It took us 6 years to finally leave our pets home alone, but now we wish we’d done it sooner. ✈️
If you’re scared to leave your cats, we completely get it. Our biggest concern was Lyle and Rabbitovitz. They tolerate each other, but they also fight OFTEN, and we dreaded the idea of them getting into a spat with nobody around to break it up.
The best thing we did was start preparing early. It took us a while to build an automatic feeding setup that actually worked (and that Lyle couldn’t immediately exploit 🧠). Because of his (Lyle’s) food-stealing antics, Rabbitovitz ended up needing an RFID feeder.
We also cat-proofed the entire apartment to make sure they couldn’t get into trouble while we were away.
But the absolute biggest thing for our peace of mind was having pet cameras everywhere – 4 in total! Maybe it’s overkill, but being able to check the live feed and see that all three boys were mostly just napping made such a difference for our anxiety.
We even asked our sitter if she was comfortable with our camera setup. She told us she actually recommends cameras to her clients because it allows pet parents to monitor things remotely and let her know if anything needs attention. Truly a win-win!
Disclosure: Furbo is a client of mine and the cameras were provided to us, but this post isn’t sponsored or paid. We genuinely love them and use them all the time (even when we’re home, because the boys love the treat toss feature) ❤️
Whichever brand you choose, I think having cameras at home makes a huge difference when leaving pets alone. Both for the pets and for the emotionally unstable humans 🏡
How Do You Handle Travel Separation Anxiety?
Taking that first trip together after 6 years was a massive hurdle, but seeing how smoothly the boys handled everything completely changed our perspective. Starting early, getting the right smart-feeder setup, and leaning on a trusted pet sitter made all the difference.
If you’re anxious about leaving your own fur babies behind, remember that with a little trial and error, it’s completely possible to set them up for success (even the food-obsessed ones like Lyle!).
We have an upcoming post diving deep into exactly how we cat-proofed our apartment to keep them safe from any solo mischief, so keep an eye out for that!
