Kittens! New members seeking tips

Welcome to the forum @jmercer. Two kittens for a weekend sounds lovely. I’m assuming kitten number 1 is well toilet trained but as you do not have kitten number 2 will this be an issue where you will not have had him long?
Like others, as it is only for a weekend, I would think not having to deal with putting a harness on a young cat but rather just playing with them inside would be a safer option and more enjoyable for all concerned.

1 Like

Weegies are my favorite breed! I’m sure they’re absolutely stunning.

1 Like

We unfortunately can’t put a bed in the ‘guest room’ as it has a cross trainer and exercise bike in it and wouldn’t fit! (At the time we bought them we hadn’t had guests for more than two or three nights in a year). We’ve 4 “bedrooms” in total but use two of them as home offices as we both work from home.
Perhaps as @Southernsitter suggests a mattress topper for the sofa bed and offer both options.
I know we arrive back late at night too - so I’m not sure how that would work if the sitter is using our bed. (If they’re using the sofa bed they’d be very welcome to stay the extra night and leave in the morning)

Thanks Marion for the reassurance. You’re right we’ll try and get someone who knows cats and kittens. We’ve had cats for over 30 years, including kittens, though it was many years ago now. We lost our 3 elderly cats in the last 20 months. We knew they’d had long and happy lives but it’s still so hard when they go. It took us a few months to be ready but we both knew home didn’t feel like home without furry family. We had people come in and feed them (but not stay) when we were away but it’s different with older cats who have their own routines.
It’s a largish house if you’re a small kitten so we kept Lara in the room with us at night for the first week or so, to avoid her getting distressed. She has the freedom of the house now - so she chooses where she sleeps. We’ve just had a couple of stormy nights and she chose to snuggle up in bed next to me :smiling_face:

1 Like

[

12 Likes

Thank you @temba Yes Lara is well litter trained already. We visited the little boy on Saturday (he comes from the same breeder) and she said he’s already using the litter well. He’ll have been here almost a month so fingers crossed any adjustments to his new surroundings will have already happened. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

She’s gorgeous!!

1 Like

Ours too! We had wegies before and had so many happy years of fun and love.

We think so - but we’re biased :grin: She does have a lovely temperament too

1 Like

She’s an absolute beauty​:black_cat::paw_prints::heart::green_heart::purple_heart::heartbeat:

1 Like

In the sits I’ve done and in my own home if there is no full size or larger adult bed in a guest room, the sitter(s) sleep in the same bed as the homeowners. It may feel weird. When we had a paid sitter doing overnights, I was pretty clear about having her sleep on the pull out futon in the living room. And honestly, we went through a phase during COVID when there scheduled noisy work on our building and we moved out for a while leaving the futon here and it was our bed when we visited the apartment, so not uncomfortable, and an option for sitters but the only time the option was taken was when a sitter brought her elderly mom who was visiting from Italy, and mom took the bedroom and the sitter took the futon.

What you have to realize with the exchange is that the harder you make it – the least comfortable, the most hours in the house, the less the chance of finding an in demand great sitter. The exchange has to be fair and fun – a comfortable bed, space to work with high speed internet, access to the television if you have one, kitchen access including at least staples like salt, spices, oil and vinegar, coffee and tea, the ability to leave for a decent amount of time to explore the area, go for a hike, etc – just as you do in your regular life with no harm to the cats.

I suppose what I’m surprised by is the assumption that a sofa bed is uncomfortable. (The one we have and the new one we’re looking at both cost more than many cheap beds, and have sprung mattresses of a standard double bed size) Our friends and family use it without a problem.
I’m not trying to make anything hard - our home has every facility they listed for the kitchen (and plenty of stuff they didn’t list), wifi, tvs, home office someone can use etc etc. Anyway, thanks for your comments

I wouldn’t necessarily pass on a sit that required us to not leave the pet alone for more than 4 hours. It depends on the length of sit, area, season, and what we are looking to get out of a particular housesit experience. If you don’t mind if the kittens are left alone for longer periods, say once a week or twice a week on non consecutive days I would mention that in your listing. Sometimes there are one or two things we might like do in a area, like a long hike, or a touristy thing, that might require more than 4 hours.
Like others have said its not too much to ask someone to take your cat out on a harness and as long as the sofa bed is a comfortable one in a private room that would be fine with us too.

1 Like

Thanks so much for your reply @AnnaM This sit is only 4 nights, but it will be their first experience without us since we brought them home. (The trip with family & friends was booked before we knew we would have the kittens now) They’re only a few months old, so I was hoping we’d find someone who would want to play with them a bit. There are woodland walks behind the house and we completely understand people want to go out, it would just be great if it wasn’t all day every day for the whole sit.

I imagine it’s hard to leave your new baby so soon. One of our favorite housesits was with young kittens that we had to bottle feed and all that goes with that. If remember correctly they need care every few hours. I am sure you’ll find a lovely housesitter to dote on your babies.

(Attachment 20220509_193318.mp4 is missing)

7 Likes

Oh how lovely! Ours are not that tiny - they’ll be 7 months and 4 months so no specialist feeding. It’s mainly some company and more supervision than older cats would need. Our girl zooms around the house when awake and loves to play, but they do sleep a lot too.

I think we need a picture!

I’d suggest you or both of you sleep on the bed one night to see how comfy it is. That may tell you right there if you need a mattress topper or not. A good pillow is nice as well. I was on a cat sit where the home owner actually keeps extra sheets/pillows just for her sitters. I typically bring a silk pillow case to put over my pillow. For us ladies, suppose to be better for your hair and they dont leave marks on your face ! :wink: