Dear forum. I have had a day of real disturbance by an owners attitude to me taking responsiblity for the health and wellbeing of her animal. I read the brief and was all set to deliver my 5 star care to her two cats. The brief said must be used to administering medication to pets, and that her cat has had a few seizures which we are keeping an eye on with medication. Went to meet the family early as i lived nearby. Not an issue. Then today two days before the sit it was declared that the cat was off its food and has had a series of seizures. The vet was called and they said best to keep the cat on a gluten free diet. The cat is seemingly off its food. So alarm bells rang i wasnt comfortable, expressing that to the owner and said I was going to seek advice from THS. So after a good discussion with the moderator it was decided I would communicate that I had to withdraw from this sit owing to new developments. ie. the cat was unwell and off its food and is has been having seizures. The owner saying dont worry if it goes hungry. ??? So now ive been having bullying and negative backlash from the owner. and i feel very upset this evening for taking responsiblity for an animal that I was not âqualified to care forâ. thank you for listening.
You did the right thing. I got a 9 page email regarding a cat I was going to sit for locally. I had met the owners and the 2 cats a couple of months before all fine then. They told me a week before on the email one cat was very ill and was under all sorts of restrictions including hardly being able to move and if it needed the vet I was to take it and pay on my credit card. I withdrew and they were very cross and then sent me a pleading email to come. I didnât go and also I would never have left a very sick animal to go on holiday
Sounds like an unreasonable and unpleasant host. You donât have to deal with them further if the sit has been canceled.
If theyâre still contacting you, you can refer them to membership services and tell them you wonât communicate with them further. Then block contact or ignore further messages from them.
And if theyâre bullying, abusive or such, take screenshots of such msgs and contact THS membership services and tell them you want to launch a member dispute.
If the sit hasnât been canceled, contact THS immediately and ask them to cancel for you, given the surprise pet health info:
Youâve done the right thing. Seems like this pet would require medical help or a paid sitter being «off food» and with seizures.
Pet health conditions changing at the last minute is something that canât be predicted, itâs just one of those things the OWNERS need to deal with. Not the sitter, unless they choose to.
Unbelievable. I feel very fortunate not to have come across such owners thus far.
I do hope you report this ownerâs attitude to THS. I canât understand leaving a pet with such health issues
Hi @Tara67
You are well within your rights to back out of a sit where a pet suddenly needs a lot more care than you originally agreed to. I did a sit for a cat that suddenly had seizures. Itâs very stressful and required me sitting with said pet for a couple of hours until they were fully with me.
Please report the HO to member services as they have no place being on THS.
Although we can never tell what will transpire between accepting a sit and the sit itself, I hope never to come across an owner who chooses to travel knowing that their âbelovedâ animal is very sick. It would take every cell in my body to not let lose with what I think about such peopleâŠWhy do they even have animals !?!
You were correct to cancel. I am dealing with 2 young kittens now that developed seizures very soon after they went to adoptive homes. Understandably, the adopters returned the cats to me. I have spent about US$1300 on the past few days at vets, the worst kitten is incontinent and pooping everywhere (contained, of course), we still donât know the cause and I canât continue to fund testing :frowning_face
I took these without rescue backing to get them out of an overcrowded, unsanitary, foster home and now I am stuck.
I am venting here, but the point is that seizures can be messy and expensive.
Please make sure to take screenshots of all messages between you and the HO in case you lose them.
I am so sorry about your poor kittens, Lassie. I hope that you get some answers and that they have long and happy lives.
Dear group. So happy to hear youâre responses. I was quite upset with this situation as I fundamentally care for all the animals Iâve taken care of but this didnât feel right. Much love Tara x