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Comforting Your Cat When She’s Home for the Holidays–With the Pet Sitter

By: Author Paris Permenter

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This post is sponsored by Ceva Animal Health, makers of FELIWAY® for cats. All statements and opinions are entirely our own. As always, we only share products that we use with our own pets!

This season means holiday travel–and, for so many of us, that means traveling without our cats. While our dogs love to travel, our cats prefer their home. When we’re gone for longer than the day, we have a pet sitter come to our home to care for Inca, Lucky and Jetty.

We’ve written about items you need to leave your pet sitter in your absence to help make your pet sitter’s job easier–but what about items to make your cat’s stay at home a calm one? Along with the basics–your cat’s usual food, litter, litterboxes (one per cat plus one), and water, here are some items to consider for your cat as you start “making a list and checking it twice”…

You better not pout…so plug in a FELIWAY® CLASSIC Diffuser.

Our cats don’t like for us to be away, even when they’re well cared for in the comfortable surroundings of their own home. One easy way that we help prevent stress is by plugging in the FELIWAY® CLASSIC Diffuser which copies the feline facial pheromone to provide a continuous calming effect. The diffuser won’t impact your pet sitter but your cat will get calming reassurance. The diffuser covers an area of about 700 square feet and lasts about a month before you’ll need a refill.

You don’t need Santa to know when your cat’s sleeping and when he’s awake–he’ll be napping over half the day during your absence–so make the cat bed a peaceful place.

FELIWAY® CLASSIC Spray can be used on your cat’s favorite bed to help relieve stress. This natural feline facial pheromone sends “happy messages” to help your cat feel calm in your absence. Spray the bed while your cat is busy elsewhere, about 15 minutes before you think your cat will return to the bed. Leave the spray out for your pet sitter to reapply daily (she can spray the bed while your cat is eating each day).

Don’t make your cat wait for Santa–leave toys for your cat sitter to use to interact with your cat.

Be sure to let your pet sitter know your cat’s favorite toys–and where to find them. Toys help diffuse stress, provide some exercise, and give your sitter a way to engage with your cat. If your cat enjoys being brushed, you can also leave out a brush or grooming mitt for your pet sitter to use to interact with your cat.

Plug in a FELIWAY®   MultiCat Diffuser so you don’t have to worry about who’s naughty or nice.

If you have multiple cats, you know that you want them to “be good for goodness sake”–and that means keeping the peace in your absence. Even cats that are best buddies on a regular day may feel stress in their relationship when you’re away. The answer: plug in the FELIWAY® MultiCat Diffuser before your departure. This diffuser helps reduce tension and conflict between cats, a great way to keep multiple cats happy and peaceful in times of stress. Like the FELIWAY® CLASSIC Diffuser, this diffuser has no impact on dogs or humans. The diffuser covers about 700 square feet so we plug ours in the area of the house where the cats like to hang out together–my office!

“I’m telling you why” cats need a cat scratcher to help diffuse tension.

Scratching is a very natural way for your cat to relieve stress–including stress caused by your absence. Scratching furniture isn’t a matter of who’s been bad or good…it’s just acting in a totally appropriate cat way. But you can redirect that natural behavior, even in your absence, by using FELISCRATCH by FELIWAY® to help redirect your cat’s scratching to a scratching post or scratcher, a reminder in your absence that this scratcher is a great place to scratch.

If you start application of FELISCRATCH by FELIWAY® a week prior to your departure, then you can go a week with no application:

  • Week one: one pipette per day
  • Week two: no application
  • Week three: start the week with one application
  • Week four: start the week with one application

If you’ll be gone longer than a week or you didn’t get the chance to start application early, it’s not a problem, however. Application of FELISCRATCH by FELIWAY® is super simple, and easy to leave in instructions for your pet sitter: to use, place the scratcher on newspaper or in the sink and apply two or three vertical lines of the liquid.

When you need to leave your cat in the care of a cat sitter, a few extra minutes of preparation can help your cat feel more comfortable and calm–which in turn helps make your pet sitter’s job that much easier. You’ll also enjoy your days away more, knowing that your cat is happy and calm, waiting at home for you to return, an arrival even better than Santa Claus.

For more information on FELIWAY®:

Paris Permenter
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This post originally appeared on CatTipper.com and is the sole property of CatTipper and LT Media Group LLC.