Leaving home for a weekend, a vacation, an emergency or for special occasions may leave you wondering what to do about your cat. While some cat parents may hire a cat sitter, we regularly hear about people who leave their cat alone at home. They figure their cat will be okay with extra food and water. Others may board their cat or have their cat stay with a friend. Though, it may be tempting to leave your cat alone, hiring a professional cat sitter for the job is truly the best option.
5 reasons to hire a cat sitter when you are away:
1. Cats Love To Stay At Home
By hiring a cat sitter, your cat will be able to stay in the environment that he/she knows and loves. Breaking up your cats routine and the security resulting from it by leaving your cat with a friend or neighbor can be very stressful for your cat. Although your cat will miss you while you are away, your cat will have his/her needs met with a professional cat sitter visiting daily. Some cat sitters will even stay overnight in your home with your cat.
2. Professional Care With A Cat Sitter
A professional cat sitter is someone who is experienced in caring for cats and they carry insurance. They will always show up. However, if they have a last minute emergency, a professional cat sitter will have a backup plan. A professional cat sitter will know what questions to ask. This means they know what information they need from you to give your cat and your home the best care. They will follow all of your instructions leaving you in control even while you are away. It is the cat sitters job to make sure your cat is being well cared while also giving you peace of mind. They can also send you a daily update with pictures. Don’t fret though if you don’t have access to your email while away. In that case, they can call you with daily reports.
3. Personalized Attention And Safety Checks
Hiring a cat sitter for once or twice daily visits will help make certain your cat is eating and drinking. They will also be able to look out for any signs of illness or injury. If your cat loves attention, they will keep your cat from feeling lonely or anxious while you are away. The cat sitter can follow your regular routines with your cat. For example, if your cat has a favorite toy, the sitter can spend the majority of the visit playing with your cat and that toy. If your cat prefers to sit in your lap and be pet, then the cat sitter can do that too. If your cat only eats when being watched, your sitter can sit with your cat after putting down their food.
Daily visits also help to make sure your cat isn’t in harm’s way. If your cat gets closed into a cabinet or stuck on a high shelf, your cat sitter can help. If your cat tips over a water or food bowl, your cat sitter will correct that at the next visit. If your cat is showing signs of illness, the cat sit sitter can contact your vet. Or, if your cat gets injured while playing between visits, the sitter will take your cat to your vet.
4. Litter Box Cleaning
By hiring at cat sitter, they will clean the litter box at each visit. They will scoop it out and take your cats poop to an outside trash. This will keep your litter box fresh and avoid having your home smell. Keeping the litter box clean will eliminate your cat choosing to go outside of the litter box, if that is not something he/she does. If you provide your cat sitter with a vacuum, they will also keep the floor clean around the litter box. Hiring a cat sitter helps guarantees you’ll return to a clean home!
5. Home Security
Having a cat sitter come for daily visits provides home security. It removes the worry about whether your home is safe from an unexpected household occurrence while keeping your home looking lived in to deter potential burglars. For example, while having a cat sitter come in and out of your home daily – they can turn different lights on and off, adjust window treatments, and bring in mail or packages to help keep your home safe from potential burglars. They can take trash cans to the street for collection and put them away once they’ve been emptied. They can also spot a potential problem from becoming bigger if they notice a leaky sink, a gas smell, or walk into a broken pipe, etc. This too will provide you with peace of mind knowing both your cat and your home are safe.
If you are a cat parent, what arrangements do you make for your cat when you travel? If you’d like to hire a cat sitter but you don’t know where to look you may find this article helpful on How Do I Find A Pet Sitter.
Because cats are creatures of habit, I understand why hiring a cat sitter is a wise choice. Although my cat behaves, she still gets very lonely. Having someone around who is well acquainted with the needs of cats seems like it would be a good idea.
Even cats who like to hide can get lonely if there is not anyone checking in on them to make sure they have fresh food, fresh water, and a clean litter box. Plus, many cats do not like a change in their routine which would be the case if they are cared for outside of their home or if there isn’t anyone checking on them to give them the above as well as giving them lots of attention.
People don’t see the need to hire a cat sitter until they see how clean the litter box can be! Plus, they get all the other benefits that you stated, like professional experience and safety checks.
Cats do tend to be more loners (with exceptions of course), but they still deserve fresh water, clean litter boxes and safety checks daily
Thanks for making this article. I’m certain it has helped raise awareness to some cat owners that they need to be mindful of their felines while they’re out of town.
Some cats may not even show their faces while you do your visit. Ours are particularly skittish around strange people and didn’t show hide nor hair to our friend who was checking on them. That was the first time, though. Several times they’ve checked on them for us, and they’re getting more and more used to us being out of the house and someone else taking care of their food. Just takes time.
Yeah, it’s good to have a pet sitter, even just for the fact of them checking on the house and reporting anything unusual.