Our pets didn't enjoy being kenneled while we swapped with a family that did not like cats. The next time we were offered an attractive home exchange by allergic swap partners we decided to leave the cats with our friend in his apartment during our vacation.
Are your cats flexible about their environment? Do they enjoy car rides? Mine does not. The kitten was fine being stuffed in a carrier box and driven to Brooklyn but the adult cat yowled from the moment she got outside to several hours after she arrived in her temporary home. She was also rigid with fear. You know how cats are kind of floppy when you pick them up? Being in a strange new home made my cat tense up to the point where she could be picked up and rotated 180 degrees without moving a muscle.
While we were away, our friend saw the kitten but the cat stayed huddled with fear under the bed. He did not see her walk around during the entire two weeks we were gone. The kitten apparently visited her under the bed to keep her company. She must have left her den occasionally to eat or drink but we can't be certain.
When we came back to get our pets and learned how scared our cat had been in the new environment, we decided we were done. From then on our cats would be in our home when we were on vacation. How would this affect our home exchange prospects? We waited to find out.
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