? Vacation planning with OTJ cat

[ramonaghan]

Hi all,

@BJM suggested I repost this here since OTJ/Honeymooners (where I posted this morning) doesn't get as many eyes:

I'm looking for advice about scheduling a pet sitter for 5 days in September when we're in Iceland. I have Henry, who was on Lantus for a little less than a month before going off the juice at the first of this year, and Olive the civvie. (Our dog will be staying with my sister.) We have an interview with a pet sitter this weekend. She was a vet tech for several years and can give insulin injections should Henry need them at that point (anti-jinx). I work from home and currently give Henry and Olive both five small meals a day, which is what gets a little tricky with a pet sitter. This pet sitter can stay overnight and come by 2x a day in addition to that, or she can come by 4x a day (poor girl--that's so much driving!). Neither option is cheap, but I want to keep Henry's routine as stable as possible and not set him back at all. Am I worrying too much for such a short trip? Is remission that fragile? My husband thinks 3x a day would be sufficient. I suppose we could have the sitter leave catsicles, which we haven't tried before, but Henry would probably eat them frozen! Also, Olive has managed to open both timed feeders we've tried, including the PetSafe, and then lets Henry eat her serving. So those are out as an option. What do you guys do when you're out of town?

Thanks in advance! I know our trip's a few months away, but I want to be prepared for the sitter interview Sunday.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I think for 5 days, your husband is probably right if she's still doing great...and finding out how Henry does with catsicles will help a lot too

I'd also want to know what times she could come in relationship to "possible" shots

Since most cats go lower at night, having her spend the night might be the safest route (if he's back on insulin)....wonder if she'd be willing to come 3 times and then overnight? That would get a PS and a midcycle...then the PMPS and overnight monitoring

 

[BJM]

Depending on your area, you might consider a house sitter so someone is around the home to keep it looking lived in and not a target for burglary.

 

[Dusty Bones]

I also feed 5 meals a day to my OTJ Dusty and my civie Beni but while I'm at work and night meals are longer. When I travel my pet nanny only comes twice a day. She'll feed them when she stops by in the morning and leaves food during the day and then again in the evening so they really only get four meals. They both do fine with the new schedule and no issues with Dusty.

 

[ramonaghan]

Thanks, all, for the input. @Chris & China, you bring up some good points. I think I'm so focused on keeping Henry in remission that I'm not adequately planning for what to do if he's not. I already intended to ask the sitter if she would be available 12 hours apart, but I'll confirm with her about testing him too (we have an AlphaTrak 2, which should make a vet tech happy ). I'll also find out if we can book her for overnight now and then scale back to 3 visits if Henry's still doing well at that time. (She might not like that idea because she could have booked another overnight client if we end up not needing that, but we'll see.) @Dusty Bones, thanks for sharing your experience--definitely makes me feel better! I am sure it will all work out fine, but this is the first trip since his Dx and being out of the country adds another layer of nerves.