belle is coming! and aurora?

[judy]

I am happy because my daughter lisa and her BF are going to berkeley from next thursday night until sunday, and me and zack get to keep their cav belle for them while they are gone. i'm so looking forward to having belle here.

there is a problem--a few months ago they got a kitten, Aurora. she is from a rescue group. belle and aurora get along great.

(btw both belle and aurora are named after disney characters--lisa has a thing for disney stuff).

my problem is that i'm not sure whether i can have aurora stay here because my cat fluffy has a bad history of not getting along with other cats, including smaller younger cats. One time when there was another cat at our place (where i lived before) fluffy took one look at the other cat and freaked out, and she ran from one end of the living room to the other, and into the kitchen and behind the refrigerator. somethnig didn't smell so good. At first i thought she had passed gas. but then it got stronger and stronger. Soon i discovered that fluffy had pee/pooped all the way from one end of the apartment to the other, she lost bowel and bladder control, and there was poop, wet diarrhea and/or pee all along the wall where she flew on her way to the kitchen. I couldn 't get to her behind the refrigerator. after i cleaned up the living room, with great difficulty i moved the refrigerator away from the wall and got poor terrified fluffy out, she was covered in her poop, i washed her in the bathroom sink, all of this took probably about two hours, and then i took her to my neighbor's house where she spent the night because i had this other cat there, we had gotten the other cat from a pet adoption and we were going to have two cats but we had to return the second cat. This is just one story of many, though the most dramatic.

so we are unsure about whether aurora could stay here. we just assumed we better not chance it because if she's here and fluffy gets crazy, or if aurora goes hostile on fluffy as so many other cats have, then what will i do with her?

lisa and joe's solution was that they were going to leave aurora by herself with a large supply of food. but i think this is too long to leave her alone. She's just a kitten. I'm afraid it will be traumatic for her, she won't understand why everybody is gone, it's for almost three days. lisa says she's very sociable, loves attention, affectionate.

would almost three nights and days be too long for aurora to stay alone? Will she get scared or depressed?

lisa is afraid to leave her at a boarding kennel because of hearing horror stories about animals getting diseases.

I want to let her come here, but i need a plan B just in case. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of a friend who would be able to let her stay with them if fluffy won't adapt, or if aurora threatens fluffy. my friend's cat Howard attacked fluffy here in our own home when he was visiting--seemingly unprovoked. Other cats seem to dislike her a lot, i don't know why, she is kind of strange, she has a strange vibe about her. but can't we all get along?

 

[Bruce H]

Given the choice between leaving Aurora home alone or at a boarding kennel, I would pick home without even batting an eye.

Before Kris and I had dogs, we had an adult cat Molly (a boy, don't ask!!). We left many times and left Molly home alone; just made sure there was lots of water and food. If it was for more than the just a 2 day weekend, we made arrangements for someone to check on him every couple days and give him some attention.

Is there someone who could stop by their house to check on Aurora ocaisionally? If so, I am sure she would be just fine.

 

[mlc4140]

I wouldn't kennel the kitten either, before Sabrina we have left our cats alone for 3 days at a time, now I have more than one cat too so they entertain each other, but my husband said he had left his by herself for 3 days alone with food and water and they do fine, anymore than 3 days he alway had someone come over and check on her and for socialization purposes too. Cats, kittens do very well by themselves.

 

[Karlin]

I'd think three days would be OK, but for a young kitten I'd really want someone to come in once during that time to change the litter box and make sure she is fine. Also I would bl;ock doors open in the house as I once had tha cats knock over someothing in a room that shut one of them alone in the room -- thankfully I was only gone overnight that time but this could have been a catastrophe. :yikes

I have a friend who comes in daily when I am goine and I pay him to oook after the cats, air the house a bit etc. I have a couple of friends I can also ask in a pinch. Also other cat owning friends may know a good service that will do this.

I boarded my cats regularly with my vet in the past, too and personally I feel it is safer for them to be where they are watched and looked after than to have them alone for any length of time. And I would never, ever allow a neighbour to come by and feed a cat that is then left outside or even one who has flap access indoors and out while the owners are away -- this is a major time when cats run away as they can get very confused and stressed by the disappearance of the family. I'd only ever leave the cat indoors. (that said my family often left cats to be minded in this way but I'd never risk it now -- so many cats reported lost disappear under just these circumstances; it is one of the most common reasons for people losing their cats).

One other option is -- can you put Aurora in a room in your house on her own? I often have foster cats or kittens living in the second bedroom. This works well for the short term.

 

[Cathy T]

I'm currently cat sitting for my neighbors. I go over a couple of times a day just to visit with the kitties, be sure they have food and water and just give them a little attention. It's not at all an inconvience, the cats are so easy.

 

[judy]

thanks for the feedback on this. I feel reassured about aurora staying alone. I have cat sitted for my friend many times when he's been away for an extended time, but i know that when he goes away for a weekend, he doesn't ask me. Lisa said she doesn't have a neighbor that they know who could come in and say hello to the kitty, and then there's that possibility that someone could accidentallly let the cat out so you don't want to have someone you don't know well doing it. They moved to san diego less than a year ago and haven't made friends down there. Lisa has a childhood friend who lives down there but she is allergic to cats. I like the idea of boarding with the vet. I wonder how much it costs. I would share the cost with them. but if she stays with a vet, she would just be in a little cage the whole time wouldnt' she? not sure if that's a good thing. I do think it's unwise to take a chance on her being her with fluffy because if things went badly, i'd be forced to board her and i don't want to be forced into something like that. It was me who originally suggested leaving aurora at home by herself because my friend always does that, but then later i was thinking it seems like too long of a time. maybe they could set up a webcam and could visit her that way, and talk to her each day. i was just thinking, maybe we could have a professional pet sitter go in and just pay for an hour for Friday and Saturday.