Planning a holiday when you live with a cat involves one question that goes beyond flights, hotels or destinations.
What happens to the cat while you’re away?
For many cats, coming along is not an option. Cats tend to be strongly attached to familiar territory and routine. This means travel and a completely new environment can be far more disruptive than staying behind with good care.
That leaves several options: someone stays in your home, a cat sitter visits each day, your cat stays with someone they know, or they board at a cattery.
There is no single solution that suits every cat. A confident, adaptable cat may cope beautifully in a well-run cattery, while a shy senior who disappears when the doorbell rings may be much happier remaining at home. A cat who needs medication may require a level of care that changes the decision again.
Choosing the right care for your cat involves more than making sure food appears each day. It’s about choosing the arrangement that keeps your cat safe, monitored and as comfortable as possible until you come home.
Cats tend to be strongly attached to familiar territory and routine, which means travel and a completely new environment can be far more disruptive than staying behind with good care.
Different cats need different solutions
Before comparing pet sitters and boarding facilities, think about how your cat normally responds to change.
Do they hide when visitors arrive? Have they boarded before? Do they need medication? Are they elderly, very young or managing a health condition?
A cat who is confident and curious may adapt to a different environment more easily than one who relies heavily on familiar hiding places and routines.
Equally, a cat who needs close monitoring may be better served by a boarding facility with experienced staff than by a neighbour who can only drop in briefly.
The right arrangement is a combination of temperament, health, routine and the quality of the care available.
In-home care: usually the least disruptive option
For many cats, staying at home is the most natural choice.
They keep their own beds, litter trays, scents, hiding places and window views. There is no car trip, no unfamiliar room and no sudden soundtrack of other animals nearby.
If you have a friend or relative who can stay with your cat in your home while you’re away, that’s an ideal option. If that’s not possible, a trusted person or professional sitter can visit regularly to feed the cat, change litter, provide company and check their wellbeing.
In-home care can be especially attractive for nervous cats, older cats, multi-cat households that are settled together, and cats who become stressed by unfamiliar environments.
But ‘staying home’ shouldn’t mean being left alone with an automatic feeder and enough water for the week. Somebody still needs to see the cat, notice how they are behaving and respond if something is wrong.
Someone staying over vs drop-in visits
There are two main versions of in-home care.
A house sitter stays in the home, either most of the time or overnight. This can preserve more of the cat’s normal routine and may be particularly helpful for very social cats, cats who need medication, or households with several animals.
Drop-in care involves a sitter visiting the home on a schedule, at least once or twice daily. Very young, elderly or medically vulnerable cats may need more frequent care.
The important thing is that a visit involves more than putting food into a bowl and leaving.
A good visit includes checking that the cat has eaten and drunk, cleaning litter trays, looking for vomit or toileting changes, making sure the home is secure, providing any medication, and spending some appropriate time with the cat if they want company or play.
For a cat who hides from unfamiliar people, the sitter may barely see them at first. Even then, the sitter should be able to confirm the cat is eating, using the litter tray and behaving within their normal range.
A pet sitter is not only there to feed the cat. They are also the person most likely to notice if something is wrong.
How to choose a good cat sitter
If you are hiring a professional, choose them with the same care you would use for anybody who will have access to your home and responsibility for your animal.
Look for reviews and references, appropriate insurance, clear procedures and experience with cats rather than pets in general. If your cat needs tablets, injections or another form of medical care, confirm that the sitter is genuinely comfortable and competent providing it.
Arrange a meet-and-greet in your home before the trip. This lets the sitter see where everything is, meet your cat in familiar surroundings and ask questions about the routine.
Pay attention to how they talk about cats. Look for someone who understands that cats need space, enrichment and interaction on their own terms, not someone who simply wants to smother your cat with cuddles.
It’s also worth having a backup in case of sickness, delayed flights and lost keys. Knowing who can step in if the original plan fails is part of the plan.
Boarding at a cattery or kennel: when it can make sense
The alternative is boarding. For cats, this is usually a dedicated cattery or a boarding facility that houses cats separately from dogs; some businesses use the word ‘kennel’ for the overall facility even though cats have their own accommodation.
A well-run cattery can be an excellent option. Catteries have staff are on site, structured cleaning and feeding, and someone routinely observing the animals. This can also make medication easier to manage.
This can be reassuring if you don’t have a trusted person who can care for your cat at home, if your cat requires more supervision, or if having somebody enter your house isn’t practical.
Boarding can also remove some risks that exist at home, such as a sitter accidentally leaving a door open or failing to notice an issue until the next visit.
The trade-off is that your cat has to travel to an unfamiliar environment and live temporarily around unfamiliar sounds, smells and people. For some cats, that is manageable. For others, it’s a lot.
In-home care vs boarding: which is better?
There’s no clear winner.
In-home care usually has the advantage of familiarity. Your cat remains in their territory and keeps more of their normal routine. For nervous cats or cats strongly attached to their environment, this can be significant.
Boarding offers more structured supervision and removes the need to depend on someone travelling to your house each day. A good facility may be particularly useful for cats whose medical needs require confident handling or where reliable home care simply is not available.
Think about which kind of disruption your cat is better equipped to handle.
Would they find an unfamiliar person visiting their familiar home easier than living temporarily in an unfamiliar place? Or are they relatively adaptable, while you would feel more comfortable knowing trained staff are physically present at a boarding facility?
Quality matters more than the label. An excellent cattery may be better than an unreliable sitter, and an excellent in-home sitter may be far better for a particular cat than even a beautifully designed boarding suite.
What to look for in a boarding facility
Don’t choose a cattery based entirely on photographs of tiny chandeliers above cat beds. Visit if you can.
Look at security first. Cats should be safely contained, separated from dogs and not forced into close visual contact with unfamiliar cats.
Ask how often staff check the cats and what they record. Find out how they handle feeding, litter cleaning, medication and enrichment. Ask what happens overnight and what the procedure is if a cat becomes unwell.
Check temperature control, ventilation, cleanliness and whether each cat has somewhere to hide as well as somewhere elevated to rest. A cat should not have to spend a week permanently on display.
Ask about vaccination and parasite-control requirements well before your trip. Most facilities require evidence that health requirements are up to date, and waiting until the day before departure can leave you with very few options.
If your cat eats a particular diet, confirm whether you can supply it. If they need medication, ask exactly how this is managed and whether there is an additional charge.
Most facilities require evidence that health requirements are up to date, and waiting until the day before departure can leave you with very few options.
Do a trial stay if you’re unsure
If you are planning a long holiday and your cat has never boarded, a short trial can be useful.
One night or a weekend gives you information without making the first experience a three-week absence.
The same idea can work with a new sitter. Book them for an evening or a short weekend before the major trip, particularly if your cat has medical needs or you are anxious about handing over care.
A trial doesn’t guarantee that every future stay will be perfect, but it can expose practical problems while you are still close enough to fix them.
What about taking your cat to someone’s house?
This sounds appealing because the person is familiar, but it’s often more disruptive to the cat than having that same person visit your home.
The cat still has to travel and adjust to an unfamiliar territory. Doors and windows may not be set up with your cat in mind, and the household may contain children or animals your cat doesn’t know.
If this is the best option, make sure the cat can be securely contained indoors and has a quiet room of their own at first. A short trial visit or stay can help if the cat has never been there before.
For some adaptable cats this works well. For a cat who hides for three days when you replace a rug, it may not be the best choice.
Senior cats, kittens and cats with medical needs need a different plan
There’s no single schedule that can fit every cat.
Kittens need more frequent feeding, interaction and supervision. Senior cats may need medication, help with mobility or closer observation of eating, drinking and toileting. Cats with diabetes, kidney disease or other chronic conditions may require timed medication, injections or careful monitoring.
These cats may still be perfectly happy with in-home care, but the sitter needs the right skills and enough time.
Alternatively, a suitable boarding facility with experienced staff may offer more reliable medical oversight, depending on the cat and the facility.
If your cat has an ongoing condition, speak to your vet before a longer trip. They can help you decide what level of monitoring is appropriate and may also recommend experienced sitters or boarding facilities.
Multi-cat households need more than a head count
If you have several cats, the care instructions can become surprisingly detailed.
The sitter needs to know who eats what, who takes medication, which cats are bonded, whether anyone needs to be fed separately and what normal interactions look like.
This matters because subtle tension can be easy for an unfamiliar person to miss. If one cat stops appearing for meals because another is blocking the hallway, the sitter needs enough context to recognise that something has changed.
Boarding raises another question: should the cats stay together? Bonded cats may be more comfortable sharing suitable accommodation, while cats who merely coexist at home may not appreciate being placed in a smaller enclosure together.
Ask the facility how they assess and accommodate cats from the same household rather than assuming they should automatically share.
Prepare the house before you leave
Good holiday care is easier when the home itself is prepared.
Leave more food, litter and medication than the trip technically requires in case your return is delayed. Provide several water sources so one spilled bowl doesn’t become an emergency.
Make sure windows, balcony access and doors are secure. Remove anything the cat could become tangled in or swallow while unsupervised. If weather is likely to be extreme, make sure the person caring for your cat knows how heating, cooling and any backup arrangements work.
Keep the carrier somewhere easy to find. In an emergency, nobody should be searching the garage while the cat is unwell.
Finally, make sure your cat’s microchip and registration details are current.
Leave clear instructions for your cat sitter
A 14-page care manual may feel reassuring to write, but make sure important information is upfront and impossible for the sitter to miss.
Include feeding amounts and times, medication instructions, litter routine, where supplies are kept, your vet’s details, an emergency contact, where the carrier is stored and what the sitter is authorised to do if veterinary treatment is needed.
Also explain your cat’s normal behaviour.
Does she hide under the bed when strangers arrive? Does he normally leave half his breakfast and return later? Which cat vomits occasionally after eating too fast? Which one is normally waiting at the door?
This baseline helps the carer distinguish ‘that is just her’ from ‘something has changed’.
Have an emergency plan before there is an emergency
Leave your regular vet’s contact details and the details of an emergency veterinary hospital if your clinic isn’t open around the clock.
Make it clear who should be contacted if you cannot be reached and how veterinary costs should be handled.
If you are travelling overseas or somewhere with limited phone access, consider giving the sitter written authority to seek veterinary care within agreed parameters.
Also plan for your own delay. Weather, illness and cancelled flights can all impact your arrival home.
The sitter or facility should know what happens if you return home late, not discover that possibility after the food has run out.
Make it clear who should be contacted if you cannot be reached and how veterinary costs should be handled.
Home cameras can be useful, but they are not a carer
A camera can be reassuring, particularly if you enjoy confirming that your cat has continued their ambitious schedule of sleeping on three different pieces of furniture.
It can also provide useful information about eating, movement and whether a shy cat appears once the sitter has gone.
But a camera can’t clean a litter tray, refill spilled water, administer medication or take a sick cat to the vet.
Use technology as extra information, not as a substitute for in-person care. And if you have a sitter staying in or visiting your home, tell them clearly where cameras are located and respect their privacy.
Book earlier than you think
Good pet care becomes scarce at exactly the times everybody wants to travel.
Christmas, Easter, school holidays and long weekends can fill catteries and professional sitters well in advance.
Booking early also gives you time to visit facilities, arrange a meet-and-greet, update vaccinations, organise medication and make a backup plan.
It is much easier to choose well when time is on your side.
Give your cat time when you come home
Most cats will have opinions about your return.
Some will greet you immediately. Others may behave as though your absence has been noted and will be reviewed in due course.
If your cat boarded, let them settle back into the home at their own pace. Familiar smells and routines should help, but they may be tired, hungry, clingy, quiet or slightly out of sorts after the change.
If they stayed at home, the transition may be less obvious, although they may still want more attention than usual.
Watch eating, drinking, toileting and behaviour over the next day or two. If something seems genuinely wrong rather than merely offended, contact your vet.
The goal is to make your absence as uneventful as possible
Holiday cat care doesn’t need to be luxurious.
Your cat doesn’t know whether the boarding suite has designer wallpaper or whether the sitter has an impressive Instagram account. They care about much more basic things: safety, food, clean litter, familiar routines where possible, somewhere comfortable to rest and a human who notices them.
For one cat, the best solution will be remaining at home with a sitter. For another, it will be a well-run cattery. The right answer may also change as a cat gets older or their health changes.
The useful question is not ‘What do most cat owners do?’
It is ‘What arrangement will let this cat cope best while I am away?’
Answer that well, and you can go on holiday with something far more valuable than a camera notification every 20 minutes: reasonable confidence that home is under control.