Originally Posted by alanem

Some 10 years ago my daughter and partner took in a stray cat which had been badly abused and traumatised. After a lot of TLC Lily became “humanised” again however she has remained extremely timid of strangers and would bolt off if anyone came in the house, to hide, until they had gone. If she felt cornered she displayed a side that was very unpleasant and frightening. Then 5 years on my daughter became pregnant and she was anxious about the affect a new baby would have on Lily and asked if we could have her on a temporary basis. We have now had Lily for 5 years and Daisy the first grandchild turned out to be scared of cats and when she comes to see us Lily shoots off in one direction and Daisy goes in the other however there is also a boisterous two year old brother for Lily to contend with now.

Here is the nub my wife and I like to travel and previously Lily has gone to my daughters when we have been away for a few days but to be honest nobody enjoyed it and after the last time when there was pandemonium she has refused point blank to have Lily again. We want to go for a 6 week holiday to India in February and we don’t know what to do for the best. My daughter agrees with us that a cattery for that length of time would not be in Lily’s best interest as well as expensive. We do have a weatherproof outhouse with a cat flap and there is a bivouac type bed that she uses during the night and I had the idea to ask a reliable neighbour to fill her feeding bowl with dry food and water maybe once or twice a week. I also thought about fitting a thermostatically controlled heater in there but my wife does not like that idea.

I know we will both be worried if we leave Lily but we want to go to India whilst we can. Can anybody make any suggestions (other than to keep topics short) or give us some reassurance that Lily will be OK and we are not bad people. Apologies for going on.