I'm interested in owning a pet. Can anyone share their tips on taking care of a pet when you're away from the house for 3-4 days at a time? Thanks!

 

A cat can be left alone (NOT a kitten) for up to 5-6 days. Just leave several bowls of dry food, water and ice cubes--and of course, clean litter box or two.

Dogs are not a good fit unless you have someone to come in several times a day to walk/or let it out and feed it.

 

A kennel or a pet sitter would seem to be your only *real* options.
I do the kennel thing myself.

USMCFLYR

 

I know a lot about it unfortunately. 6 years ago I did only desk jobs so I got a cat to make my home more friendly. Then I got laid off in 2009 from the desk job, and decided to promote my pilot career and care of the pet became a big burden. Mother didn't want him so I got a cat sitter to visit him every other day at $10 a pop, which worked ok (just ok) during road trips. Then when I went for airline training there was no place to put him at all, so he went to a kennel which was $250 a month. Kennels are like jail for animals, very hard on them. I am lucky in my cat is as patient as he is with all the foster care he has received, and it has not been good for his mental health as he was much more friendly before the career change. By all means avoid having pets until you have a permanent home with someone living there 24/7 (wife, girlfriend) to take care of it. Also you'd be surprised how resistant your family is to accepting your pet so you can run off to pilot school. They do not want any extra pets. You'll seriously consider other ways top get rid of it and go through a lot of fuss before its over. If you are like me you can't just get rid of the little family member, which puts the animal in a variety of uncomfortable arrangements. Young pilots do not go well with pets.

 

A hermit crab will be cool with your comings and goings.

 

Fish tank with an automatic feeder.

 

If it eats while you are gone you don't need it.

Wisdom from a senior widebody captain I once flew with.

 

Get a girlfriend that already has a pet.

 

Find a nice outdoor pet that feeds itself.

 

My girlfriend is a veterinarian. When she was hospitalized, I cared for the animals she had been treating in her home, but then Hurricane Katrina arrived. I ended up evacuating a dog, 8 cats, and 5 kittens, all in one car. When I reached an area where cellphones worked, I called her and she said: "What? All I can hear is meowing and yowling."
I said: "That's not the cats ....that's me!"