How many days can I leave my cat alone at home?

Cats need different care from their owners, including affection and affection, because it is about social animals. Often times the pet is chosen precisely because of its independence, however we should not be confused when leaving it alone for a long time and we should think about consulting with a relative or professional the option of leaving it with someone.

In we want to help you answer a very usual question, How many days can I leave my cat alone at home? in a general way to know if you will suffer anxiety, what things can happen in our absence and many other related questions.

What can happen in our absence

You may think that the cat may only be home for several days during our absence, but is that convenient? The answer is no. There are several factors that we have to consider to know what risks we run:

It is usual to buy a larger drinking fountain so that the water can last around 3 days, however, it can happen that the cat do not accept this new drinker and that does not want to drink from it or that spill the water. In these cases the ideal is to keep your usual drinker and add more 1 and 3 drinkers throughout the house. The same will happen with the feeder. We should never change it before a prolonged absence, as it may happen that you do not want to eat in it.

We can consider buying a automatic dispenser of water or food, but we must always make sure a few weeks before our cat knows how to use it and that he eats or drinks without problems from him. We will never leave this type of product the same day we leave or a few days before.

Something very important that we must consider is that, if our cat likes to play hide and seek, stay locked in a closet or somewhere else that I can not get out of.

For all these reasons it is not recommended that you be alone more than one day. It would be ideal to consult with a relative or friend who will visit our apartment on a daily basis to renew the water and ensure that the cat is well. A time of games would also be ideal to not suffer separation anxiety.

The age and personality of the feline

When evaluating our vacations or retreats over 2 or 3 days we must take into account these variables to avoid the feeling of loneliness in the cat.

• Young cats who are already accustomed to, perhaps, a day of human absence, will not have problems if we maintain all their conditions, as if it were a normal day. We should never make them excessively dependent on us, it is part of a correct education that this does not happen. There are felines that do not want to stay alone for a minute, which is due to different factors but, especially, poor management by the owners. We must accustom them to small absences, starting from a few minutes to hours. Especially in young cats we can consider leaving all kinds of toys at home, especially those that are interactive or food vendors. A good environmental enrichment will help you to entertain yourself and notice our absence less.
• Theadult cats They are the ones who usually manage our absences, especially if we have already taken vacations before. Here also it would be advisable to use toys, although not being so active, perhaps it will be enough to receive a daily visit or every two days.
• Elderly cats perhaps we will require more help, you may even need up to 2 visits per day. In these cases we evaluate that a person moves to our house to have more frequent attention and for longer times. Asking the visitor to offer him caressing sessions can be an excellent way to keep him happy. Do not forget that in these cases it might even be advisable to leave him in a nursery for animals where he receives all the attention he needs.

La cat personality It will be a very important factor to take into account. Adapting to your needs will be fundamental to ensure your well-being. There are cats overly attached to us and others who demand a certain routine to be happy, such as their daily ration of wet food.

In the most serious cases, for example, aggressive or territorial felines, we must assess how to manage the visits of the person who will come to our home each day. Ideally, make presentations a while before and try to associate the person in a positive way, with prizes or toys perhaps.

The sandbox, a problem apart

Within this section we must consider the cleaning the sandbox. When the sanitary tray is very dirty, sometimes they stop using it. We know that cats are very clean and demanding with their hygiene, so we can leave you several trays in different places so that they always have clean sand, although, if a person spends every 24 hours and cleans it every few days it would not be necessary.

With the dirt of the tray there may be another more serious problem and that is, that our cat does not want to use it, or dirty in another place, so it will hold the urine and can lead to a urinary infection. This disease like others can happen even to the healthiest cat that has never had anything. We must make visible the phone from our veterinarian so that the person who will go to keep him company and see something strange, can use it.

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