Leaving my pets for vacation for the first time.

As long as we had a house sitter, our pets were ok with our being gone. The one exception was our cockatiel. A close friend kept him at her house for us while we went to the beach one year. He was alright for about a week, but then he grew more and more depressed. After 10 days, he stopped eating! As soon as I heard that, we left for home right away! When we walked in, Opie started screeching and running all over the cage. We had to take turns holding him until he snuggled in. Some pets just can't stand not having you with them. I don't know any remedy for separation anxiety.