Myself and my husband have been sitting on and off for a few years now, and we’re currently on our 7th sit on THS. Before this, we used MindMyHouse, and only had one bad experience on there.
We’re currently just over 4 weeks in to a 6 week sit, looking after 3 elderly pets (1 dog and 2 cats). When we arrived, we could tell instantly that the house was dirty and there was an awful smell coming from the lounge area where the dog slept.
The first 3 nights, we were kept awake by the dog barking continuously throughout the night and she just wouldn’t settle no matter what we tried. She appeared to be distressed and possibly showing signs of senility, which had not been mentioned by the owner. We contacted him and he had me calling up his vet and a pharmacist to try and get her sedatives, which as I thought, were not something they would allow, and I didn’t really feel comfortable sedating her anyway. He then agreed that taking her to a kennel for 6 weeks was the best option. So we drove her to the kennels, which was out of town, and there was no mention of being reimbursed for fuel.
I then had to contact him again multiple times to tell him that there was a flea problem in the house. I had looked at other forum posts where sitters agreed that this was not their responsibility to sort out and I feel the same. Flea bombing a house is a huge task after all. Still, we used the products found under his sink after he unapologetically asked us to do so. We have now done this twice and the problem is still ongoing. The products were cheap ones, so I suspect that’s why they weren’t effective. I have found fleas on both cats, despite him telling us that he used a flea treatment before he left. Because of this, we have had to limit access to parts of the house for them, such as where we sleep and eat as we were being eaten alive whenever they were around.
We are now worried about the cat with a thyroid problem. We fear she may have experienced heat exhaustion from the recent hot weather. She tends to spend a lot of time outside in the long grass, even in the rain. She was frail looking when we arrived, but she has now become disorientated and has been eating grass and has thrown up. I have shut her indoors and made her up a bed next to some water. She has been drooling and sneezing a lot too. I have contacted the owner to let him know and ask him what he wants us to do for her. I’m keeping a very close eye on her until I hear back. He also doesn’t seem to have a cat carrier, and I know the cat’s welfare comes first, but should my car be infested with fleas, who is going to pay to have it sorted? I get the impression he doesn’t like parting with his money.
What he didn’t tell us, until we arrived was that his vet is a 50 mile round trip, and there has never been any mention of being reimbursed for fuel costs. From the beginning, we both feel that he hasn’t been entirely honest about much, including the behavior of the animals and the state of the house. There is a leak from a radiator, which needs to maintained with rags that smell bad, and this affects the boiler pressure, which we are having to adjust every couple of days. The heating also wasn’t working when we arrived, so the house was very cold. We had to clean areas of the house, including the kitchen and bathroom before we could use them, and we really wouldn’t say we are particularly fussy people. I also can’t help feeling that he doesn’t seem to understand how THS is meant to be mutually beneficial as we always seem to be treated like this is a full-time paid position and we should be grateful for the opportunity.
So, if you’re still with me after reading all of that…do you have any recommendations on how we should deal with this situation? Is it wrong to ask for fuel money for taking a cat to the vet? Would you take the cat to a more local vet? I’m also not on a position to pay for vet fees, nor is it my responsibility to!
I’ve had so many great sitting experiences, but this one has really changed my opinion on sitting in the future.
to you guys for grizzing your way through it until now. Yes you should ask for fuel reimbursement, 
. Unfortunately the onus is on the sitter to pay vets bills and claim them back if there is no account so would probably not head to a different vet or it will be harder to get cover for any costs. Additionally, you’re probably within your rights to quit as the home is “unhygenic & unclean” (don’t know the actual clause no. on the Ts & Cs but hoping 
