Holiday Cat Care: The Complete Guide

Booking a holiday should be exciting — but for cat owners there’s always the quiet second thought: what about the cat? This guide pulls together everything we know about holiday cat care into one place, with links to deeper guides where you want more detail.

Your options, honestly compared

A cat sitter visits your cat at home — feeding, litter, play, health checks, and (with us) a photo update after every visit. Your cat keeps their territory, routine and comfort. A cattery boards your cat in a pen alongside other cats; it means supervision on site, but also a car journey, unfamiliar surroundings and considerable stress for many cats. Friends and neighbours are free, but visits get squeezed, illness gets missed, and the favour economy has limits.

For most cats — especially shy, senior, or multi-cat households — home visits win comfortably. We’ve written a full, fair comparison in cat sitter vs cattery.

What holiday cat care costs

In Manchester, professional cat sitting typically runs £10–£25 per visit depending on what’s included. Our pricing is simple: £16 per 30-minute visit for up to three cats, everything included — no extras for medication, plants, post or the photo update. The full breakdown, including how it compares with cattery fees, is in our cost guide.

How many visits does your cat need?

• Healthy adult cats: one visit a day keeps them fed, clean, monitored and fussed. This is the standard holiday arrangement.
• Kittens, seniors, and the very sociable: two shorter visits beat one long one. Kittens especially shouldn’t be left on one visit a day.
• Cats on medication: the prescription sets the schedule — insulin cats need precisely timed twice-daily visits. Our medication guide covers this in depth.

If you’re wondering whether you need care at all for a short trip: past 24 hours alone, yes. Here’s how long cats can really be left.

Preparing for the sitter

The essentials: enough food and litter for the trip plus a margin, written feeding instructions, your vet’s details and an emergency contact, medication clearly labelled, escape routes checked, and the carrier somewhere findable. We’ve turned this into a proper pre-holiday checklist — including the ten things owners most often forget.

If you’ve never used a sitter before, it starts with a free meet and greet at your home — here’s exactly what happens at ours. And if you’re choosing between sitters, ask these eight questions before handing over your keys.

While you’re away

With a good sitter, your job on holiday is simply to enjoy the photo updates. Every visit we make ends with a photo and a note on your phone — appetite, mood, litter, anything worth knowing. Your home gets watched too: post in, curtains moved, lights varied, so the house looks lived-in the whole time.

Worried about the what-ifs? We’ve covered them: what happens if your cat seems unwell and how vet trips work when you’re away.

When to book

School holidays, Easter and especially Christmas fill up weeks or months ahead. The golden rule: book the cat care when you book the holiday, not after.

If your holiday plans cover Didsbury, Chorlton, Withington or the surrounding South Manchester areas — send us an enquiry with your dates, and consider the cat sorted. 🐾