Content
- What can happen in our absence
- The age and personality of the feline
- The sandbox, a problem in itself
Cats need a lot of care from their guardians, including affection and affection, as they are social animals. Often the pet is chosen precisely for its independence, however we should not be mistaken when leaving it alone for a long time and we should think about asking a family member or professional to stay with someone.
At PeritoAnimal we want to help you answer a very common question, how many days can i leave my cat alone at home? That is, knowing if you are going to suffer from anxiety, what things might happen in our absence and many other related questions.
What can happen in our absence
We may think that the cat can be alone at home for several days during our absence, but is this convenient? The answer is no. There are several factors we have to consider to know what risks we are taking.
It is usual to buy a larger drinking fountain so that the water can last around 3 days, however, it may happen that the cat don't accept the new drinking fountain and don't want to drink from it or spill the water. In these cases, the ideal is to keep your usual drinking fountain and add 1 to 3 more drinking fountains throughout the house. As the feeder will happen the same. We should never change him before an extended absence, as he may not want to eat at the new one.
We can plan to buy one. automatic dispenser of water or food, but we must always make sure a few weeks before that our cat knows how to use it and that it eats and drinks without any problem. We must never leave this type of product on the same day we leave or a few days before.
Something very important to consider is that if our cat likes to play hide and seek, stay closed in a closet or some other place you can't get out of. This is one of the many things cats love to do when they are alone.
For all these reasons it is not recommended that you be alone for more than a day. It would be good to ask a family member or friend to visit your house daily to renew the water and make sure the cat is doing well. Don't forget to also leave her some toys so she doesn't suffer from separation anxiety.
The age and personality of the feline
When evaluating our vacations or retreats of more than 2 or 3 days, we must take these variables into account to avoid the feeling of loneliness in the cat:
- the young cats who are already used to, perhaps, a day of human absence, will have no problems if they keep all their conditions, as if it were a normal day. We must never make them overly dependent on us, this is part of proper education. There are cats that don't want to be alone for a minute, something that happens due to several factors, especially, poor education on the part of the tutors. We must accustom them to short absences, starting for a few minutes until reaching a few hours. In young cats we can plan to leave all kinds of toys at home, especially those that are more interactive or food dispensers. A good environmental enrichment will help you to be entertained and to feel less of our absence.
- adult cats they are the ones who best manage our absences, especially if we have already taken some kind of vacation. Here, it would also be advisable to use toys, but as they are not so active, it may be enough to have a visit daily or every other day.
- the old cats they may need more help, they may even need 2 visits a day.In these cases, you should ask someone to move into your home so that they receive more frequent attention and for a longer period of time. Ask the person who stays in your house to give you enough attention and affection to make you happy. Don't forget that in these cases it would also be advisable to leave your cat in a cat hotel where it can receive all the necessary attention.
THE cat personality it will be a very important factor to take into account. Adapting your needs will be essential to ensure your well-being. There are cats overly attached to us and others that need a certain routine to be happy, like their daily ration of moist food.
In more serious cases, for example aggressive or territorial felines, we must evaluate how to manage the visits of the person who will go home every day. Ideally, make presentations a while in advance and try to associate the person with something positive, such as prizes or toys.
Read our article on where to leave cats on vacation.
The sandbox, a problem in itself
Within this theme we must consider the litter box cleaning. When the box is very dirty, they sometimes stop using it. We know that cats are very clean and fussy about their hygiene, so we can leave several litter boxes in different places so they always have clean sand, although if someone comes by every 24 hours and cleans it once in a while, that doesn't it will be necessary.
With the dirt in the litter box there can be another more serious problem, that is, the cat may not want to use it or dirty elsewhere, holding the urine and this could result in a urinary infection. This disease like others can happen to even the healthiest cat that has never had anything. We must make visible the our veterinarian's phone number so that the person visiting it, if they see anything strange, can use it.
