Maximum time a cat should be left alone.

[Angiew]

For us it applies mainly to kittens, and small kittens at that.

I'm sorry but kittens at 8 weeks old need some supervision. They are like toddlers and do forget about litter trays or think your prize potted plant is a new tray for them to use. They can get stuck in the oddest of places and need a mid day feed.
Also if they are to continue on their way to those cute lapcats that everyone wants, they need company.

We do home small kittens in pairs to people out at work as long as they can get back midday and of course once a kitten is 5 or 6 months old these things are not as important.

Some older cats also want more company but most do adapt - I think most people only have a small part to play in a cats life with a stable location being very high up on the list. Obviously some cats are more attached to their people.

[miranda luck]

and thanks to the power of the internet, as some of the people wouldnt have known about us otherwise.

Double-edged sword that one! I find it frightening when I see how many animals are being advertised for sale!   

[Desley (booktigger)]

I volunteer for a rescue, i now mainly fundraise, but do some homechecks. IT is good, and thanks to the power of the internet, as some of the people wouldnt have known about us otherwise.

[miranda luck]

I have homed to some fantastic homes that have been turned down by one rescue in the area who have a lot of blanket policies.

So are you a rescue org too? Interesting that the people were not discouraged by the first rescue they went to - or rather I should say - lucky!

[Desley (booktigger)]

I think it varies from cat to cat, and I hate blanket policies - though, i have homed to some fantastic homes that have been turned down by one rescue in the area who have a lot of blanket policies. While oldies are more happy to sleep than younger cats, they do still like to play - all 3 of mine do (13, 17 and 20) - Buster sometimes bounds about more than the 2yo foster cat!!

[Liz]

Very much depends on the cats as our Sweetie has just been diagnosed as diabetic at aged 18 years and 7 months - she is our second diabetic so its a 12 hour window for us between injections!

[Fire Fox]

In an ideal world it should depend on the individual cat's needs. Since I have been working later and/ or longer shifts (tho not full time) it is clear that Noah is not impressed, as he always greets me whilst I am still getting my keys out and inspects the corridor to see where I have been hiding.    I don't see any signs of stress tho, he is not clingy or over grooming nor any inappropriate behaviour - if needs be my keyholder friend will visit to play and cuddle. If CP hadn't let me adopt Noah it's difficult to see who would have been suitable as he needs indoor or secure grassed garden, no children or other pets - that eliminates most families and many retired folks. 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

According to Alice it is 3 minutes 

   I think Jaffa would probably concur with that.

[Teresa Pawcats]

adding to this, how long can a cat be in a cage?

This is relative to needs of cat, size of cage, furniture and stimultion within the cage, to some cats a house can be like a cage.

[Guest]

Well that is a hard question.  I can only give my take....

I am split on the cattery one as Ella and Effie will need to go to one next year. We don't have the option of someone coming in and even if it was, I am not sure how I would feel about it or whether an hour a day is enough anyway. I don't feel that comfortable in leaving them but we don't go on holiday every year and it is important occasion. People will probably say i am a bad owner for actually considering going away and I do feel terrible.

Rescue wise, one day is too long. If owners neutered their cats and offered them a forever home then there would not be the need for rescues unless there was an emergency when someone couldn't look after the cat or a bereavement happened.

There would be enough owners to meet demand and the pet owning world would be perfect but it isn't! Most of the stories on here break my heart but at least the cats are being well looked after by the members here with their rescues but of course living in a cage or a pen is far from ideal. What is the other option? PTS?   I was in floods of tears at the Panorama documentary where hard to home dogs were being put to sleep - Why? To give those easier to home a chance and to ensure there was room  at the rescues for new entries, and to avoid those hard to home dogs being left in cages being more stressed as they couldn't be homed. The situation is getting worse and will get even worse. The numbers of kittens on the free ad sites being used to supplement their owners income. The fact a pet seems to be discarded so easily and that neutering doesn't take place. I daresay that will change the timelines for what is acceptable for an animal to live in a cage and it will become worse and worse.

[hOrZa]

either

[Guest]

What do you mean? In a Rescue or a cattery?

[hOrZa]

adding to this, how long can a cat be in a cage?

[Tan]

Before i worked from home years ago now, i worked all day so not home for the day for 5 days a week.  I was lucky enough to be accepted by CP for two little lads but only of it was two together for company.  I stayed at home for two weeks with them at 1st and after made sure they had entertainment in the day time.  When they were older they were allowed out to come and go as they please. 
They were both very happy lads (RIP) so leaving them all day certainly didn't hurt them and if fact as they did have the outside in the day, it gave them a good varied and pampered life

[Tan]

According to Alice it is 3 minutes 

She is soo gorgeous 

[Mark]

You may well laugh, but it really is true. I had spent a good hour with her this morning. I went up to check on Clapton and could hear her howling from 2 floors down 

It is a relief when she finally goes to sleep - she is out for the count for most of the day 

[miranda luck]

 

According to Alice it is 3 minutes 

[Mark]

According to Alice it is 3 minutes 

[Guest]

Considering how Ella and Effie are asleep today whilst we are off, i doubt they miss us during the day. My OH just went to the shop, Ella got off the bed came down, swayed at the bottom of the stars and turned back around and went back to bed. Effie never moved!

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

I thought most cats sleep for nearly 16 hours everyday!!!  I work full time and my lot are indoors from 8:30 - 5:30 everday. There have been occasions when I've gone away from 4:00pm - 4:00 pm and they have been indoors with trays and food and they have been fine (obviusly this isn't a regular thing).

I can't see any reason why a cat/s can't be left alone while the owners are at work all day 

[Liz]

Some rescues come up with excuses but that could be that they have been burnt in the past with having cats returned

When I work full tiem I am upa t 6 am and cats that are allowed out go out - as do the dogs, then I do feeding and litter trays then have shower, get dogs ready for run and all this by 8am I then usually work till 5pm and it can be 6 before I get home - I then have them all to round up feed, sort out and play with the dogs and sort some tea for me

We don't have holidays but the odd weekend away -

I wouldn't pass a homecheck for a cat let alone a dog despite providing and have a very stble if not large cat family with a mixture of ages - HRH Sweetie is 18 and a half and baby Charlie is 12 weeks - a mixture of pedigree, feral and domestic cats and my Dogs spend the time I am at work in a rather large dog run with more toys and treats and they sleep alot!

Ours have never suffered and I used to have a child minder come in and fed my foster and my own kittens at lunch time - this meant that we did long hours but nobody suffered as teh late Breeze and Jazz had their own doggy sitter 6 hours a day their late Grandad!

[Den]

I don't have a problem with it to be honest  Yes some rescues do have very strict rehoming criteria, but they would have come up with that for a reason. At the end of the day their interest is finding the cat a loving, life long home. They aren't intentionally trying to upset people/hurt peoples feelings. They are just trying to minimize the chances of the cat coming back to them for whatever reason.

A lot of people work full time then come home and do other social activities/crash out in front of the TV/sort the kids/family out. So the cat might be left 8+ hours a day, then ignored when the owners come home as they are too busy/not bothered then the owner goes to sleep for 8 hours. Of course that's not likely with people here on Purrs but for the average full time working pet owner I wonder how much time they actually spend with their cats. Also, I do realise that you can be home all day and not spend any time with your cat, or be a housewife etc and not spend any time at home.

I also understand that the more rescues have blanket bans, the more people get turned down and the more people turn to free-ads/backstreet breeders to get their pets. SO many people feel that they have a right to own a pet, even if their circumstances might not be suitable for one. Then they have behavioural problems or other issues and end up putting their pet in rescue. It just becomes a viscous cycle. I'm in no way implying it's the rescues fault .. I'm saying it's the people's fault for putting their selfish needs before the animals. I always say this .. you might have to work but you don't have to own a pet. You want to own a pet. As with anything though you will get the people turned down by rescues who will put the cats needs first in every way and are brilliant homes (even though on paper they might not be .... full time workers/young children/flats etc).

So blanket bans might not sound like a good thing, but the rescues are only trying to do best by the animals  even if you think they aren't by having blanket bans.

There will always be a rescue out there who will be more flexible with their polices.

[Guest]

It is upsetting when you get turned down. We were devastated.

[Lottie (Team Svartalfheim's)]

I think rescues with blanket rules are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.   If they won't rehome to people who work, people who are unemployed, people who live in rented accommodation, people near roads..... who will they rehome to!

Exactly! I have kittens who have moved to live with people who work full time, people who are unemployed, people with very young children and people in rented accomodation and some of my kittens are allowed outdoor access after they are neutered as they are living in very rural locations and all of the cats are equally loved and cared for and have the world thought of them. It makes me sad that so many cats miss out on finding loving homes due to a lot of rescues having blanket bans 

The road thing is weird though as the rescues when I was at uni wouldn't let me have a cat partly as I wanted an indoor only cat but living in the centre of a city there were busy roads everywhere and yet they wanted cats to have outdoor access 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I think rescues with blanket rules are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.   If they won't rehome to people who work, people who are unemployed, people who live in rented accommodation, people near roads..... who will they rehome to!

When I got Jaffa and Magpie, they were 8 weeks old.  I was home for a week with them full time to help them settle in, then I went back to work.  They were left alone from about 7.45am until about 4.30pm.  The first week enabled me to pick up on their habits and make sure the place was kitten proof, then I made sure they had clean litter tray, fresh water (more than one bowl in case they knocked one over) and a bowl of dry kitten food.  I didn't have a webcam but I suspect that like Helen's boys they slept a lot of the time and then played when I got home.   When I first went back to work, I came home at lunch times to check on them.  Main reason I stopped doing that was because most days they were fast asleep when I went back!  Mosi was 14 weeks when I got him.  I was home for a week then returned to work for a few days before havign a week off over easter.  Then it was back to work full time.  He managed not to destroy the place.

[Lottie (Team Svartalfheim's)]

As well as depending on the individual cat it will also depend on the environment the cat will be in. An indoor only cat left on its own for 8 hrs a day in a boring environment will be far more destructive than the same cat left for 8 hours in an environment with plenty of interesting toys that get rotated around, scratchposts, dry food hidden around for them to 'hunt' during the day, tv/radio on timer, interesting views etc.

I think decisions should be made dependent on the cat and how they would cope with being alone for a certain length of time and the home being offered and not a blanket ban on people who work full time and would therefore be out for more than the maximum time the rescue allow.

Also someone could be 'allowed' to home a cat as they work less than a certain amount of hours but do the rescue then say 'well you can never go away on holiday as the cat would be alone for more than x hours a day'??? After all if someone has a catsitter come in for say 20mins once a day that's a lot of hours the cat is alone for if you think about it.

I think we're more or less unanimous on blanket bans, with a few notable exceptions.  The biggies that get my cage rattled are not adopting to families with under fives and not adopting to people who live in certain postcodes. 

Totally agree. I have let kittens go off to live with children under 5 and the cats are thoroughly loved and well treated by the children.

When I lived in Leicester I booked a pedigree NFC from a breeder and I wanted to have a rescue kitten/cat as well to be company for Bilbo when he came home. I couldn't find any rescue in the area that would home a kitten/cat to me because I wanted them to be indoor only and because I was a student even though I lived there all year round in my own apartment (and same apartment for the whole 3 yrs) so not exactly a typical student!!
When they said no I said that I would be more than happy to provide them with references and I asked if they would come and do a homecheck so they could see that I had a suitable home and they said no as they would never home to me as I was a student and they didn't home cats to be indoor only 

[princessmaizie]

Maizie came to us because no one else wanted her and it was us or the RSPCA, about a week after she came to live with us I enquired at the local rescue about getting a kitten of a similar age to keep her company. It was a point blank no when I said we both worked full time even when I explained my husband was a chef and often didn't leave the house till 12 or even 2pm and I was generally home by 5pm.

I was really upset by the whole attitude of the woman who made me feel we weren't fit to have even one cat with us because we both work. Due to this attitude I didn't enquire anywhere else ask thought we'd be met with the same attitude. Now I've found purrs I know that wouldn't necessarily have been the case, but I wonder how many other people were turned down flat because they work and how many potential happy homes were lost. 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I think hard and fast rules are crazy but individual cats will have differeing requirements.  Some cats will need to have someone at home for part of the day, but most cats adapt to whatever house their owners work and get used to them leaving at a certain time and coming home at a certain time.  I suspect the majority sleep the day away so that they're ready and raring to go when their humans return home.  It isn't just a case of being at home during the day though, it also depends on whether you are in in the evenings too.  Is it better to be out for say 8 hours durign the day, home for 2 hours then out during the evening, or to be out for 10/11 hours and then in for the rest of the evening with the cat(s)?  At the end of the day, an individual cat needs to be matched with the appropriate home environment and rules about how long a cat should be left alone are daft, imo.

[Leanne]

When Jess was an only cat he was very destructive, he was indoor only and left at home for 10-11 hours a day. When we went on holiday it sent him over the edge and he was very stressed by it. However we only found this out after the event, that's when we started looking at getting another cat, so Milo arrived. He was a kitten but coped fine being left all day whilst we're at work.

Now they are left for the least amount of time ever, as Hubby goes to work later than me and I get in earlier, however much as I still hate leaving them all day, all they do all day is sleep. We've witnessed it ourselves when we've been off 

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Ah, now I'm with you. Blame the summer cold I've got. It's bunged up my eyes. 

I think we're more or less unanimous on blanket bans, with a few notable exceptions.  The biggies that get my cage rattled are not adopting to families with under fives and not adopting to people who live in certain postcodes. 

All I can say is that these certain rescues' rules have resulted in Canterbury CP finding some excellent homes.  A few years ago three of my kittens went to their new home ON CHRISTMAS EVE. ( ) So yar-boo-sucks to the rules.   

[Tiggy's Mum]

Well I don't know about short sighted, Helen. Some cats do suffer from seperation anxiety in just the same way that dogs do. The symptoms they display are just different. Currently a friend of mine is 'cat sitting' for a cat who overgrooms so badly the poor thing has made its skin bleed and it's now infected.  In this case it was all through stress of being left alone for extended periods. I do also have to say that a lot of these cases do occur when the cat is a singleton with no other animal company.  As I say, some cats cope well (like your Lukey and Riley, Helen) while others don't. 

A good rescue should always match the cat with the home and vice versa. Sometimes that means spitulating a minimum time alone for a specific cat. There will always be a perfect match for any home though... the problems happen when people become smitten with cats that we know won't settle with them. 

I think you've misunderstood me there Julie - of course if the individual cats' personality/needs dictate it then naturally you would specify a number of hours he/she was suitable to be left alone and only adopt accordingly. What Miranda was talking about was a blanket policy on a single adult cat being left alone for X amount of hours so I read it that if you didn't meet the criteria you wouldn't be able to adopt any cat from them. That, in my opinion, is short sighted and would cause many cats to miss out on great homes.

[Guest]

Some rescues do have barmy, inflexible rules.... the answer to that is that not ALL rescues are inflexible and barmy. 

That's the problem! I know more about cats now than I did. Well I am a member here after all! When you are knocked back you feel upset and don't think of trying elsewhere. We fell in love with loads of cats that we could have spoilt rotten and felt really upset when told no. But then again my life would have been deprived of the drama provided from the Kray twins!  

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Some rescues do have barmy, inflexible rules.... the answer to that is that not ALL rescues are inflexible and barmy. 

[Guest]

We got turned down by a rescue because we were at work all day and because at the time we wanted indoor cats (Although the girls go outside now too). It left us really upset at the time. We left it for a month and then got Ella and Effie and I defy anyone to find two cats more loved.
 

[blackcat]

I would be uncomfortable with set 'rules' on this subject, as opposed to guidelines. An 'only' cat will get bored and destructive if left alone all day every day, but the point during the day when that behaviour kicks in will vary on the nature of the cat. Some will just go 'humph' and curl up for a sleep.

If a cat has companion animals with whom it has a good relationship, then they can be alone for extended periods, even overnight, with no great harm done. The risk arises if there is an injury which is less likely if they are confined indoors, but still possible.

My lot have always had indoor/outdoor access when I am away from home (for work or social reasons) and all three (dog and two cats) are boon companions, so while the dog will become anxious if there are strange noises outside (e.g. the neighbour's dog has had puppies that yelp and whine all day) and become mildly destructive, the cats simply curl up and have a good snooze, or keep themselves happy hunting mice.

So, guidelines rather than rules, based on your knowledge of the temperament of the cat, and the lifestyle of the intended adopter would be my approach. The Brisbane RSPCA has a questionnaire that you are required to complete before adoption of any animal which goes into your lifestyle and habits fairly closely (e.g. amount of exercise, time away from home, family members etc). I have always passed this sort of test, so am unsure how strictly they enforce things if in doubt though ...

[Kay and Penny]

doesn't it make a big difference though as to the amount of access a cat has to the outside?

leaving an indoor cat alone for long periods is surely worse than leaving a cat alone which is free to wander in a safe outdoor environment?

in my long ago youth I had a siamese which was left alone from 13 weeks old from 6.30am to 7.30pm, as I used to commute to London - but she had a cat flap and lots of interlocking gardens to explore

I would not want to do that now, as I know better, but nevertheless it did her no harm that I can recall - perhaps having me all to herself when I was home made up for it a bit

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Well I don't know about short sighted, Helen. Some cats do suffer from seperation anxiety in just the same way that dogs do. The symptoms they display are just different. Currently a friend of mine is 'cat sitting' for a cat who overgrooms so badly the poor thing has made its skin bleed and it's now infected.  In this case it was all through stress of being left alone for extended periods. I do also have to say that a lot of these cases do occur when the cat is a singleton with no other animal company.  As I say, some cats cope well (like your Lukey and Riley, Helen) while others don't. 

A good rescue should always match the cat with the home and vice versa. Sometimes that means spitulating a minimum time alone for a specific cat. There will always be a perfect match for any home though... the problems happen when people become smitten with cats that we know won't settle with them. 

[Tiggy's Mum]

I'm not in rescue but as someone who works full time and adopted two kittens I think the 'time left alone' policy is very short sighted. When the boys were kittens I set up a live webcam, which I could monitor while I was at work, and for the majority of the day they were fast asleep! 

I think as long as the cat is given affection/interaction in the time the owner is home ie after work then to deny him/her a loving home because the owner is working full time is short sighted in the extreme.

Riley was poorly recently so I set the webcam up again and left them in one room and, now as adult cats, guess what they did for most of the day... sleep!

If you exlude full time workers then that leaves those that are unable to work/the unemployed who might find it very difficult to afford to keep a cat on such a limited income which in turn means the number of potential homes is reduced to a small perecntage of the population who don't work but still have an income from elsewhere to be able to afford everything that comes with pet ownership!

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Don't think we have a policy as it varies on the needs of the cat. Some really don't mind being left and the oldies snooze a lot anyway. Others are more clingy and need company or they get stressed. Stressed cats can become ill.  We aren't keen on kittens going to people who work full time. Not on their own anyway, maybe in pairs but its still not ideal. Folks are likely to come home to a lot of broken orniments. 

[miranda luck]

I've visited 6 animal shelters in this weekend (another busmans holiday!:doh:) and four of them had a different 'maximum time cat can be left' policy.  This is in relationship to a single adult cat being homed on its own.

If anyone in the field has a minute, I'd be interested to know about different policies - and the rational behind them.

(Maybe this topic would be better in Rescue & Rehoming General?  Please move if appropriate  )

Thank you!