This is someone else's cat, and that changes the decision
You are not choosing care for your own cat — you are stewarding a deployed owner's cat, in a home the cat may still be settling into, for a stretch of your own travel that sits inside a much longer absence. That adds a layer most boarding decisions never face: the owner's wishes outrank your convenience, and the owner may be unreachable for stretches when a decision cannot wait. Start by going back to whatever the owner left you. If they named a preferred cattery, a trusted sitter, or a strong view about their cat staying in the home, that preference is your starting point, and departing from it needs a clear reason you can explain when they return.
The authority question comes before the booking
Before comparing facilities, pin down what you are actually authorised to arrange. Can you sign a cattery contract for a cat you do not own, and will the cattery accept vaccination records in the owner's name with you as the contact? If the cat needs treatment while boarded or while a sitter is visiting, whose consent does the vet need, and is there written emergency authorisation from the owner covering that situation? Deployment communication gaps make this urgent rather than theoretical: a cattery or sitter who cannot reach you, and cannot reach the owner, must still know the ceiling of care the owner approved and the vet practice the cat is registered with. If that paperwork chain is incomplete, a sitter arrangement with a named local backup contact may be safer than a boarding contract you are not clearly empowered to sign.
Continuity for a cat already mid-adjustment
Consider the cat's recent history. This animal has already lost its owner's daily presence and adapted to you, your home, and your routine. A visiting sitter preserves that second, hard-won stability — same rooms, same feeding spot, same smells — with only the visitor changing. A cattery stay interrupts it again, and some cats who have already been unsettled once go off their food or withdraw more sharply the second time. On the other hand, if your trip is long, or your home will sit empty with heating and security concerns of its own, a reputable cattery's staffed, monitored environment may be more dependable than once-daily visits to an otherwise empty house. Match the length and emptiness of your absence to the option, not just the price or proximity.
Questions to ask on the owner's behalf
Interrogate both options as the owner would. Ask the cattery how they handle a cat whose owner is overseas: who receives updates, can photos be sent to the owner directly, and what happens if your return is delayed and the stay must extend — deployed households live with shifting dates, so extension flexibility matters. Ask the sitter whether they are comfortable following instructions written by an absent third party and reporting to two people, you and the owner, possibly in different time zones. In both cases, confirm the cat's microchip contact details point to someone reachable — there is little use in the chip ringing a phone that is switched off overseas.
Keep the owner's instructions intact through every hand
The risk in a chain of carers is drift: the owner's routine gets retold by you to a sitter or cattery and quietly changes shape. KinsLe helps because a Care Pass carries the owner's feeding routine, vet details, and key instructions to whoever is covering your trip in the same form the owner left them — a temporary, clear handover that keeps you a faithful middleman rather than the source of a garbled version.