Cat Boarding at Home: Information Required for the Best Stay at Home Cat Vacation.


All things being equal your cats should like cat boarding at home - unless your Siamese pines badly when you’re away. According to Jan, a cattery owner who has provided me with plenty of advice on cat boarding, they tend to settle in after a maximum of three days and eat their food, even if they are fussy eaters. From this I conclude that owners miss their cats more than most cats miss their owners. It is more a case of the owner believing that the cats ‘miss me so much I could never leave them alone,’ rather than a specific Siamese characteristic.

For cat boarding at home to work, can you answer YES to the following?

  • Your friend, family member or neighbour have owned cats before so they know the basics.

  • They are conscientious, reliable and trustworthy and if they should be unable to feed your cats for whatever reason they will find a suitable replacement carer.

  • You will be keeping your cats inside for the duration, especially if you’re only away a short time, unless you have a secure run attached to the house. Reason: cats will wander, especially when you’re not around and get involved with the very real dangers of TRAFFIC, CAT FIGHTS and WILD ANIMALS. Imagine how your carer would feel if anything happened. And, the cat feeder might not see your cat from one day to the next and would miss any problems. If you plan to be away a significant length of time, a cat boarding/cattery might be a better bet.

  • You’ll leave them very comprehensive written instructions. Check out the free checklist for you to print out at the end of this article.

  • Your home is warm, you have scratching posts and the cats have access to cat beds, food and water. Please check your house for hazards as they will have time on their paws! Chemicals: most are very poisonous for cats so make sure they can’t get to any, and that includes the toilet pan. House plants: some of the most common can kill if your cat nibbles them. If your cat chews things like electricity wires or textiles tell the carers and make sure that they are out of paws’ reach.

    • If you can answer yes to the above questions, then your cats will be quite comfortable and will have plenty of time to catch up on their beauty sleep while you’re away. They’ll probably appreciate you even more on your return!

    A few final suggestions: make sure your carers can get into your house without your cats escaping because if they can escape they will, and it is unlikely that your carers will be able to get them back in.

    And,of course,bring back a treat for your kind carers!

    As I promised, I’ve developed some printable checklists to help you plan cat boarding at home efficiently so please use them as is or adapt to suit.

    This may seem like a lot but believe me it will your make life easier in the long run and give both you and your cat carers peace of mind!


    Your Printable Cat Checklist:
    For You and your Cat Sitters

    Siamese cat lovers: you are welcome to use this cat checklist. You should fill this out carefully and leave copies behind with your friends, family or neighbour cat carers – this is everything they’ll need to know!

    Please pick and mix from these suggested tips to suit your circumstances and adapt it for your own use only please. Print off more than one copy of the cat checklist, so there is one in your house and one to hand to the carer.

    YOUR DETAILS

  • Your complete name

  • Dates of vacation/holiday, include departure, arrival and return

  • Contact address, hotel phone, fax and email address for holiday destination if it’s that style of holiday.

  • Your personal email if you are checking it on holiday.

  • Next of kin, name, address, relationship, phone and email details. If anything should happen to you, what arrangements would you want for your cats?

    • YOUR HOUSE OR APPARTMENT

  • Specific instructions on where to turn off the services.

  • Instructions for temperature control within the house/apartment.

  • Put out the cat travel cages and gloves if your cats are difficult, (vet visit)

  • List the doors to be kept shut at all times (for alarms, because of hazards, or to stop the cats escaping when your carers come to feed the beasts!)

  • Keys to enter other parts of the house and garden access.

  • Any idiosyncrasies, such as dodgy light fittings, hard-to-flush toilets, dripping taps, loose door knobs and slippery rugs.

    • Please let me point out that if you have an automatically locking front/back door, get two sets of keys cut for your cat carers and put them on separate key chain/rings!

  • Talking about duplicate keys, has anyone else got a set? If so, name them here and share the details, with the cat sitters and the other key holders you don’t want them visiting your house around the same time as your cat-sitting friends or vice-versa – we don’t want the police called out due to intruders in the house!

  • Rubbish day/Trash day, if you have regular collections and want your bin put out.

  • Cancel newspapers and other deliveries, or get the cat carers to bring the deliveries inside, we don’t want to advertise our absence

    • ABOUT THE CATS THEMSELVES

  • Their names and how to tell them apart. (the vet might need to know)

  • What they eat and drink and where you keep it

  • What they must NOT eat and drink

  • Leave out the vaccination papers/vet booklets

  • List any recurring health problems

  • Pet insurance details

  • Any funny habits? I know of one cat whose special treat was the tea dregs in the saucer.

  • Allergies?

  • Grooming?

  • Can you stroke them anywhere? Areas to avoid!!

  • Play: do they expect a game?

  • If they wear collars, perhaps you can remove them while they are safe inside.

    • YOUR VET

  • Name and address of your veterinarian practice and preferred vet

  • Phone number and emergency numbers

  • Opening hours

  • Simple directions to the vet practice

    • ANY OTHER NOTES

    Return from Cat Boarding at Home to Cat Boarding


    footer for cat boarding at home page