Marc in Switzerland will tell you how to do it. He is an expert. This article is not a criticism of single, working, cat owning people. It is about exploring how to maximise cat welfare under less than ideal conditions. In the past I have failed at combining work and good cat caretaking. That was before PoC. It was not bad at it but I always felt guilty being away.
For a single, cat owning person, who works full-time it is obviously more difficult to maintain a strong relationship with a cat companion. If the cat is allowed out during the day what may happen is that the lonely cat finds other companions and interests. So your cat goes walkabout and meets up with a nice person who feeds him and bit by bit you become distanced from your cat.
The working cat owner comes home from work late and her cat is not there. Instead, he is down the road snoozing on Mrs Smith’s veranda having been feed best quality food.
It seems to me that to a certain extent we have to work on our relationships with our cat(s). In my experience a relationship with a cat is far more robust than a relationship with a wife or husband. Therefore it requires less maintenance. However, forced neglect through work commitments can weaken the bond between cat and caretaker. I say, “can”. Many people manage to deal with it very well.
A domestic cat clearly won’t understand why you are leaving for work early and coming back late, exhausted. If, at one time in the past, you were around with your cat for much longer periods he may become stressed by your absence.
I feel that in some scenarios of cat caretaking the circumstances might make things unworkable. The point is that, on occasion, some people who like cats and have cats should not keep cats at particular moment of their lives because work circumstances prevent it. I am sure this is a factor that is taken into account by sensible cat loving people who wish to keep a cat. This begs the question: do you find work that nicely fits good cat caretaking?
So how do you combine hard work and cat ownership? To be honest, I don’t think there is an easy answer. As mentioned, Marc, in Switzerland, manages extremely well and has systems in place which allows interaction to a certain extent and some remote cat caretaking by using strategically placed computers with cameras and Skype software that turns on when a cat approaches. I think that is how it works. Marc will no doubt correct me. The point is that it is possible to combine hard work and cat ownership but I am sure Marc will agree that it is a big compromise. Marc’s cats are full-time indoor cats for safety reasons and they are extremely well cared for and very content.
Perhaps a person working hard and full-time has to keep cats indoors while he is at work or even all the time. That may be a prerequisite for making the relationship work, which is a negative. Outdoor excursions are good for a cat provided they are considered safe.
These are the points I would consider when trying to combine good cat caretaking with working away from home:
- Get a job where you can work from home! Unlikely. Although, home working is becoming more popular and it is more environmentally friendly (no travel=less carbon burning).
- Ask your boss if you can work from home for one day a week. It will be good for the climate too. Unlikely.
- Try and find out where your cat goes if he is not at home when you come back from work and try and stop him being feed and cared for by a neighbour.
- Put a collar on your cat that is a GPS tracker device or which at least has your phone number on it. A lot of cat lovers don’t like cat collars for various reasons, one of which is safety. There are quick release collars though.
- Setup a system as described above that Marc uses successfully.
- Use an automatic cat feeder that dispenses food at regular times (unsure how effective these are, however).
- When you are home, spend time with him. Play with him and reconnect.
- If he is an outdoor cat, keep him in at night and try and spend time with him – i.e. he sleeps on your bed.
All these ideas combined will be less good than if you were a retired person who loves and understands cats 😉
I will defintitely send you guys pictures – an article or something when I am done with it. I am a bit nervous about the implications it will have with the neighbours but we will see.
You do a great job looking after your cats and thank you very much for commenting. It is not easy making a living and caring for cats to a high level.
One day things will be a bit easier for you. I never felt right being out all day when I had a cat or cats at home. It sort played on my mind. I sense that it is similar for you.
I really, really like the fact that you have a house care-taker. I want a full-time housekeeper. Where can I find one…. 🙂
Honestly, i became a cat owner by default as i previously owned dogs.Dogs require more personal care and can’t be left alone at home for long hours. Cats can be left alone in a flat with a little food and water and hence ideal pets for single working people.In my house my cats are never ever alone for more than a few hours if i am away on tours or home as my house care-taker Sabina looks after them in my absence.As for Marc,his use of computer camera’s and skype for keeping in touch with his cats from his remote workplace is a real pet innovation for working owners who can afford this modern technology.
Marc you can’t be with your cats all the time so you have done the right thing, you have more than one cat so that at least they have some companionship.
People have to go out to work, many jobs can’t be done from home and because so many cats are needing homes an added bonus of adopting two or more helps that situation.
Our two cats don’t bother a lot with each other but at least when we go out they know they are not shut in alone, I think it must be long boring days for single cats with no company at all.
Another thing, you spend as much time as possible with your cats, some people get impatient if their cats want lots of attention, they think of themselves, not their cats.
I’m looking forward to seeing pics of your Catio when you get it done 🙂
Michael – for me the only real answer is to spend all my non working time with my cats. This does not work for most people. I happen to be quite alright with giving my free time to my cats and actually thats what I want to do naturally anyway. If I didn’t then it would be very different. I spend the whole weekend with them – only going out to buy food and once every couple months I might have some other thing I must do on a weekend but I really feel the loss if a saturday or a sunday gets taken up. As it happens I am leaving tonight for a week. As much as I have alot to look forward to on my trip if my train got cancelled or something changed I would be quite happy to spend my entire week holiday at home with my cats. Actually I think I would be relieved to not have to go. In June – this month – I am going to build a catio on my small balcony. I will leave this available to them at all times in all seasons so they can at least sit outside and enjoy the sights and smells and many plants I plan to grow there. I’d like it to be a sort of outdoor jungle with a couple cat trees in it basically.
Actually if I lived somewhere in the countryside where they could go outside I wouldn’t feel guilty at all. When they can go out at will I think cats usually are just fine and even busy with not necessarily the time to spend with you but being inside they are very dependant. I don’t like it – actually I have always felt that if I had 3 days off work instead of 2 that would make a significant difference each week if you consider I spend work day evenings and mornings with them – I would be with them alot of the week but with just 2 days off it’s not enough.
It also is very hard to be at home and have things to do on my computer – they get frustrated if I am busy at home. The short answer is its not easy at all with indoor cats.