Leaving a CKD cat with a sitter

Can I go away if my cat has kidney disease?

Usually yes, and I'd rather help you do it properly than have you cancel a trip you need, or go and spend the week refreshing your phone.

A stable kidney cat on a settled routine is not a fragile animal. What she needs is for the routine to continue in your absence, and for somebody to be able to act fast if it stops working. Those are logistics problems, and logistics problems have solutions.

The three things that have to be in place

That third one deserves the emphasis. Without it, a clinic can end up holding a sick cat they can't legally treat while somebody tries to reach you across five time zones. A two-minute phone call before you leave removes that entirely.

The one-page protocol

Print it, put it on the fridge, and text a photo of it to the sitter as well. Keep it to one page: a three-page document doesn't get read.

Medications. Each one by name, what it looks like, the dose, and the actual clock times. Add how it's given, in food or by mouth, and where the pill pockets live. Write out what to do if a dose is missed, because that's the question you'll get texted at 11pm.

Food. What she eats, how much, when, and whether it's warmed. Note that the bowl comes up after twenty minutes rather than being left down. Note that she should not be given the other cats' food, if that applies.

Water. Where the bowls are and that they need refilling and rinsing daily.

Litter. How many boxes, where, scooped daily, and specifically: look at what's in it and write it down. Wet clumps present, and whether she's passed stool.

Weight. Her current weight, so a sitter has a reference point, and where the scale is if you want it done.

Her normal. Where she usually sleeps, what she usually does in an evening, how much she usually eats. A sitter can't spot a change from normal without knowing normal.

Numbers. Your vet's daytime number, the emergency clinic's number and address, your number, and a backup human who lives locally.

Authority. One line: "[Sitter name] is authorized to seek veterinary treatment for [cat] and to approve treatment up to $[amount]. [Clinic] has been notified." Then tell the clinic the same thing.

The signs the sitter needs to know

Most sitters are conscientious and most have no idea what matters in a kidney cat. Give them the short list rather than a lecture, and be explicit that these mean phone, not wait.

Fluids, and who's willing

If she's on subcutaneous fluids, this is the part that decides your options.

Some sitters will, many won't, and a professional sitter declining a needle is a reasonable professional boundary rather than a lack of care. Ask early, before you've booked, and don't press somebody into it.

If they're willing, train them properly. They watch you do two sessions. Then they do one, start to finish, with you standing there saying nothing unless it's going wrong. Leave the supplies laid out and the amount marked on the bag with a permanent marker so there's no arithmetic.

If nobody's willing, the alternative is her going into the clinic every other day for fluids, which most practices will do for a modest fee. Arrange that in advance and tell the sitter it's a diary appointment, not a decision they have to make.

What she can safely miss. Ask your vet directly which of her treatments matters most and what happens if a session or a dose is missed, and write the answer down. For most stable cats, one missed fluid session isn't a crisis and one missed blood pressure tablet isn't either. Knowing that in advance stops a sitter panicking, and stops them improvising.

Sitter or boarding

House sitter, if you can. Kidney cats do better in their own house with their own routine. Boarding is stressful, stress shows up as not eating, and not eating is the thing you least want in your absence.

Boarding is the better choice in one specific case: she needs daily medication or fluids and there's nobody competent to give them at home. A veterinary practice that boards medical cases will handle it properly. That beats an anxious amateur, and it beats her missing everything for a week.

A neighbour popping in twice a day is the weakest option for a cat on multiple medications. Not because neighbours are careless, but because there's no continuity and nobody sees enough of her to notice a change.

When not to go

The honest part, and it's the section people don't want.

I'd postpone or arrange proper veterinary boarding if she was diagnosed in the last few weeks, if her treatment has just changed, if she's in or just out of a crisis, if she isn't eating reliably, or if she's stage 4.

Those are cats whose situation can move meaningfully in three days. That's a genuinely difficult thing to hear about a trip you've already paid for, and it's still the answer.

Actually travelling with her

Occasionally the answer is that she comes with you. It's usually more stressful for her than being left at home, so I wouldn't do it for a week's holiday. If it's a permanent move or a long stay, then:

Get her records and her recent bloodwork emailed to you before you leave, and find a clinic at the destination before you need one. Take more medication than the trip requires, in the original labelled containers. Keep fluids and supplies in the cabin rather than in checked luggage. Offer water at stops and don't withhold it to avoid accidents, because dehydration is the actual risk. And build in a settling day at the other end before anything else happens.

If she's flying, talk to your vet first, and know that sedation for travel in a cat with kidney disease is not a casual decision.

The short version

A stable kidney cat, a trained sitter, one page on the fridge, and a clinic that knows the plan. That combination works, and it's worth setting up once properly rather than improvising every time.

What the sitter is watching for in more detail is on the monitoring page. The fluids technique they'll need to see is on subcutaneous fluids.