Cattery or cat sitter at Christmas, or taking your cat along: how to decide

Cattery or cat sitter over the Christmas holidays? The gentlest option is almost always to leave your cat at home, with a friend, a relative or a cat sitter who drops in at least twice a day. Taking them to family makes sense for a cat used to travelling, when the host can set aside a quiet room for them.

Having your cat looked after at Christmas or taking them along: what should you weigh up?

The decision rests on two things: your cat, then your trip. According to the holiday guide from the UK charity Cats Protection, staying at home is the safest and least disruptive option, and home-loving or anxious cats probably prefer to stay put. Most cats, the charity adds, would rather not travel at all, and the journey often stresses them without them showing it. The table below will help you check whether yours is the exception.

If most of your answers fall in the first column, that settles it: all that’s left is choosing who visits. If they fall in the second, taking your cat is worth considering, as long as you prepare the journey rather than improvising it on 23 December.

Of the criteria that depend on your cat, travel experience is the only one that can still change before the holidays. The carrier training routine takes ten days, with two extra steps if your cat already links the carrier with the vet, and is best started when no journey is planned: in November, in other words. A carrier you’re happy to leave out helps; that’s the thinking behind the satchel-style city backpack, designed for short trips, whose flap pocket also takes the health record.

Care at home: a friend, a relative or a cat sitter?

Care at home lets your cat keep their scent, their hiding places and their routine. Cats Protection recommends a carer who visits at least twice a day, more for a very young or older cat, or one with certain health problems.

A friend or relative often knows your cat and costs nothing, but Christmas is also the week when the people close to you go away. A cat sitter has to be booked and paid; on the other hand, being there on 25 December is their job. In France, according to Bpifrance Création’s page on this regulated activity (in French), looking after cats for payment, whether at home or in a cattery, requires at least one person in contact with the animals to hold a recognised certification or training: asking which one is a perfectly normal question. Rules vary from country to country, so check what applies where you live.

Either way, arrange a meeting at your home, with your cat there, no later than a few days before you leave, as Cats Protection advises. Then get the following ready for your carer:

• The keys, and a spare set left with a second person; test the doors with the carer before you go.
• The vet: contact details, holiday opening hours, the out-of-hours service they recommend, the health record and your cat’s identification number.
• Meals: portions, times, and enough food and litter for the whole stay, plus some extra.
• Any treatment: the vet’s written instructions.
• Your cat’s hiding places and where the carrier is kept.
• The exits that stay shut: windows, balcony, cat flap.
• The heating, left on in the rooms they live in, not on frost-protection mode.
• The Christmas tree, if it’s already up: lights unplugged for the whole time you’re away, wrapping paper and ribbons put away.
• New Year’s Eve, if you’re still away: an evening visit, windows checked, without pulling them out if they’ve hidden.
• What should prompt a phone call: untouched food bowl, litter tray still clean, cat nowhere to be found.

Equipment helps the carer without replacing them. A quiet pump fountain keeps the water moving between visits, but adds to their tasks: checking the water level at every visit, since its pump must never run dry, and, if you’re away for more than a week, giving it its weekly clean, unplugged. Set it up at least a week before you leave, with the old bowl next to it, and keep that bowl out while you’re away.

Taking your cat to family at Christmas: what should you check at the host’s?

Taking your cat to family at Christmas means settling them somewhere unfamiliar just when that place is at its busiest of the year. Cats Protection is clear on this: if travel can’t be avoided, the place you’re going to must be suitable, with space and a vet within reach. So the real question isn’t the journey, it’s what they’ll find when they get there. Sort these out with your host before you say yes:

• A room of their own, door closed, with a litter tray, water, food and a bed.
• Other animals. A resident dog or cat can’t be introduced over one Christmas Eve dinner: if there is one, your cat stays in their room for the whole stay.
• The children, told not to open the cat’s door or pull them out of their hiding place.
• The exits: the front door opening all evening, the kitchen window left ajar. Outside, in an unfamiliar neighbourhood, they have no landmarks at all.
• The tree and the presents: lights unplugged when the room is empty, no tinsel or long ribbons within reach: the real dangers of the Christmas tree are ranked, with veterinary sources, in their own article.
• Bunches of lilies. According to International Cat Care, every part of the lily is toxic to cats, pollen and vase water included, and can seriously damage their kidneys: any suspected contact should be treated as a veterinary emergency. Ask your host to do without them.
• The local vet and their out-of-hours service, noted down before you arrive.

Settling in once you’re there is covered in the guide to travelling with your cat on holiday, and the journey in its own articles: by car and by train in France. On the morning you leave, if your cat refuses to go into their carrier, the carrier-on-end method saves you the chase.

At the host’s, their carrier is the only place they already know.
The Pelux quilted carrier, in handbag style, has a flap that dims the inside in one move — in the car or in a full house — as soon as they start meowing, and a frame that stops it sagging once it’s set down, open, in their room. See the quilted carrier →

Cattery or home boarding: when should your cat leave the house?

A cattery becomes the right option when no one reliable can drop in twice a day, and for a cat who is at ease away from home and among strangers: that’s the profile Cats Protection considers suited to a well-chosen cattery.

At Christmas, the main constraint is the calendar: book well ahead, visit before committing, and check vaccinations are up to date, the charity advises. Ask the cattery which vaccinations it requires, and by what date the booster must have been given. When you visit, look for:

• a double-door system or safety corridor to prevent escapes;
• cats housed separately, with no direct contact or line of sight between them;
• heated or insulated pens — hardly optional in December — that are easy to clean;
• clean bowls, and staff willing to give medication.

In France, catteries come under the same regulations as paid cat sitting, according to Bpifrance Création: ask to see the training certificate. Home boarding and cat-sitting swaps between private individuals follow the same logic as a cattery, with a house instead of a pen: your cat changes territory, and the questions to ask are the ones for the Christmas host, listed above.

When should you arrange Christmas cat care?

Christmas cat care is best arranged in November: everyone going away on the same dates is looking at the same time, and Cats Protection recommends booking early, with a back-up in place.

1. Early November: decide using the table; meet the carer or visit the cattery, then book, with a back-up; check the date of the next vaccine booster in the health record and, in France, your contact details on I-CAD, the national identification register.
2. Mid-November: start carrier training if your cat is coming with you; set up the new fountain if you’re getting one.
3. Three weeks before: a second meeting at your home, cat present, keys tested, spare set handed over.
4. The last week: supplies for the whole stay plus some extra, a printed instruction sheet.
5. The last few days: spread out the packing and cleaning rather than doing it all the day before, as Cats Protection suggests for cats sensitive to change, and put away string toys, feather wands included.

Frequently asked questions

Can you leave your cat alone over the holidays with enough food for several days?

Leaving your cat alone over the holidays isn’t a form of care, even with full bowls: no one notices that they’ve stopped eating, that the litter tray is overflowing or that they’ve got shut in a cupboard. Cats Protection recommends a carer who visits at least twice a day, and no device — feeder or fountain — replaces those visits.

Can a kitten be looked after at home over the holidays?

Yes, with more frequent visits: Cats Protection points out that very young or older cats, as well as those with certain health problems, may need visits more often than twice a day. For a kitten, also plan for a carer who plays with them at every visit, and ask your vet if in doubt.

What if your carer pulls out just before Christmas?

Plan the back-up when you book: a second person who knows your home, holds a spare set of keys and has met your cat. In late December, finding a free cat sitter two days before you leave comes down to luck. Failing that, taking your cat with you becomes the fallback again, and a cat already used to their carrier then makes all the difference.

Will the vet accept a cat brought in by the carer?

Let the practice know before you leave: tell them who is looking after your cat and ask what’s needed for that person to bring them in while you’re away. Note their opening hours between Christmas and New Year’s Day, which often change, and the out-of-hours service they recommend. The health record stays with the carrier.

Key takeaways

• For most cats, staying at home with a carer who visits at least twice a day is the least disruptive option, according to Cats Protection.
• Taking your cat to family at Christmas depends on the welcome as much as the journey: a room of their own, no other animals roaming free, exits watched, no lilies or fairy lights within reach.
• A cattery has to be booked well ahead for the holidays, visited first, and requires up-to-date vaccinations.
• A fountain or a stock of dry food helps the carer; neither replaces a visit.