You’ve purchased your plane tickets, booked a hotel room, and made reservations at that exciting new restaurant everyone is talking about. The only thing you have left to do before heading on vacation is make arrangements for your kitty.
And that brings up an important question: Should you have a cat sitter visit your home and care for your fluffy friend or just drop your cat off at a boarding facility?
There are definitely pros and cons to each approach – from a human perspective, anyway. But from your cat’s point of view, one option is clearly better than the other.
We’ll dive into the issue below and explain why you’ll likely feel better knowing that a professional cat sitter is taking care of your four-footed friend while you’re away.
Cat Sitter vs Boarding Your Cat: Owner Benefits
From an owner’s point of view there are a handful of clear benefits to boarding your cat. A few of the most obvious include:
Nobody comes to your house twice a day.
Some people simply don’t like having many visitors in their home, and this goes doubly for people they don’t know, such as unfamiliar pet sitters. Some owners would simply prefer to bring their pet to a new environment, rather than inviting someone else into their environment.
Boarding is often cheap.
We all have budgets to live within, and some of the lower-tier boarding facilities are relatively inexpensive. However, leaving your cat at one of these bargain-basement facilities will often prove to be a bad idea. Your cat probably won’t get the kind of care you want, and he won’t receive much attention from the staff.
It is often easy to find places to board your cat.
Many owners would love to hire a professional cat sitter, but they have trouble finding one — especially one who is professional, well-trained, and insured. Conversely, cat boarding centers are quite ubiquitous and easy to find.
The Downsides of Boarding Your Fur Baby at a Cattery
Despite some of the ways it may be easier on you to let your feline friend stay at a cattery, you’ll also have to deal with a few downsides of pet boarding, such as:
Boarding facilities often become completely booked weeks or months in advance.
Despite the litany of cat-boarding places around, it can be very difficult to find one with space for your cat. If you aren’t booking your trip a month or two in advance (if not longer), you may find yourself in a tough spot.
You’ll have to pack up your cat and all of his important belongings.
Many cats hate riding in cars, leading to a stressful start to your vacation. But you’ll also have to pack up all of his food, any medications he takes, and perhaps a favorite toy or blanket too.
Scheduling drop-off and pick-up will complicate your already busy schedule.
You’ll often find it necessary to drop your cat off at the pet boarding facility on your way to the airport. That’s less-than-ideal in a best-case scenario, but if you run into any unanticipated problems while checking your cat in, you could end up missing your flight. And instead of just getting to come home straight from the airport when your trip concludes, you’ll have to make a trip by the boarding facility again.
So, while none of these things are likely to be complete dealbreakers, it’s clear that you’ll experience some additional frustration when boarding your cat.
Staying at a Cat Hotel: Why Most Cats Hate It
So far, we’ve only considered this question from an owner’s perspective. But what does your cat think about the pet-boarding-vs-cat-sitter question? This question is much easier to answer, and there’s less ambiguity: Your cat would definitely prefer a cat sitter.
To understand why, let’s explore some of the drawbacks to staying at a boarding facility from your cat’s point of view:
It’s an unfamiliar place.
As creatures of habit, cats like hanging out in familiar surroundings — they rarely like staying in new environments. The sights, sounds, and smells are all quite different than the ones he experiences in his daily life. Even simple things like using an unfamiliar litter box can stress your feline friend a lot. Many cats find that spending time at a boarding facility is very stressful, and it can even cause them to stop eating or have trouble sleeping.
He’ll rarely get one-on-one attention.
Boarding facilities are often packed with cats (as well as dogs and other animals too). This means that your cat is unlikely to get much attention during his stay, and he’ll likely be left alone except when the staff is administering medications he needs, feeding him, or cleaning his litter box.
This lack of attention can cause considerable amounts of stress and trigger separation anxiety, which may manifest whenever you leave the house in the future.
It’s full of other cats.
Some cats react very poorly to the social aspects of boarding facilities and find it very stressful to be in the presence of so many other felines. In addition to feeling like they’re being watched by all of the other animals, cats often vocalize excessively when left at boarding facilities. This may end up being extremely nerve wrecking for your kitty.
The crates are often cramped.
Boarding facilities often try to cram as many small crates as they can into the space they have available. This helps them care for the largest number of animals possible and maximize profits. But from your cat’s point of view, it simply means he’ll be cooped up inside a tiny space throughout his stay.
It’s boring.
Unlike at home, where your cat can enjoy his toys, spend time looking out the window, and basically patrol his turf, your kitty will likely spend his time at a boarding facility just laying around. And while a little bit of boredom isn’t always the end of the world, spending an extended period of time without much mental stimulation can be very hard on cats.
Personalized Cat Care: The Benefits of Hiring a Pet Sitter
On the flip side, cats who get to stay home while their owner’s away get to avoid all of these problems, and enjoy several key benefits, including:
Your cat will feel more comfortable relaxing in his own home.
Your absence will already cause your cat a bit of anxiety, but he’ll cope more easily when allowed to relax in his own home, eat from his own dish, sleep in his own bed, and use his own litter box. In fact, this is one of the most notable benefits pet sitters provide — they allow your pet to stay in your family home, where he is most comfortable.
Your cat will get some personalized attention every day.
Unfortunately, the boarding staff and many cat hotels are incredibly busy and overworked. But unlike the staff at pet boarding facilities, a dedicated cat sitter will have plenty of time to give your cat the kind of extra attention he deserves.
Don’t forget that many pet sitters work in this field because they simply love paling around with cats!
Your cat won’t have to worry about other cats stressing him out.
Instead of being constantly bombarded with the vocalizations and activity of other cats, your cat will enjoy the solitude he’s used to when staying home with a pet sitter.
Or, if you have more than one cat or other pets, your cat will be able to enjoy the same company he does on a daily basis. This is another important consideration, which many pet parents forget to account for — many cats love the other animals in their home, including the family dogs!
Your cat will be able to stretch out and enjoy his entire house.
While cats being boarded are often confined to small crates, your cat will get to enjoy all of the space he normally does when allowed to stay home with a pet sitter. This will not only be more comfortable for your feline friend, but it’ll ensure he has the chance to get the kind of exercise he normally does.
In addition to the litany of health benefits proper exercise provides cats, it also helps reduce the stress associated with being away from their person.
Your cat will be able to entertain himself in all of his usual ways.
Does your cat like watching the birds out the window each morning? Does he enjoy doing catrobatics on his cat tree around lunchtime each day? Does he paw at your door bumpers for hours each evening? He obviously can’t enjoy these kinds of things at a facility, but he’ll get to do these kinds of things at home just like normal.
Side-Stepping the (Minor) Issues of Pet Sitting
Earlier, we explained that pet boarding facilities can provide a few benefits to owners (if not cats). But these benefits aren’t always as helpful as you may think – in many ways, they’re negligible at best.
For example, we mentioned that you won’t have to have a strange person coming into your home when boarding a cat. This is the way most generic cat-sitting businesses operate – someone you’ve never met just shows up.
But when you schedule one of The Comforted Kitty’s professional pet sitters, you (and, most importantly, your cat) will have a chance to meet your pet sitter before you leave town.
This not only helps soothe some of those stranger-in-my-house jitters some owners have, but it also gives you the chance to see how your pet sitter interacts with your cat. Additionally, all of The Comforted Kitty’s cat sitters are bonded and fully insured, providing for even more peace of mind.
As for pricing, it’s true that some budget-priced pet facilities are quite cheap, but the level of care they provide is also cheap. Cat boarding facilities that offer these kinds of super-low prices have to cut corners in other places, such as crate space or human-cat interaction time.
But if you opt for a more luxurious pet boarding facility that provides the kind of care you’d want for your cat, the ultimate price tag will likely exceed what you’d pay for cat-sitting services.
And finally, while it is also true that boarding facilities are often easier to find than professional cat sitters, you don’t have to worry about that – you have already found the best cat-sitters around! Just head over to our scheduling page and request our services!
We won’t say there’s never a situation in which pet boarding is the best solution.
Many pets hate going to boarding facilities, but you may have a rare cat who actually enjoys all of the strange activity. Or, you may simply be outside of our service area (though we’re always expanding, so check back frequently).
We’ll also concede that boarding a cat is always a better option than leaving your pet home alone and unattended. Cats may not require constant supervision, but they should never be left alone for long periods — there are no exceptions.
But we’re sure that the vast majority of cats and their people will be happier with their cat comfortably resting at home while being spoiled by one of The Comforted Kitty’s professional cat servants.