Gideon Does Not Like to be Left

Last week we had to go out of town for a few days for a wedding in NH, which was subsequently the first time both my husband and I left for an extended period since adding Gideon to the family. For what we thought would be for the best, we elected to have a pet sitter come visit our home three times a day to walk our two greyhounds, and also pay a bit of attention to the cat.  To be honest, it was only two full days we were gone, and two half days.

Apparently for Gideon, this was quite a bit. While he did do well enough (we have a nestcam, so could check in on everyone whenever we wanted) and seemed to enjoy getting pets from the sitter, he's been extra clingy and regressive since we've returned, only now starting to get back to his old self!

It's hard to say how much of the problem was him not getting played with in his "per usual" fashion and also him just missing us and our routine.  We do dedicate a few 15 minute play sessions to him every day to give him a predictable outlet for his energy, and when we play, we tend to get him winded and panting. The sitter did try to play with him, but not near the same intensity as what he's used to. When we got back, he's been playing like he's not been played with in years, going totally bananas for toys (the cat chaser mouse toy is his current favorite). This has been nice in a way, as I can get him bounding around, up and down furniture and breathing hard with very little effort on my part. Usually I have to coax him a good bit and try a few different toys to get his motor running.

He's also been a bit mischievous, I think doing anything he can think of to get my attention and not really content to just sit still despite playing hard. He's gone back to doing things like deliberately chewing wires or stealing socks.  However, this has been dwindling since we've been getting back on schedule and is hopefully short-lived to just the first day or two after we return!

It's hard to say what Gideon would prefer; all the experts say having a cat sitter come visit your home daily is ideal (it's also less expensive), but I wonder if we'd be getting the same treatment from him (or perhaps worse) if he'd been boarded? For sake of ease though, I think we'll just keep the status quo for when we go away next month for about the same length of time, armed with wand toys for when we return!