Trip

Question
I have a 4-year-old female Abby who adores me but hides from everyone else because she is scared to death of strangers. When I travel, I have a neighbor (who NEVER sees her!) come in to feed her. I am about to be away for 2 weeks and was thinking of having a friend stay in my apartment, but am worried she might be upset at the idea of someone other than me being here permanently, sleeping in my bed, etc. What do you think? Thanks!

Answer
Its hard to say really. She may - after a few days acclimating - come to realize this person is there to be kind and feed her and be ok with it. When you have other people visit briefly or your neighbor just look in on her, she is never really given more thna minutes or hours as the case may be and that may not be enough time for her personality to accept them. So she seems to hide form everyone all the time - but she might not if you had a friend stay with you for a week for example. I can't predict with certainty that she will react badly to your friend apartment sitting - it could have the opposite effect and comfort her once she adjusts to this person being kind and feeding her. No matter what her ultimate reaction will be, for the first couple days she will surely hide. But after that, it could go either way. Sorry I can't say for sure but personally I think having your friend stay is worth a try since it could be a positive experience just as likely as not.