Short answer: it depends almost entirely on the animal and the length of the trip. Dogs generally need a person. Cats usually do better at home. For trips up to about a week, a cat can manage with an automatic feeder plus someone visiting every two or three days. Beyond that, or for any dog, you need a daily human.
The options
Boarding
A licensed facility, staff on site, other animals around.
Good for: dogs, sociable animals, long absences, and anyone who wants professional supervision.
Less good for: most cats, who are territorial and find relocation genuinely stressful. Also the most expensive option, and it books out completely around school holidays and Eid, so reserve early.
A pet sitter or daily visits
Someone comes to your home, or stays in it.
Good for: keeping the animal in familiar territory, handling litter, water, medication and emergencies.
Less good for: cost over long periods, and reliability if it is an informal arrangement with a neighbour rather than a professional service. A fifteen minute visit is still only fifteen minutes out of twenty four hours.
An automatic feeder
Scheduled portions, dispensed whether or not anyone shows up.
Good for: consistency, removing the single most failure prone part of a pet sitting arrangement, and keeping routine stable while you are gone.
Less good for: everything a device cannot do, which is litter, water changes, medication and noticing that something is wrong.
What most UAE owners settle on
For cats: an automatic feeder for daily routine, plus a person every two or three days for litter, fresh water and a proper look at the animal. This combination is cheaper than daily visits and less stressful than boarding.
For dogs: boarding or a live in sitter. A dog left alone all day with a feeder is not an acceptable arrangement for anything beyond a normal working day.
UAE specific things that catch people out
- Air conditioning is not optional. Leaving AC off in summer is dangerous for an animal. Set a fixed safe temperature rather than a schedule, and if there is a power cut you need someone who can get in.
- Book around the holidays. Boarding and good sitters disappear during Eid, school breaks and the December period.
- Update your microchip contact number to something reachable while you are abroad.
- Authorise someone with your vet in advance, so a sitter can bring your animal in without a delay.
- Long summer absences are common here and are the situation most likely to go wrong, because they combine heat, length and distance.
Why a camera changes the calculation
The weakness of any remote arrangement is that you have no information. A jammed feeder, an untouched bowl or an animal that has stopped eating all look identical from another country. Appetite loss is one of the earliest signs of illness in cats, so being able to see the bowl is a welfare feature, not a gadget feature.
That is the main reason feeders with built in cameras get kept and used, while feeders without them often end up unplugged.
PawCast
PawCast handles scheduled and manual feeding with live video and two way audio, so you can watch the bowl, hear the room and call your pet over. It is 149 AED at the current offer price, previously 350 AED, with flat 10 AED delivery across the UAE in 4 to 5 working days, and KANU includes assisted setup at delivery. See kanu.ae/products/paw-cast-feeder.
It is a complement to a person, not a replacement for one. Any trip beyond a few days still needs someone checking in.