Hi, my sit is scheduled December 23rd to January 5th. A week before I was supposed to arrive the pet owner told me the indoor/outdoor cat was missing, after 10 days he was found, (about 3 days before my sit was to begin). The homeowner had asked me to do the sit whether he had been found or not, which I thought was a good idea in case the he returned.
So here is my dilemma, I asked the pet parent when I should worry if this indoor/outdoor cat didn’t return, I was told if he didn’t come home for breakfast that was a red flag. The H/O has an apple tracker on the cat, but I do not have an Apple phone which she was aware of when I accepted the sit. On Christmas morning, 2 days into the sit, the cat did not return for breakfast, the local emergency contact who has an Apple phone & I searched neighbouring apartment buildings pressing all the buzzers until we were let in, 3 hours later we found the cat. This was of course stressful for all involved. 3 days later the cat did not appear for breakfast again, the local emergency contact was unavailable, so I searched without the aid of the Apple app, after 2 hours of searching in the morning, I stopped and resumed my search in the late afternoon with the local contact giving me location information via what’s app. I again had to press every buzzer to be let into various apartment buildings until I again found the cat. New Year’s Eve I kept the cat inside as I was told he is frightened by fireworks, but the homeowner told me to allow him out if he really wanted to go. At 2:00 a.m. and again at 4:00 a.m. he tried to get out, fearing he probably had to go to the washroom I let him out at 4:00 a.m., he did not come back for breakfast, New Year’s Day morning. I found him while I was doing an initial sweep of the neighborhood, brought him in fed him breakfast, but he has not returned for dinner. What is my obligation in terms of searching for this cat. There was no mention of his wanderings in the listing. I think this is new behavior since he went missing for the 10 days. My Christmas day, New Year’s day, and just an average day have been taken up with feelings of stress and anxiety, and searching other people’s apartment buildings. I suggested making him an indoor cat until she returns, she said he would get angry and wouldn’t put up with that. I’m curious what the group thinks is my responsibility for searching for this cat on a regular basis and going into neighbouring apartment buildings. Feeling frustrated and stressed.
Either the cat should be indoors only, whilst a sitter is there, or if outdoors is the choice, then cat should be able to come and go as they please, but you should not be expected to look for the cat.
Is there no litter box inside? I’d just keep the cat in regardless of what the HO says. I know a meowing cat is annoying, but less so than having to constantly search for a cat that is probably really freaked out by all this and more prone to staying away than if it was hos person chasing after him.
I sit for both indoor only and indoor/outdoor cats. There is always a chat about this with hosts that begins with what do I do if the cat doesn’t come back. In this case I wouldn’t have taken the sit. This is going to be an issue for the homeowner even with paid sitters who aren’t going to take a job that includes the possibility of their time being taken up searching for a cat. It does sound stressful.
Not sure about advice, but as letting the cat out hasn’t worked well for you and the homeowner doesn’t want you to keep the cat in, it would seem the choices are telling the homeowner you don’t want to continue and/or the only way you can continue is to keep the cat in. This means that the homeowner might leave you a lousy review. It means you might leave the homeowner a lousy review. It means the two of you might have a talk at the end of the sit about reviews and come to some kind of agreement. But the main thing is the cat will be alive and well and not missing in action when you leave!
Adding: If indeed there is no litter pan in the house, the owner needs to pay for one as a condition of your staying.
From what you’ve said I wouldn’t be spending time looking for the cat as it seems she’ll come back when she wants to. It’s very unreasonable of the owner not to allow you to keep the cat in. Make sure you write an honest review
As an owner of an indoor/outdoorcat, this is one reason we only use THS for our dog at this point: we don’t trust one of the cats to come home on time when we’re not around, and it would be unfair for the sitter to worry about him going missing.
In this case, as you’ve there only couple of days more, keeping the cat inside might be an answer to the problem, if there’s a litter tray.
But keeping a cat, that is used to going outside, inside can cause some serious health problems, including idiopathic cystitis (stress cystitis), so it’s not always the best answer.
@Sue-Kevin, for context as experienced housesitters then we have primarily looked after dogs but certainly quite a few cats too.
I’d support guidance by @Marion.
Seems that you have been placed in a situation likely to fail. Perhaps Pet Parent using housesitter in aspirational role beyond pet care. Say to train pets or to remediate behavioural challenges. Nope, nope, nope. Not the role of a housesitter! We’ve seen this with dogs, ugh, but not with cats.
A recent THS Forum thread re unexpected dog aggression on walks seemed to conclude a solution to not walk dogs unless safe. Perhaps the solution here is similar - if cat can’t be trusted to return home then remove outdoor access. Privileges, if abused, can be revoked.
In my opinion you can cancel the sit if you don’t get this sorted if you want to. This is not disclosed and highly affect your sit experience.
It is a red flag if the cat doesn’t come for breakfast - but I don’t think that that red flag necessarily lead to you having to use your days looking for the cat getting buzzed in in various apartment buildings where you are not a resident. I would find that highly uncomfortable, although it can vary between locations whether that is frowned upon/ breaching terms.
I would say the host would need to get a solution.
Cat indoor, if applicable buying a cat toilet
Emergency person looking for cat
Getting a collar with phone number for said cat (so someone can contact you if found rather than you out and looking for cat)
Not looking for cat so often - give more time. If the cat is in the neighborhood, that could be a solution also. It seems he is around, and not lost as such?
I honestly believe this is new behavior caused by his 10 days he was missing. The homeowner was only home 2 days before I arrived. The first day we found him in someone’s apartment, they had one of his old ‘missing’ posters and had messaged the owner, but due to the time change she didn’t get the message until well after we found him. I added a message to the cat’s tag saying not to keep him and not to feed him that he is found and put my email address.
Both the homeowner and the cat are lovely, I think this is unusual and stressful for all of us.
I definitely don’t think that is the case in this regard. The homeowner and cat are both lovely, and based on previous reviews this was not an issue. I think this stems from him going missing for 10 days just before I arrived.
I don’t want to cancel the sit, the homeowner is a lovely person, who tried to set me up for success, and the first week of her 2 week holiday, she and her partner became very ill, they have had enough to deal with without me cancelling. I have begun to wait before looking, and spend less time looking, but this doesn’t help my stress level. Only 3 days to go. I feel like the cat just wants me to stay home all day, and not leave it all.
I think you’ve been managing this situation really well and gone over and above what most other sitters would likely do. It’s also nice to hear how understanding you are. The owners are lucky to have had you.
Half the cats we’ve watched are indoor outdoor cats. During the application process, I ask what the protocols and responsibilities are if the cats do not return. I always worry that they will get eaten or ran over by a car. But what I won’t do is change their daily routine. I either accept or decline. I did have to knock on doors once when an elderly cat with bad hips disappeared but luckily she returned by dinner. After that sit, my application questions got more specific.
I know it’s a really anxious time waiting for cats to return, fortunately the longest we’ve had to wait is 48hours before it returned, which was normal for that particular cat.
The cat is obviously being fed by others, so personally in your situation with multiple buildings to investigate I would suggest to the owner that you buy a cat lead to walk the cat outside instead, and keep it indoors the rest of the time, and I’d offer to pay for it so that they say yes to the idea.
I would not stress too much - the cat is staying local - if it gets hungry it will return.
Personally I don’t do sits with indoor cats ( or rabbits!) - they are living creatures who need fresh air and interaction - just as we do!
Cats often exhibit this type of behaviour - they may have softened up a neighbour or made a friend to visit - as they say - cats have staff - sometimes more than you know….!
