The other nominal reason for taking vacation is to take care of the cats while my wife is out of town. You need to understand that these cats are as spoiled as I am about food. So the 6 regular cats (Adah, Bullet, Harry, Hillard, Lorenzo, Tabby) need outside and inside dry food and water as needed. Some kinds of dry food they finish in a morning. Others they do not seem to like at all. The Wiskas is the most popular (needs the 3rd filling today now) and the Friskies Seafood is the least.
Elvis, the blind cat needs wet and dry food in the morning and after his walk. He goes on a walk for about half-an-hour each afternoon. We tap or drag a stick of wood to make a sound. Sometimes he follows the sound of the stick and sometimes he does not. We are not sure how well (or even if) he hears. When he does not follow the stick, he seems to home in on the storm drains on the cul-de-sac. If he should fall into one of these, I am not sure what would become of him so I try to steer him away. But, as I said, he seems to home on them. He also needs his litter box changed a lot.