@SergeantQueen, you can’t just leave a cat with a little box for more than a day. You have to pluck the contents out of the box and dispose of it, and sometimes add more litter if it gets too wet.
Also, they need to be fresh food every day. If you leave extra food sitting out, it gets stale, or draws ants and flies, especially if they eat both wet and dry food. They also need fresh water every day.
Unlike the stereotypes about cats as being completely uninterested in their human owners, I have found that to be far from the case. They need and want attention and company, just not in the same way as a dog. All the cats I’ve owned and cared for followed me around the house, liked to sit on my lap, liked to sleep right up against me in bed, and most if them liked to occassionally be picked up ir have their bellies rubbed. All of them liked to have their ears rubbed and their chins scratched.
Cats also tend to throw up from hairballs, or from nibbling grass, or from just eating too much food too quickly. They upchuck more often than dogs, as a normal part of being a cat, rather than with dogs who mostly puke if they are sick, although cats puke when they are sick too.
I would never leave my own cat alone. Animals can have accidents or emergencies just like dogs, and kids.