As others have suggested, you should ask where the pets sleep BUT we ask every time and are currently on a house sit where we were told by the female homeowner that they didn’t sleep in the room. They do.
When we met the male owner 3 days before the sit, he said we should be prepared for the cats sleep in the room and that they would paw and meow at the bedroom door if we closed it. There is a cat bed under our bed and they climb on the bed too.
There was no opportunity for us to pull out of the sit (when we found out about the sleeping arrangements) as we are in a foreign country and the cost of accommodation at short notice is extreme.
People will not always tell the truth and I really think the Welcome Guide needs to become more of a ‘contract’ that is seen before agreeing to a sit. It should (in my opinion) have tick boxes concerning sleeping arrangements and other issues (one of these cats also regularly vomits and has diarrhea) that were not revealed in the interview in which we asked these questions.
@SitNShine The easiest way to avoid the circumstances you describe is to casually say during the video chat (when you ask about where the pet sleeps) that you sleep with the door closed to pets. Someone with a pet(s) who sleeps in their room will probably balk at that.
That’s a good idea about the welcome guide being viewed before accepting with a clear tick list.
I had a welcome guide arrive once with what to do if the dog got impacted an*l glands, and also about cooking it human like meals from scratch if it had a bad tummy which was not mentioned before.
I didn’t think to ask about the cats bedtime behaviour as to be honest, I’ve sat a lot of cats and I’ve never been expected to sleep with one, as the owners like undisturbed sleep too.
That’s interesting, because I’ve done 19 sits, with about half with cats (or cats and dogs), and a number of cats have slept with me.
In one of those cases, one of the cats slept with me on my first night, even though his humans were still home, before flying out the next morning. He was supposed to be skittish and apparently wasn’t.
Once their humans left, he and his brother slept with me every night, except for one — the night they boycotted me after I’d stashed their food canisters so they couldn’t try to break into them. They were food marauders.
I always sleep with the door open, so pets can roam. In one case, a skittish cat perched above the bed and stared at me suspiciously as I fell asleep. I woke the next morning and she was on the bed, rubbing up against me. She stayed skittish, but on some nights would curl up on a pillow on the bed. I let her decide how and when she’d engage.
On another sit, I won over a skittish cat and he ended up sleeping with me. He loved getting brushed once warmed up. When I laid down on the bed, he’d give me gentle pats, as if combing my hair. He must’ve thought, since he loved getting brushed, that I must, too.
When I sit cats who are skittish and I wake at night for the bathroom, I announce that I’m getting up and put on a light. That way, I avoid startling them or accidentally stepping on them.
@Maggie8K I appreciate your reply but you have missed the point I was making. As I mentioned, we specifically asked the owners if the cats slept in the bedroom and they stated that they didn’t in our interview/video. When we arrived to meet them 3 days before the sit, the other homeowner advised the opposite and that the cats did sleep in the bedroom and we found a cat bed under the bed.
When an owner openly states one thing and the reality is the opposite, advice on how to negotiate having the bedroom door closed is not needed. Sitters tend to be one side of the fence or the other over cats in bedrooms, so I was suggesting it would be handy if TH provided that as a stated option on listings prior to sits.
No, it was clear that you’re saying that some hosts lie. I was saying that even liars will be more likely to balk if a sitter says explicitly that they close the door and don’t sleep with pets. Why: The liars hope that sitters will cave. And you want to be clear that you’re not one of those.
I hear you, owners are going to hold back on stuff either way for sure but if you have it stated in the listing then you have recourse for cancelling the sit.
At present, only the homeowner can cancel the sit and TH make it very clear that if you cancel a sit having agreed one, it can have a negative impact on your status and owners can leave you a bad review.
If you have clearer terms specified and agreed, then you have more leverage in cancelling a sit. TH is very weighted on the side of the homeowner at present.
I appreciate you don’t know all the circumstances but we had already stated to the owners we don’t have pets in the bedroom and would be closing the doors. It didn’t balk them.
There’s no guaranteed way that works with every host. That’s true of all humans.
On this forum, we share suggestions that might work with different people. If you’ve already tried it and it doesn’t work, shrug, maybe it will work with someone else. I’m not expecting anyone to take suggestions as gospel or as a personal assault on them.
If you find my comments offensive, there’s a feature by which you can mute individuals. Please mute me if you see fit. That’s entirely in your control, for your own uses.
It sounds like the cat likes human companionship at night. Yes, cats are nocturnal, but most cats (especially the cuddly ones) enjoy cuddling up with humans as they go to bed. Then they will proceed to make their rounds throughout the night. Eating, checking on house, looking for critters to stalk outside, potty, etc. If you shut the cat out, of course it will meow…it is looking for attention. Doesn’t mean it will keep you up all night with the zoomies or whatnot. Just wants to say hello and maybe get some scratches.
I can imagine how impactful this experience is for you! In my experience, pets generally behave differently when they are not with their pawrents. Example, one pet parents kindly let me know before agreeing to sit that their cat would be waking me up every morning at 6AM to be fed. This actually wasn’t my experience, even though I was prepared for this, and he waited until I woke up with the exception of one day out of 3 weeks. So in general, I take pawrents communications seriously but, I also take into consideration their habits and patterns may change when they are not with their primary care takers. I do communicate any varience in pet behavior to the pawrents immediately, with a calm/positive energy, to be transparent and so there are no surprises.
I agree, humans are humans and will individually do what they want but my point was answering the original post of whether this matter (cats in bedrooms) should be stated on the listing. And if humans are going to be humans, having it stated on the listing would provide leverage to the sitter in such circumstances, either to cancel or to change the set-up.
I can put you on ignore if you need me to but I’ve simply been discussing this issue with you and clarifying your misunderstandings. I’m not sure that it was necessary to mention board etiquette.
I hope you are honest about this in your review. Please clearly state that even though you asked about it and the HOs said no, the cats are expected to sleep with the sitters. Future sitters deserve to know both that the HOs are liars and that the cats will expect to sleep with them.
As an animal empath I would feel horrible hearing the cat cry. The cat will sleep at the edge of your bed and not bother you. If it decided to leave in the middle of the night and sleep somewhere else, I doubt you will hear him jump off the bed. Cats just like it to be their decision where they sleep. I doubt if it will be jumping on your face. This cat will just keep meowing as he obviously sleeps with the owner.
My favourite housesitters that I’ve had the pleasure of hosting many times had a cute request the first time I interviewed them. “Will the pets share the bed?” I asked if that was a problem for them and she answered “Oh no, we choose sits where we get to share with the pets, we love it”
I can empathise with the people that don’t like it, but as pet-sitters, it’s safe to assume that sharing sleeping space with pets will occur from time to time.
They were food marauders.