Shelter for cats during the holidays. How much does it cost to adopt an animal while on vacation? Where to leave a cat on vacation: shelter options

When preparing to go on vacation, the pet owner begins to think about where he can leave the cat during his absence. If it is not possible to take your four-legged pet with you on a trip, then you can use the services of professionals and place the cat in a special hotel for animals, or resort to the help of relatives, neighbors or friends, asking them to look after the animal. In extreme cases, the cat can be left in splendid isolation, but for a comfortable stay it will need to create the necessary conditions.

Help from relatives or friends

This method is considered the simplest and most accessible for most pet owners. To begin with, before planning a trip, you should ask your neighbors and find out from them in advance whether they will be able to enter the apartment in order to check the condition of the pet and feed it.

If the cat owner has no desire to entrust the keys to the apartment to strangers, then it is worth asking relatives and friends. Perhaps someone close to you will agree to take the cat into their home while its owners are on vacation. This method is the most optimal for the pet, since it will be looked after by familiar people. Thus, the cat will experience less stress when separated from its owner. At the same time, you should not leave your pet in the house of a large family, since people will not have enough time to take care of the animal, and small children may unwittingly cause harm to the cat. It is also undesirable to leave your pet in a house with other animals, especially dogs.

Before going on vacation, the person who agreed to look after the cat must be explained in detail how to do this. You should bring a tray, cat litter, bowls, favorite toys and food with you and explain when to change the water and what to feed the animal.

Professional services

If the question arises of where to put the cat during the holidays, and you couldn’t find helpers among your friends, then it is advisable to resort to the services of professionals. You can use the services of so-called “pet sitters”, who look after your pets for a symbolic fee. Among them there are veterinarians, professional breeders and just people who love cats and know how to properly care for pets. You can find a suitable candidate online or just ask your friends, and it is likely that the “pet sitter” lives next door. By prior agreement, you can agree on how many days she will have to care for the cat and what to feed it. If the owner wishes, the employee will take the animal to his home or come and take care of it on the owner’s premises.

It is imperative to exchange contacts, because no one is immune from fraud.

There are special hotels for animals where cats are left during departure. They have a number of undeniable advantages:

the pet is looked after by a professional who is financially responsible for its health;
keeping the cat in a separate, completely safe room;
provision of medical care (if the cat gets sick, she will be helped in a timely manner);
providing specific care;
equipping the animal's cage with a webcam (for an additional fee) so that the owner can monitor its condition on the website.

Before placing a cat in such a hotel, it is worth visiting it in person. The owner should inspect the cages and pay attention to the cleanliness of the premises. If the hotel has a courtyard for cats, then it should also be inspected for the presence of loopholes through which the cat can escape.

Is it possible to leave a cat alone in an apartment?

It will be psychologically difficult for a cat to live alone in an apartment or house, but it is possible. A four-legged pet must be provided with the following conditions:

1. Buy an automatic feeder and fill it with extra food. You should calculate the daily number of servings and add one more to them.
2. Install a drinking bowl, a special fountain, or place mugs and pots of water in the house. You should not leave water in bowls for your cat, as it will quickly evaporate. Another risky method is to place a small bowl at the bottom of the sink. You must first clear the sink of all objects that could block the drain, and, placing a bowl, open the water (the stream should be very thin).
3. Place a couple more trays in the apartment, in addition to the main one. Cat litter needs to be filled with more litter.
4. Close windows, vents, bedside tables and cabinet doors tightly in the house. One of the windows needs to be opened slightly so that the apartment is not too stuffy.
5. Remove all objects that pose a potential danger to the cat. Such items include threads, poisonous plants, household chemicals, medications, breakable items, bags and other similar items.

It is allowed to leave a pet alone for no more than a week, and only if it eats exclusively industrial dry food.

I remember times when one of the main arguments against getting an animal was the inability to go anywhere. Cats were taken into the house only if there were reliable relatives, kind-hearted neighbors or “restricted” family members. Times have changed: traveling around the world and weekends on the coast have become commonplace.

Therefore, if you are planning to take a flight and, for example, enjoy a vacation on the seashore, you cannot avoid solving the problem of where to place your cat during your vacation - there are many options for where you can leave your cat, and each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let's start in order.

“If a friend suddenly turns out to be...”

The simplest and, as it seems, reliable solution is to place the cat with a friend, girlfriend or relatives during the holidays. Firstly, “friendship” and “family” services, as a rule, are not paid in any way. Secondly, who else but close people who love and respect you will take care of the creature you adore in the best possible way?

However, in practice, sometimes things turn out differently. People may agree to leave cats on vacation only out of goodwill towards you, not wanting to upset you with a refusal. At the same time, assessing one’s own strengths and even taking into account one’s own desires recedes into the background. But as soon as you fly to the sea with a free heart, these circumstances will definitely come to the fore.

If the temporary owners of your pet have another cat, then it is not a fact that they will get along with each other. Territorial instincts manifest themselves even in very docile animals. Not everyone is ready to endure cat fights with stoic calm.

If your friends don’t have animals, the situation may be even more complicated. There is a whole class of people who really love cats/dogs/children, but only with friends. Finding themselves face to face with the inevitable hassle of caring for an animal, they make several unpleasant discoveries for themselves.

For example, that a cat will not go into a dirty litter box and, unlike a dog, will not endure several hours until she is given the opportunity to go to the toilet. That cats can sharpen their claws on all suitable objects. That they are capable of jumping to any height and are not averse to walking on the kitchen table, etc.

No, of course, your friends or relatives will not throw your cat outside, but the consequences of improper feeding and care, stress from an unusual environment and the lack of loving hands may well have a negative impact on the health of your pet.

Apartment foster care for a cat during the holidays

Apartment foster care is actually an apartment, the owner of which is ready to take care of your animal for a certain fee. This fee, as a rule, is lower than in specialized hotels, which cannot but bribe many owners. Another advantage is that the cat will live in a familiar apartment environment.

Cons of overexposure

Let's start with the fact that this type of activity is not registered in any way. Since there is no legal entity, there is no contract for the provision of services. There is no agreement - it means that you take the word of a practically stranger and have no way to recover damages from him in court. And this harm is more possible than anywhere else.

Several, or even a dozen cats always live in foster care at the same time. In an apartment, they are all in close contact. It is much more difficult to carry out sanitary treatment in rooms filled with furniture than in specialized rooms. Veterinary passports and pet health certificates are often not asked for at apartment foster care.

Next to your animal there may be cats picked up from the street, somehow treated and left in foster care until adoption. Cases of infection of all guests with calcivirosis or carnivorous distemper in foster care are not uncommon.

When there is a lot of crowding, there are frequent fights and taking away food from the “weak”, among whom may be your intelligent cat.

Therefore, if you have spent money on a five-star hotel for yourself and are very strapped for money, then before you leave your cat in foster care during your vacation, at least read the “black lists” of apartments that are compiled on animal protection forums such as “Dog and Cat” and "Tails."

Leave your cat at a hotel on holiday?

Zoo hotels are private small businesses that are registered. However, to open such an enterprise, you do not need to obtain a license, so, in fact, any person can be its owner, including those without special education, experience, or even love for animals. Therefore, before you give your cat to a pet hotel, you should not only collect as many reviews about it as possible, but also be sure to visit there in person.

Ideally

For clarity, let’s draw a picture of an ideal pet hotel. So, you come to a building located away from residential buildings, surrounded by a fence, with a mandatory security point. The reception time for visitors wishing to get acquainted with the living conditions is strictly specified and the hotel does not resemble a passage yard.

The premises for cats are located separately from the premises for dogs, preferably even with a separate entrance, so that barking guests, going for a walk, do not disturb the meowing guests. The enclosures themselves are free, no more than 2–3 in one room. A separate exit should lead to a fenced area for walking.

There is no specific smell in the premises, cleanliness and order reign everywhere, the air is warm and not humid, the floors are tiled, linoleum, and other easily washable coverings. When talking with you, the staff politely and thoroughly answers all your “stupid” questions, asked in numbers that can drive even an angel out of patience.

The hotel provides feeding with the brand of food you specified or with a natural diet according to the menu you have detailed. Medical procedures are negotiated and paid for separately, as well as ear cleaning, nail trimming and combing of the long-haired beauty.

How is it going?

So, the decision has been made. On the agreed day, you bring your cat to the pet hotel. Take with you a veterinary passport with vaccination records, as well as your cat’s personal bedding and toys to make it easier for her to endure separation from home.

The staff veterinarian of the pet hotel gets acquainted with the veterinary passport and examines your cat, about which a special note is made in the animal acceptance certificate.

Next, an agreement is concluded with you - a document that has legal force. It details the obligations of the parties and their responsibilities in the event of a breach of obligation. The contract specifies a phone number by which you can find out how your pussy is doing at any time, regardless of time zones and roaming costs.

Within our own walls

This is perhaps a more gentle option for the cat than keeping it in another room during the holidays. The animal remains in its own apartment, and you hire a well-known neighbor or a “cat nanny” (there is such a service), who will visit your pussy twice a day, feed, clean the litter box and spend some time communicating with it.

The only absolutely necessary requirement is the reliability of the person you trust to look after your cat. If in all the above options the presence of people near the animal is guaranteed, then in this case the “forgetfulness” of the temporary owner can lead to serious, or even irreparable, consequences.

The “cat nanny” must introduce you to a person who can always replace her in the event of an unexpected illness or other circumstances.

Larisa Solodovnikova

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Cats are independent and adaptive animals, but when their beloved owner leaves, pets experience inevitable stress. When leaving your hometown on vacation or a business trip, take care of your four-legged friend - create comfortable conditions for the furry cat in which he can wait out your absence.

Fostering cats while on vacation in Moscow involves three or four options with their own advantages and disadvantages. When making a decision, remember not only your own whims, but also the needs of your pet.

Help from friends and family

When hotels for pets had not yet been invented, cats were left at home and arrangements were made with loved ones about care. The advantage of this option is minimal stress for the cat: the pet remains in familiar conditions and follows the traditional daily routine.

But finding a relative or friend who is ready to take care of someone else’s cat is a very difficult quest that not everyone can complete. My grandmother is allergic to wool, my brother is stuck at work, and my aunt has two kittens even without your Murzik.

Couldn't reach an agreement with any of your friends? Consider other options.

Home foster care

The increased popularity of caring for little brothers has given rise to many communities and private foster care centers that provide temporary pet care services for a nominal fee. Why are loving owners in no hurry to give cats to home shelters?

A caring owner knows that it is impossible to ensure sterility in the house, and this is a mandatory condition when keeping several cats at the same time. To eliminate the risk of infection, refrain from dubious online advertisements for foster care.

By giving your cat to a stranger, you will not receive guarantees of care and proper attention. Many enterprising people take up this work out of a banal desire to earn extra money, and not out of sincere love for their smaller brothers.

Holiday hotel for cats

Is there a solution that eliminates the risk of infection and unprofessional care for your pet? "Kotel"! A comfortable and inexpensive shelter for cats in Moscow during your vacation, where you can leave your pet without worrying about its health and mood.

Why do regular customers regularly trust us with their favorite cats?

We have created favorable conditions in which the cats are calm, well-fed and comfortable. Hotel rooms are spacious glass enclosures. Sitting in a multi-level “house”, the cat watches its neighbors and the actions of the staff, plays and sleeps peacefully, without experiencing the stress of close contact with strangers and animals.
We guarantee the safety of the health of our four-legged guests through thorough cleaning with disinfectants and quartzing the room after each visit. We accept healthy, clean, well-groomed cats into the hotel. Animals are kept isolated from each other, contact is completely excluded.
There are no identical cats - there are individuals, each of which has its own preferences in food, games and daily routine. When welcoming a new guest, we ask the host about his habits in order to create comfortable conditions for adaptation. If you have a special diet or need to clean your ears, eyes or coat, we provide additional services by prior arrangement.

Taking care of cats in the absence of their owners is our favorite job, which we are proud of. By entrusting your pet to us, you can safely go on a trip, knowing that the baby is in good hands.

Where can you place a pet cat or male cat while on vacation?

Look around: like you, most of your relatives, acquaintances, friends or work colleagues definitely have a pet! According to statistics, today as many as 76% of the residents of our country have managed to acquire a four-legged family member. Half of all pets that live in apartments and houses among Russians in general and among Muscovites in particular are cats!

Therefore, you found and are reading this article, which means that you are not the only one who has a problem where you can place a cat during a vacation, business trip, illness, or due to other life circumstances. A cat owner always has several free options:

give the animal to relatives or friends for a while;
leave the keys to your apartment to your loved ones, neighbors, or concierge, although the latter is unlikely to want to take on such responsibility for free;
take the animal with you on a trip;
if the trip only takes you a few days, place trays with cat litter, dishes with food and water in large quantities in the corners of the apartment, close off the most valuable rooms from the animal and leave the cat at home.

The last option, indeed, was used by many of our clients and we know about it precisely from their stories. We know of such cases when maximum people tried to lock an animal in an apartment even for a week, and if the pet is endowed with a calm character, gentle disposition and is not particularly mischievous and is not used to taking revenge on the owner in any way, then this option for spending time in the apartment in the absence of the owner is somewhat days is fine.

If all of the above options are not suitable for you for one reason or another, and the question of where you can place your cat during a vacation or business trip arises quite often, and every time you have to get nervous and frantically search for suitable options, then a paid temporary caring for your animal:

hotel for cats– temporary keeping of animals in specially equipped enclosures;
keeping cats at home– temporary keeping of a cat in an apartment with a private person or an employee of an organization providing such services;
cat nanny is a relatively new service for Moscow, which involves a daily visit by a nanny to your home to feed the cat, wash the tray and change the litter in it, pour fresh water, and play with the animal for at least a short amount of time.

All of the above options have their own disadvantages and advantages, which we talked about in detail on other pages of our site, but they are united by the fact that the problem of many Moscow animal owners: where can you place your cat during a vacation or business trip, can now be solved and no longer exists be a problem. Today, animal lovers even have several options to choose from. The only pity is that many people don’t even know about it!

Useful information for beginners

If for the first time you are faced with the fact that you need to leave urgently, and there is no one to leave the animal with, then, of course, you, like any other beginners, will be scared and sometimes very difficult to choose one of three paid services, especially since by calling several hotels for cats or home foster care, you will never know the truth about how your animal will actually be kept, what disadvantages you should know about the temporary pet care service, and where, after all, you can temporarily house a cat so that the price-quality ratio is optimal.

Over the phone, they will definitely embellish your advantages and hide your shortcomings. Reviews on the Internet are also not very helpful: there will be few good ones, and many bad ones for any pet hotel you choose.

Why? Because those who were satisfied with the service provided will simply thank you, subsequently bring the animal again, recommend the place to friends and acquaintances, instead of singing the praises of the cat hotel on the Internet after returning from vacation or a business trip.

Let us tell you a secret that asking customers to leave reviews on a website is useless. Having promised, they still forget to do it, and forcing clients by disturbing them with phone calls with reminders that they need to do what they promised means losing both the client and their precious time.

Positive reviews are streams of flattering gratitude from those who used the service, which generally look strange and unnatural from the outside - after all, the animal in the pet hotel was not saved from an incurable disease and was not re-educated, which then gave the owner amazing results!

The animal was simply kept in an enclosure, fed, watered, its tray changed, and its well-being monitored. Those. kept the pet safe for the entire duration of its stay. And they did all this for money, sometimes very substantial, and not for charitable purposes for a nominal fee! It’s the same as using a taxi service, and then writing a flattering review about how great the taxi is: the driver didn’t kill or rob, he delivered on time, he didn’t take long routes to increase the rate, etc.

Negative reviews are streams of unflattering and abusive information that can be found in large quantities on the Internet. Basically, this information is about poor-quality service provided, mistreatment of an animal, or an illness allegedly acquired at the hotel. It, like the positive one, in 95% of cases is not supported by any facts, which, by the way, owners should pay attention to first of all when choosing a pet hotel or foster home for their pet.

Facts, for example, include some copies of documents, terrifying photos or videos of an unfortunate animal “before” and “after”, which was treated poorly at the hotel, according to the indignant owner who left a negative review. At worst, there should be at least similar negative cases described by different clients, at different times on different sites, which clearly make it clear that the hotel really does have a certain problem that many clients have been complaining about for a long time, but, judging by the latest reviews, it has not been eliminated.

Also, do not forget that negative reviews are very often just a battle expressed in writing between competing organizations. Copying the abusive text of a review left on one site and simply pasting it on numerous other sites and forums is a simple matter.

Having found all this in large quantities on the Internet, you will still never be able to get a correct idea from such reviews about the place where your animal will be.

As a beginner, you can follow a few simple rules that will help you choose the best place for you and the animal where you can place your cat for a while:

Definitely, aggressive, willful or dominant cats or cats that show aggression or irritation even towards the owner should be sent to a cat hotel.

In a stressful environment, an animal can behave extremely inappropriately, contrary to its self-preservation instincts. Namely: to be the first to rush into battle, not to let anyone get close even at a distance of several meters, to catch up with a person leaving the conquered territory in order to rush into an unjustified fight, tightly clinging to the legs or arms of a person, to fall into an even greater rage because that a person uses some kind of weapon or means of protection (slippers, mop, etc.) All this makes it impossible for the pet to live at home.

Definitely, pets who seriously misbehave at home should be taken to a cat hotel: using the toilet in the wrong places, damaging curtains, wallpaper, upholstered furniture, throwing various objects from a height, digging up pots of house plants, stealing food from the table, etc.

Even if a person involved in home foster care loves cats very much, he will not allow the animal to create a mess, disrupt the usual routine for all family members, destroy the home comfort created over the years, cause material damage to furniture or some other things, or keep others in tension with with the help of unpredictability, diversity and a large number of dirty tricks already done.

Objectively weigh your animal's behavior before choosing home foster care!

It is advisable not to give it up for home foster care, but to send an uncastrated adult cat to a hotel if there is a risk that the cat will start marking in a new place.

In a home foster home, one way or another, there is the smell of other animals - previous guests, which is detected at the level of the cat's sense of smell. An unneutered cat may begin to mark new territory anyway, but this becomes even more likely if there are odors from other animals.

You can give an animal for home fostering only when you are absolutely sure that it will go to the toilet exclusively in the litter tray.

It is more convenient to use the services of a hotel for cats if you often have unplanned business trips or prefer to fly on vacation on last-minute packages.

Good and qualified home foster care, with all the variety of offers, is rare. Usually, people who take in four-legged guests already have their own regular clients, and the schedule of arrivals is planned several months in advance. You can find an excellent foster care worker, but in case of an emergency trip, your cat will not always be able to be accepted into a home foster care facility, since the place is already occupied.

The pet hotel will always provide free space.

Home foster care is necessary for animals that require special care.

Home foster care is suitable for special pets:

kittens in need of feeding;
elderly animals;
cats and kittens who have been prescribed treatment and medical care (dressings, injections, medication, etc.)
show breeds that require special daily grooming;
bare rocks that require above-average air temperatures;
unvaccinated cats for which staying in a hotel is dangerous.

Home foster care is best suited for animals left for long periods of time (from a month).

A cat can stay in a small enclosed space in a hotel enclosure for 2-3 weeks without any problems. After some time spent locked up, the animal begins to yearn for physical activity and communication with humans.

Living next to humans, cats become very dependent on tactile contact. The cat loves stroking, all kinds of scratching, as well as the warmth and softness of the human body. Curling up on or next to a person, enjoying touch, is often a way for a cat to soothe its nervous system.

This ritual becomes a persistent habit. When an animal lacks such contact for a long time, as well as the ability to move freely around its territory, the animal’s psyche becomes depressed over time, and the meaning of existence disappears.

A “cat nanny” service for those who do not want to create additional stress for their cat.

In a situation where you are sure that your animal will be best at home, then a cat sitter is the best option for you. The nanny's responsibilities include cleaning the cat's litter box, feeding the animal, and filling its bowl with fresh drinking water. The nanny can also chat with the animal, scratch behind the ear for at least 15-20 minutes a day, and play with a mouse or a ball.

If you are not afraid to entrust your apartment to a stranger and want to try this service, then we advise you to work out this issue in advance, because cat sitters are still a rarity in Moscow, and you need to get to know the person to whom you are going to entrust both the apartment and the pet in advance.

We hope that this article at least partially answers your question about where you can place a cat during your vacation.

Finally, professional advice to all cat owners - do not demand the impossible from those who provide such necessary services today: to take full responsibility for the safety of your pet. Be a responsible owner for your part!

Vaccinate your cat promptly and without fail, even if it has been at home all its life, and also give the animal anthelmintic drugs at least 2 times a year.
When choosing a hotel or home foster care, come to see the conditions of detention in advance, this will be best.
Raise your animal so that you and other people receive joy from communicating with your pet.

5 comments on “Where can you place a house cat or male cat while on vacation?”

An animal lover, usually a dog or cat owner, will take your pet in during your vacation or departure and look after it as if it were his own. The advantage of this option is that the pet will be in a home environment, this is especially important for animals with an active psyche, they will play with it, walk with it, and there will not be many animals in the apartment.

This is very strange what you write. Firstly, it is a lie that you can take someone else’s animal and look after it “as if it were your own.” Secondly, it is immediately clear that you have never done this because:
1. If someone else's cat is brought to you, it usually hides somewhere under the bathroom and shits on itself there. And it needs to be pulled out of there somehow, since no one wants deposits of excrement in the most inaccessible places. As a result, the cats are sent to cages, for their own safety, because she can die there under the bathtub.
2. If they bring you the cutest dog, after the owner leaves, it turns into a hysterical dog, howling all night and trying to chew through the door and jamb. And no bribes or attempts at peaceful negotiations lead to results when the animal suffers for its owner. As a result, the dog is given a cradle so that it does not wake up the neighbors, and it goes into a cage. Or she manages to escape on the street, snatching the leash, twisting out of the collar, and she goes off to look for her native pinatas.

Join my group created for announcements on fostering domestic cats in Chelyabinsk or the Chelyabinsk region during the holidays