We do up to about 6 or 7 days. I often joke I'm not responsible enough to own a dog, and if I was going to get a dog, I might as well just have kids. The idea of having to find a way to take care of the dog when you want to go out of town is definitely a little anxiety-producing.

I guess the other side of that is you can often take a dog or kids with you in the car or train but with a cat it’s a bit trickier. That being said my mum used to throw (kinda literally) the cat in the back of the car when I was a kid and we’d drive 2 hours to my grandmas place. The cat didn’t seem to care much and went to sleep.

A dog on the train? In what country and what dog size?

Pretty normal in Europe, at least where I live for dogs to be on public transport and regional trains.

Edit: just double checked the rules for the ICE (regional fast train), if it fits in a carrier it's free of charge, a bigger dog you have to buy a child ticket for.

For the UK:

https://www.seat61.com/dogs-by-train.htm

> This bit is easy. You can take dogs, cats and other small animals with you free of charge on all British trains, up to a maximum of two per passenger, as long as they do not endanger or inconvenience passengers or staff. Dogs must be kept on a lead at all times unless contained in a basket. Dogs without leads, cats, birds and small animals must be carried in an enclosed basket, cage or pet carrier which must be rigid and not open (to prevent escape) and the animal able to stand and lie down in comfort. Animals and containers must not occupy seats, otherwise a charge may be made. If you want to use a Caledonian Sleeper to or from Scotland, you'll need to pay a fee, see here. For full details of dog & pet regulations on British trains see www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger services/luggage animals.html.

In what country can't you?

You can in the UK. Any size. They can’t sit on the seat though.

How do you deal with litter boxes?

Clean before the trip, clean after trip? It probably depends on the cat, but in case of ours, the litterbox can stay untouched for a week before it starts pooping outside of it.

(However, we always arrange for someone to take an active care of the cat, including cleaning its litterbox, if we have to leave for more than 3 days.)

so- we have a large "concrete mixing tub" we use as a litterbox for the 2 cats. it's roughly 36" x 24". It's in a 2-level wooden enclosure my father-in-law built just outside our house, with a cat door connecting it to the interior of our house.

No reason it couldn't be used inside, of course, but it would eventually smell more inside, versus a smaller box you scoop more frequently. (of course, you can scoop a large box frequently too, it just takes longer).

I tell myself I scoop it twice a week, but to be honest, it often ends up being more like "weekly", on garbage day.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plasgad-Black-Large-Concrete-Mix...

Once during college, I lived with roommates (and girlfriend) who loved cats. Think we had 3-4 indoor cats at one point and some other strays outside they liked to feed.

We had 3 litter boxes and they had to be scooped daily or they quickly became disgusting.

My point was that cats still need upkeep and it's really not fair to leave them living in filth for a week at a time just because someone can set up an auto-feeder.

Any pet is going to be an inconvenience if properly cared for. Doesn't mean a person can't travel, but as mentioned they will likely need to ask or pay someone to come and check on the pets.

Giant litter box is helpful but still needs to be regularly scooped.

If someone can invent a feasible self cleaning litter box (or a good way to toilet train a cat) I would love to have a cat pet, but right now the idea of them using dirty litter boxes and walking on every surface in the house is just too unappealing.

My friend did that. His cat ate all the food in a single sitting and was both fat and almost dead from not eating for two days.

It doesn't work if you normally don't let your cat choose their meal times. But cats do develop food intelligence unlike dogs and will only eat what they need - the key is they have to have a reliable expectation that food is always available.

An automatic feeder helps - since getting one there's always good in my cats bowl but she only eats a little at a time.

Ahem, my dog will not eat and save his food for later when he's had too much food lately - I think that's what you're referring to as food intelligence.

He often does this by burying the chicken drumstick under dirt and leaves, which I think is not uncommon for dogs.

Cat don't become fat from single large meal.

Your cat isn't diabetic, I guess.