Yesterday, suddenly my husband and I had to go to a relative's funeral. Because of that, we had to leave our cat at home. We have never left him alone at home before. So this is Rainy's experience home alone for the first time.
By chance, a few days earlier we had just read an article about tips on leaving a cat alone at home (in Bahasa Indonesia). Thanks to that article, we could manage and prepare things for Rainy when we had to leave him at home alone.
Here are the tips from the site:
1. Provide a place with good air circulation and lighting
No problem, because we put Rainy in the living room. Air circulation and lighting in our house may not be adequate, but as long as there are glass windows and air vents, I think it will suffice. Checked!
2. Clean the room or cage where the cat will live
Every morning my husband always cleans Rainy's cage and room, as well as the sand. So when we had to leave suddenly, the cage, the room, and the sand were already clean. Checked!
3. Change the sand in the litter box and provide an extra litter box
Regarding number 2, it's been done. But we do not have an extra litter box, and it's impossible to provide one right away. Since we were only gone all day, it seemed enough to have fresh, clean sand in his usual litter box. Okay, checked!
4. Prepare food portions according to the length of time the cat will be left
We don't have a food dispenser yet, but we do have some containers for eating and drinking. We provided dry food and drinking water a lot more than usual, like 3 or 4 times more. Checked!
5. Provide a variety of drinking water containers.
Done at number 4. Checked!
6. Dispose of potentially hazardous items
We've been doing this for a long time. Since the living room was transformed into Rainy's territory, we got rid of all the fragile stuff, such as jars, pots, porcelain displays, etc. So in the living room, there are no more potentially hazardous items. Checked!
7. Move plants that are toxic to cats to another area
No plants. Checked!
8. Tell your family, friends or neighbors
Since we'd be gone for a day only, it didn’t seem necessary to tell my neighbors.
9. Leave the clothes you just wore near the bed
It didn’t seem necessary because we would be home in the evening. Checked!
10. Provide his favorite toys
Always. Checked!
11. Check the cat's health condition
Rainy is in good health. Checked!
12. Close all holes that have the potential to be a gap for the cat to escape
None. Checked!
13. If you have more budget, install indoor CCTV
No budget. Ha ha ha.
14. Use the services of a pet sitter
No budget. Ha ha ha. (2)
15. Don't forget to say goodbye to your cat before leaving
Yes, we said goodbye to Rainy not only before leaving, but also before we got ready too. I don't know how many times we said goodbye to him, maybe 3 or 4 times :D Checked!
After everything was ready, we left home at 10 a.m.
We came home at 7 p.m. When we opened the door, we saw Rainy was sleeping in his favorite spot but then he woke up as soon as he saw us. He got up to come over to us, then rubbed his body against our feet. We think he missed us. Aww… We miss you too, kiddo!
We saw the condition of the room, relatively it wasn't messy. The food and drink were obviously reduced but still much left overs. And Rainy is fine. Seemed like Rainy's first experience at home alone was going well. Good boy! 😘
The other episodes about Rainy the Kitten story:
A Kitten Found
The Kitten That Makes Me Melt
Rainy the Kitten: One Month Later
Kitten Close Up
Thanks for dropping by. Have a nice day!
All photos taken by me with Redmi Note 10s
(Since we were in a hurry, I didn't take photos at that time. Photos uploaded are photos from different times.)