It is nearly six months and the cat is still missing. I’ve resigned myself to the reality I will probably never see him again.
I see the sitter had additional sits after mine. Based on the reviews, a couple went well, but several went poorly. He is no longer active with THS.
Aside from this, a HO my experiences were fine. As a sitter, I use this story to impart my desire to be that much more careful with the wellbeing of their animals.
I’m sorry to hear of your experience. It is terrible to come home to find your cat is missing.
As both a sitter and a HO, I see my first duty as ensuring the wellbeing of the cat. The sitter exercised very poor judgment in removing the glass pane that provided a barrier behind the wrought iron door. He neither asked for nor received permission from me to do this, nor did he confine the cat behind a closed door. So unlike some cats that really don’t want to be indoors and try every which way to escape (my very first cat was like that so I know the difference), this sitter’s act literally opened the door to his escape.
What do you do now when you travel and can’t take the cats with you?
I don’t agree with keeping cats locked up inside a house and not given freedom to act on their instincts. To roam, to explore, to hunt, to mate. Any cat would want to escape a cage, they are inquisitive animals that need vast amounts of stimulation. I don’t sit for indoor only cats for this very reason, they’re always looking for an opportunity to escape their dull lives.
Blaming the sitter for this inevitability is just a convenient way of shifting responsibility for the real reason why a cat grabbed its opportunity for stimulation.
Unfortunately, we’ve stopped traveling unless my parents, who are now retired, can stay at our house or the vet tech at our veterinarian’s office can watch them for us.
Be honest. The cat escaped. It was the sitters responsibility to keep them in. We are always on high alert when we care for indoor cats & dogs who might make a quick exit given a chance. If one escaped it would absolutely be our fault. Mistakes & lapses in concentration happen but it would still be our problem & I would expect to be reviewed on that basis.
I am very sorry that your cat is gone.
But as I remember it, there was an iron grid on that door. Probably it should have been foreseeable for the sitter that your cat could get through. But maybe not.
So this happened during final cleaning. Probably the glass panel had gotten smudged. That would be something that some THS owners could deduct stars for. I think that quite a few sitters on this forum would have tried to clean that panel. Without asking permission.
Yeah the cat escaped. It acted on its instincts and urges and desires and escaped its otherwise dull life trapped in a sheet rock box. Domestic cats have large territorial ranges that can extend for several blocks. They need this freedom for stimulation and they’ll do anything they can to explore. It’s probably not the first time it escaped and if it chose to come back it won’t be the last time it escapes. It’s what cat’s do. It’s called living.
To blame a sitter for this is merely shifting the blame for keeping a cat Indoors against its will. And for not allowing it outside and to explore and establish its territory. Had it been allowed that basic freedom then I’m sure it wouldn’t have gone missing but just hung around in the back yard or at the neighbors.
The only serious mistake the sitter made was applying to sit indoor only cats. Yes he foolishly took a window panel out whilst trying to fix another problem resulting from a tormented indoor cat. But that is not the primary reason why the cat escaped.
They gave up their time and cared for the hosts pets and then had a lapse of judgement whilst acting in good faith trying to clean the home in time for the host’s return. Any sitter knows this is one of the most stressful times of a sit. They feel terrible and are not able to give their side of the story here so I don’t understand how people can be so judgmental of an individual based on one side of the story whilst ignoring basic animal psychology and behaviour.
Edited to meet Community Rules; Keep it kind.
I’m very sorry that your cat hasn’t returned.
Glad that the sitter is no longer active on THS. It sounded like clear bad judgment on his part, which I noted back when you originally posted made me wonder about his judgment for potential future sits.
Escapes could happen to anyone, including a cat’s primary humans, but he didn’t even take the basic precaution of putting your cat in another room before he made the questionable decision to remove that glass.
There are cultural differences around the world about keeping cats indoors. In some countries, it is seen as unnatural and cruel. In other countries, it is seen as cruel to let a cat roam freely outdoors where there are predators, cars, diseases, etc. I understand both sides, but if a HO has a cat that is an indoor-only cat, it is important to keep it indoors. Many indoor cats don’t want to go outside and if they do, they are not street-wise about traffic, predators, etc.
As for allowing cats to mate - if you worked in cat rescue like I do, you would not encourage this. We don’t need more cats, but as long as people don’t spay/neuter their cats, the population explosion continues. Cats are also healthier when fixed.
While I understand the pros and cons of an indoor cat (and my own previous cat had to be kept indoors to stop her from attacking the other cats in the neighbourhood) I have decided not to apply for sits that include any indoor cats as I can’t risk the responsibility of preventing them from escaping.
Quite right.
It can be seen as cruel to let a cat out in a human territory with roads and cars also. I think the «worst» I’ve heard was the pet parent who complained about the road next to the house. She had had three cats killed. One possible thought was «and still you found it a great idea to let out another cat?»
In general people do what they consider «good» for their pet. That another person would have solved it differently doesn’t make it «wrong». I’ve petsat indoor cats that have access to open door to balcony (where the cat liked to go out and lounge a bit) and open windows. Never did it try to escape, jump or otherwise show that it wanted «out».
I have not met a single house cat that is not obsessed with life outside their house and continually trying to escape.
And the very reason these highly intelligent animals are not ‘street smart’ is solely because they have been prevented from learning and adapting to a whole range of environments and situations by humans coddling and cosseting them as though they were incapable infants.
Well the cat had to come from somewhere. So quite clearly mating has occurred at some point in its lifecycle. And I haven’t encouraged anyone to let the cat mate I’m just pointing basic animal psychology and behavior. Courtship and mating are strong instincts and are not necessarily reduced by spaying/neuturing, the cat spraying in this instance seems to indicate this.
No human cultural differences change the fundamentals at play here - basic animal behaviour. If a pet parent wants to fight against that for whatever reason then these are the consequences they will inevitably have to deal with. A cat is not a doll or teddy bear, it’s is a highly intelligent and autonomous creature. There are several posts in this forum with the same issue. Walk down any street and you constantly see signs up for ‘missing cats’ the majority being house cats that have escaped.
If people don’t want to see the blindingly obvious then there’s not much that can be done. But don’t put all the blame on some unpaid sitter.
I have met lots of happy indoor cats in the US. If they have always known life indoors, they don’t usually have a desire to escape. Even the experts in countries where outdoor cats are common have said that cats can be happy indoors if that is all they have known. Is it cruel to walk a dog on a leash when their natural instinct is to run wild? By extension, is it ethical for anyone to have any type of pet, if that means restraining them in some way?
Whether it is right to keep a cat indoors is - obviously - debatable. There are benefits to indoor cats in terms of health: less chance of fleas, worms, diseases, injuries. However an indoor cat definitely needs lots of enrichment toys, climbing features, etc. Not everyone provides that for their indoor cats. Kittens in particular needs lots of stimulation and I will never adopt out a single kitten to a person that doesn’t have other young animals at home to play with it.
When I got my current indoor/outdoor cat, he was 4 months old and was found in the parking lot of a grocery store. I wanted to keep him inside but he would torment my older cat trying to play, so I allowed him outside for enrichment. 6 years later, the old cat died but I didn’t think it was fair to keep Duffy indoors after he was used to his freedom. Now he is 9 years old and rarely goes further than my small fenced patio. I still worry because I live near a fairly busy road and we have coyotes, but he would be miserable being forced to stay inside after having freedom for 9 years. It would be different if he had never gone outside.
As for this statement: [quote=“Devina77, post:94, topic:42086”]
Courtship and mating are strong instincts and are not necessarily reduced by spaying/neuturing
[/quote]
It is rare for a cat to show s*xual (actual word not allowed) instincts after being fixed. Do Fixed Cats Still Have the Urge To Mate?
I have had a sit with a cat that was often on the balcony in a French village, from where he easily could have jumped on adjacent roofs. He never did that.
One time he ventured outside, in front of the house, when I was closing the shutters. He was very hesitant and came inside when I went in.
The cat in Stockholm was similar: went out on the staircase of the building but was very hesitant and insecure and did not quite know what floor she was on.
I’ve sat indoor cats with no interest in going outside. With one of them, I had to open the door for an indoor / outdoor cat in the same home and leave it ajar sometimes so he could come in. Meanwhile, the girl cat voluntarily stayed in.
Most of us realize that just because you’ve not seen something doesn’t make that universal.
I’m currently at a sit with 3 indoor only cats. Handover was yesterday, when the owner opened the door for me, I saw the cats coming and rushed to close it, she told me not to worry, they were just coming to greet me but were not interested in escaping. The door stayed opened while she explained how the smart lock worked and they did not even get close to it.
So, yes, the fact that we have not experienced or even heard of something does not make it nonexistent.
I really hope you don’t apply your philosophy to other people’s cats.
I sat for 2 cats who went outside, but no further than their garden which was enclosed by a 6 ft high fence. To them, it seemed, the world stopped at that fence and at the threshold of the front door, and they seemed content with that. Best of both indoors & outdoors.
Not that you should need to ask, but yes only ever walking a dog on a leash is cruel! As is continually restraining an animal indefinitely!
This cat supposedly sprayed before it escaped. Spraying is generally associated with courtship behaviour and can occur after they have been fixed! I’m not sure what is so difficult to understand here?
