educational travel adventures+bonding with adorable animals). Pet owners tend to disagree, saying they benefit most (free pet care, their pet stays in a healthy, safe, familiar low-stress environment). Win/win for sure. The world is our oyster.

 

[pacergal]

We have a house/pet sitting person come when we go away. So far, never more than 2 weeks at a time, though. She charges $50/day and we include that in our trip planning as a necessary expense.

 

[tmm99]

Thank you all for your posts!

A lot of you get a house sitter who pet sits. Do you worry at all that they will do something stupid? Will your home insurance cover if anything should happen, even though someone else is living in your house while you're gone?

 

[Teacher Terry]

I only use people I know very well for a long time.

 

[BeachOrCity]

I got dog a year before i retired! ....and I love to travel. ....Didn't think it thru.

I love my dog, but basically curtail the travel because of her.

Luckily have friends who will take her, but can't over burden them.

 

[RAE]

Perhaps find friends who love cats but, for whatever reason cannot have a cat permanently.

Yes, this is basically what works for us. We have a friend who lost her cat some months ago. She really misses the cat, but doesn't want to get another one because she occasionally travels. We mentioned to her that we really need to find someone to care for our cat this winter when we are going to be gone, and she quickly said she'd love to do it (as she has no travel planned for this winter). So, it works out for us, and it works out for her. Not sure if it will work again next winter, though. Not easy to find someone like this,...........