We're selling our house and have an open house on Sunday and I'm wondering what to do with the cats (we have four) during the open house.
DH suggested boarding them at their vet's office, but because they aren't open on Sunday, we'd have to drop them off on Saturday AM (before 11:30 a.m.) and not pick them up until Monday. Our little furbabies are indoor-only cats and have never spent a night away from home since we got them. One in particular is really skittish (we think she was abused before we rescued her from the shelter three years ago) and I think this scenario would really freak her out. Also, I hate to have them out of the house for basically two days for a three hour open house. And, not the mention the cost. It would cost us almost $200.
We're thinking of also maybe calling up our friends that have a huge crate (big enough for a few cat toys, litter box and food/water and putting all four in there together at their house in the crate (and being over there with them) during our open house.
What would you do? I assume people with pets have open houses all of the time. I just don't want my sweet furbabies to freak out. We don't have any friends/family where we could just take them to their house and let them play for a few hours. All of our friends/family have dogs that aren't good with cats.
Re: What to do with cats during open house
Our realtor advised against this because she said people will want to have access to all rooms when they are here for an open house.
I know dogs are easier, but we're actually having an open house sunday too. We're just bringing our dog with us in a cage.
No fun, hopefully this is the only one we have to have! You as well!
I know you don't want them to be away from the house for a couple of days, but it would probably help your open house as it would allow the house to "air out" a little. Nothing worse than going through a house that smells like animals (even if the person seeing the house owns pets). Not saying your house smells or that your cats smell, but inevitably, pets do make a house smell. You need to remove the litter boxes well before the open house, too.
Good luck!