considering a cat

i wonder if my neighbors are like "why is she always going UGH STOP IT"

i am intrigued by how my cat is generally okay with combing/furminating but somehow always turns such that i have to use my off hand

whenever i am about to do something i ask my cat if she wants to do it. wanna go to bed? wanna go to work? wanna go get a haircut? the only one she seems to want to do with me is go to bed.

my cat has got in the habit of licking the holes in my laundry basket. she does it every morning as im getting dressed. idk bcuz theres detergent residue and thats somehow appealing? she p much stops once im dressed and doesnt do it any other time

Is it ok to euthanize an older cat that isn't in particularly bad health, if the only problem is that none of us like it much?

i don't think so

Only if I can do the same with old relatives I don't like.

cat was acting weird when i got up today -- pretty sure it's because the filter in the litterbox lid had fallen into the litter, and he was scared of it, and was therefore holding in his poops

what a little dork <3

is it unreasonable to leave a single cat alone -- with plenty of food and water and a large, clean litterbox -- from friday afternoon to monday morning?

no. it took me a while to do this with my cat but i have left her a couple times for that duration. she was fine, if a little too exuberant to see me when i got home. she probably likes it better than say, taking a long car ride and hiding from my parents' cats for two days then driving back. or being boarded.

i get into a lot of disputations regarding this sort of thing whenever i express it publicly but an indoor cat should have some contact each day in my opinion.

I do this, and she yells at me when I get back, but is fine.

i have a particularly bad cat and so this isn't even an option for me. he would definitely go outside of his litterbox if it weren't scooped for a day. when i go out of town and have someone come in the morning and evening to feed him he still is all disheveled (from not grooming himself) and freaked out when i get back

i do not think i would do it any longer than 2 days. mayyyybe 3. it also depends on your cat's personality. mine is extremely shy and solitary. i know that leaving her makes her less anxious than any alternatives, and i don't go away often. we communicate about it, silently.

i mean yeah other options you mention are bad too

it definitely depends on the cat. I would never do 3 days, but 48-ish hours isn't out of the question. My cat still sometimes hides from his sitter, even though it's the same person who's been sitting for us for 5 years now, and leaving him alone would be better than sending a stranger into the apt.

yeah my cat is scared of sitters unless he knows them well and he hardly knows anyone that well. my ex is going to look in on him next time i go out of town which is probably weird for my gf. but it's 5 days

having a cat is just bad basically is my conclusion

yeah when i was away for 10 days i had someone come in every other day, but my regular sitter is unavailable this weekend and it kinda seems ~on the edge~ of what's reasonable

and i wouldn't have done it with my previous cat, but this one is pretty independent

I advise buying and mounting a cheap webcam so you can admire its independence in real time. Some of them have a little speaker that lets you speak in a disembodied voice to your bewildered animal.

Oof, I'd not generally be pro leaving a cat alone for so long, but if it's absolutely necessary then they will be fine. Could you get an autofeeder? I can imagine some cats just eating all the food in one day and then being pitifully hungry, so might be an idea - I've never used one, though, so don't know how reliable they are. Alby doesn't much like to socialise with people who aren't me so there's not much point in asking people to play/sit in with him, so I just get someone to do a brief feed and check-in. Actually, last time I was away for a weekend he accidentally got locked out, and he was perfectly alright, they're hardy little buggers really.

Also leaving for a weekend almost certainly better than a boarding kennel or forcing a cat to travel, harbl otm on that front. I don't think I've ever met a cat who would enjoy boarding, but I guess some must be okay with it?

i get into a lot of disputations regarding this sort of thing whenever i express it publicly but an indoor cat should have some contact each day in my opinion.

― findom haddie (jim in vancouver)

I mean, I very much do agree with this generally, but I'm thinking in extenuating circumstances/as a one off, it'll be okay.

need for autofeeder depends on cat's habits, too. i just leave my little girl an extra bowl of food and there has been some left each time.

xp yeah i can't imagine a cat that enjoys boarding! i'd be afraid of such a cat.

i ended up booking someone to come in sat/sun -- it's worth it just not to worry about it

when i go out of town and have someone come in the morning and evening to feed him he still is all disheveled (from not grooming himself) and freaked out when i get back

Uggh this. My cat is fine for a couple days, but whenever we go out of town for a week or two there's just no solution. She hides from whoever comes to feed her, then lives in a state of constant anxiety. One time she made it out of the bedroom and hid upstairs without eating for days, as far as I could tell. I feel really guilty about it, but I guess not guilty enough to spend 5-6 years without leaving the country? So yes "having a cat is bad".

aww :(

i feel bad leaving our guys but they’re pretty resilient. we have someone come twice a day and when we come back they’re up on our laps/couch/bed almost instantly.