Eventful first day on a house sit!

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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We are on our first international sit in France. Our first day was quite eventful, especially as we only arrived at midday.

As the home owner was giving us the tour, she was telling us that the 11 month old terrier puppy Lilli has some resource guarding behaviours around fresh meat / bones. They don’t give her bones any more and she eats kibble, but she is a hunter and won’t want to give up whatever she has caught (don’t worry, this behaviour was disclosed in advance). Right on cue, Lilli enters the garden carrying something rather large. Is it a rabbit? Asked the home owner. No, it was great big, fat (and thankfully very dead) rat! It is always helpful when the pets display their normal behaviours right from the start!

Next, it was time to demonstrate how to give Marcel the cat his insulin injection, and to check on a cut he had acquired a couple of days before we arrived. The insulin injection seemed straightforward, helped by the fact that he is an incredibly placid cat. As the homeowner applied antiseptic spray to Marcel’s wound, and we discussed whether to get the vet to look at it, there was a loud thud as my older son fainted and hit the floor! As I was concentrating on Marcel, I had completely forgotten that Will doesn’t like blood, wounds or needles! Fortunately the home owner was very understanding, as she used to be much the same when she was younger.

It was decided to get the vet to check the cat’s injury, but the first available appointment was after the homeowner had left to get her train. So I found myself in a french vets, helping a veterinary nurse to hold poor Marcel still, while the vet shaved the area and removed all the fur from his wound. The 2 options were to:-

  1. give Marcel anaesthetic and stitch up the wound (at a future appointment as he would not be allowed to eat beforehand and his insulin would have to be reduced accordingly).

  2. Leave the wound to heal naturally.

The vet spoke to the homeowner and option 2 was chosen.

My medical vocabulary in french is now quite extensive!

Marcel is normally an outdoor kitty, but is now installed in the master bedroom with access to a litter tray. He now has to take antibiotic tablets in addition to his insulin. Thank goodness he is a very gentle, placid kitty.

The homeowner has arranged with the vet to pay any fees on her return.

Anyone else had an eventful first day on a sit?!

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Thank goodness that you had an attentive HO.
I do hope that your son is still not on the floor!

Our first sitting was in January 2010, had never spoken to the owner, but he rang a few days before to check whether we could still make the 250 mile journey as most places were snowed in.
We said yes of course. He then said, as we didn’t have a 4x4 car, we would not be able to make the last couple of miles. So he arranged to meet us in a farmer’s layby and transfer our belongings into his 4x4. Our car stayed there.
We then walked everywhere for 3 days before the road was accessible.
It was great fun

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Well it was certainly eventful!
I had a very stressful first day once but I wouldn’t call it eventful. It was more the anticipation of a possibly eventful week, given the rate of warnings per minute l was receiving. I was worried sick and didn’t sleep a wink that first night.
Luckily enough, it was not an eventful week. It wasn’t a pleasant sit either but it wasn’t the dog’s fault. He’s the Vizsla I mentioned and we bonded quickly. He, actually behaved much better when the owners left. But that first day I had to take off my glasses and earrings, the dog kept jumping at me and pawing at my face.

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You sound like the perfect sitter, cool, clam and collected. From other posts I often see here I can’t understand how some sitters can lace their own shoes. Maybe that’s why slip ons were invented.

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WHooooaaa - ymmd!

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@Debbie

None of my first day sits hardly compare to what you have experienced. You have gracefully handled: A pup with a dead rat, your son fainting, and an outdoor cat with a cut that you took to the vet.

Is this a diabetic cat needing daily insulin injections?

Why didn’t the HO take the cat to the vet when the cut first happened?

It would seem that the HO would have taken the cat to the vet prior to your arrival. Fortunately, you were able to cover the cost. And as well the HO should—reimburse you for vet costs.​

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Props for your handling your eventful first day in stride, Debbie! You set a great example for your boys as well!

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@sharondc Yes, the cat is diabetic and requires twice daily insulin injections. My elderly mother is diabetic and manages her own injections, so I figured that it couldn’t be too difficult! I had thought about the possibilty of giving insulin injections to a pet on a housesit, and decided that this would be something I would be prepared to do. So I was happy to take this responsibility on after we had duscussed it in the video call. And Marcel genuinely is as gentle and placid as his owner said!

This being rural France, the vet clinic is closed Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, and also closes over lunchtime. We arrived Monday lunchtime. There was perhaps a small window of opportunity to get the cat to the vet before the home owner left, had she contacted the vet first thing Monday morning. However she would have been getting ready for our arrival and her departure and preparing lunch for us all, so perhaps ran out of time. She did try to get an appointment before she left.

I haven’t incurred any costs as the homeowner has arranged for thr vet to invoice her on her return.

@Itchyfeet Yes, Will is no longer off the floor, and excused from any medical duties for the remainder of the sit!

It was all a good learning opportunity!

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Well done for getting through that! I hope that your son didn’t hurt himself when he fainted and that you all have a good first international sit from now on! That puppy sounds a handful!

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I had a sit with a diabetic cat and was promised instructions before the owners left. They were very disorganised and everything was very last minute. They were due to catch a train at 1pm and at 12.30 one of them had to go the vet to collect insulin. They gave me a 2 minute instruction and said wait till the cat is asleep and do it then. They left as the train was coming into the station at the end of the road. I was there 4 days the first time I tried to do the injection the cat just rolled over on his back so I couldn’t get to his neck but I was able to do it when he was tucked up in his bed. They didn’t tell me that around 3am he wants to drink from the bath tap and wailed until it was turned on. All was well but they didn’t leave a review, a couple of months later the husband wrote and asked me to go again and they would do a review in return. I declined.

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Our cat recently had an ugly wound. He’s indoors and we have since theorized it probably happened when he was being a ____ to another cat (We have 3) and the other cat must have swiped him and gotten lucky as it was ugly but not deep and we were home when it happened and didn’t see or hear a fight. (There’s never been blood spilled before.)

In any case, it was a Saturday afternoon and we rushed him to our local backup vet, while calling our “real” vet – my nephew. He got a an anti-biotic injection good for two weeks and we were given the “heal sooner” with stitches speech, but went for leaving it alone. It healed very quickly. We absolutely made the right choice and saved several hundred dollars!

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Cats get used to injections quickly so this whole methodolgy makes no sense to me. Plus per the label instructions I think you are supposed to give the insulin after eating. I had a much easier experience with a diabetic cat recently who seemed to wait for her twice daily shots and was fine with them. I give one of my cats occassional b12 shots as he has chronic IBS and the shots help. It’s easier than pilling and he basically knows it is a one-second sensation.

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Wow @Debbie , you and the boys will remember your first international sit!! Thank goodness you have a caring and organised owner and you’re responsible, caring and experienced sitters. Do hope Marcel’s injury heals quickly and you all enjoy your time in France.

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Of course, but the post was about first day arrival challenges. If I was leaving someone with a diabetic cat I would have had the insulin supply there ready and certainly give more than 2 minutes of instructions.

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Oh yeah, that was sprung on you, and they were really disorganised. Shame on them.

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@Itchyfeet Had a similar sit back in Minnesota in March. Usually the last big snowfall is the 3rd week of March (state HS ice hockey tourney) so I was comfortable sitting at the very end. I’d lived in Minnesota for 14 years but moved away in 1991.
Of course with the crazy weather in the world about 3 inches of snow fell. The HO had already agreed that I could drive their 4x4. And spent the afternoon plowing out the drive way (about 500 yards long) from the road to the house.
I went to the grocery store to stock up in case we got another big snow. Fortunately didn’t and the 2 big dogs just loved frolicking in the snow.

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@Debbie Well managed. Hope Will is okay!

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So you would only deserve your review on your second sit. Nice offer!

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Yes too busy apparently!!

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@Debbie hope the rest of your sit goes much more smoothly!

I had a slightly chaotic first “day” at a sit when my suitcase did not arrive with me and then there was a bit of a hassle with the rental car, so I arrived an exhausted mess at 1 a.m. and got the HOs out of bed :flushed: They knew I was coming but hadn’t got the “I’m delayed” message. They were very nice about it though, and lovely people. (Normally I would get an Airbnb or hotel the night of arrival after a long travel day, but this was a last-minute sit and there wasn’t time.)
The second chaotic “first day” was with HOs who were still packing and not really sure when they’d be leaving (flying standby) and there was a tornado warning in the middle of all this. We had to figure out how to protect 2 cars from possible hail with only 1 garage :laughing:

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