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What would you do--leaving pets at home while you're away on business...
Hi Guys,
I'm in need of some advice. My boss just asked me to go on a last minute business trip and I want to know what you all would do in this situation. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow and get back Friday night (so I'd be gone 3.5 days). Of course this comes up the same week that my H is across the country for a work convention. 
Usually we ask a neighbor or friend to watch the pets for us. But we recently moved to a new place where we have no family and we have yet to actually meet any of our neighbors (seriously I only ever see cars go in and out of garages, no one is ever outside besides us and the neighborhood kids, which I find weird but whatever). The few friends that H has made at work live at least 45 minutes away from us, and he says he's not comfortable enough with any of them to have them visit the house alone. I work from home and so I don't have any local coworkers to ask either.
In this situation, what would you do? I'm looking up prices for some pet sitting companies, but they want to charge an arm and a leg to take care of the pets and that's assuming they can do something last minute (most places say they need to do a consultation first, etc.).
We do have a large free-feeder pet bowl that holds 15 lbs of pet food, so I'm thinking I can fill that up for the cats and leave it out with plenty of water, toys and clean litter boxes and just close the doors the bedrooms/bathrooms so they can't get into anything. I feel horrible about doing that though and these what-if scenarios keep running through my head. The puppy I think I should be able to take with me so it's mostly the cats I'm worried about.
Do you think they'll be ok? Or is there some other option that that I'm overlooking?
TIA for any ideas you guys have! I'm feeling seriously frazzled right now.
Re: What would you do--leaving pets at home while you're away on business...
Definitely check to make sure you can take the pup. If you can't, you're absolutely going to need a pet-sitting service or find somewhere to board her.
If it will just be the cats in the home, I'd measure out as much food as they'd get for each meal for 3 days, then maybe an extra meal's worth of food just in case (you get delayed or something). Provide plenty of fresh water and clean boxes. If at all possible, find someone to stop by at least once around the midpoint of the time you'll be gone. The cats, while they should be okay for 3.5 days provided food, water, and clean boxes (definitely multiple), really ought to be checked on at the very least to make sure they're doing okay.
I hope everything works out. I can't stand bosses who just decide you can pick up and go anywhere on a whim (it's happened with my husband a few times, though at least I don't ever have to travel).
B/w 1/8: betas 17,345, progesterone 25.6
I think the cats will be ok but def leave enough food and fresh water available. And I would also leave another litter box out for them, especially with more than one cat. It would be great if you could have someone come in and check on the cats at least once but if not i think it would be ok.
As for the puppy- def see about taking him/her with you. If not, look into a boarding facility maybe.
Thanks Guys. You all made me feel a little more comfortable that the kitties will probably be ok alone for a bit. I did leave a message for our vet last night but I haven't heard anything back so I'm going to assume that's not going to work out, but definitely something to keep in mind for next time. The airline let me bring the pup so he's happily keeping me company now. I told my boss if I'm saving his butt with this last minute trip, I'm bringing my extra large wooly mammoth of a dog to help with the business negotiations, to which he laughed and said he didn't care if I brought a pet elephant along, so long as we can get things under control with the work situation. Gotta love it!
Thanks again!