It would be remiss of me not to direct you to the Mayhew Animal shelter which is the charity annafdd volunteers at. They have lots of cats who need homes - and you might want to foster one for a while to see if cats suit you.

I would worry about leaving my cat for four days even though he only eats dry food and I can leave enough water for that length of time. I wouldn't think bad of you if you did it though :-)