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Original poster

Our cat feeder hasn’t been feeding our cats!

110 replies

CalmDownBoris72 · 21/12/2021 15:05

We’ve used the same person for about 4 years with what I thought was 0 issues. We go away for a week x5 times a year (normal times) to visit family and the place I’m from.

We’ve recently installed a video doorbell so get updates when someone goes in and out of the front door.

We left on Saturday and on Sunday the cat feeder turned up and spent 3 mins in the house. He hasn’t been back since!

I’m so shocked and annoyed that I trusted him. My poor cats. I always thought it was much nicer for them to stay in their own home and have someone come to feed and fuss them in their own home.

Luckily friends of ours have a spare key and have fed the cats yesterday and today. They’ve said they are happy to help until we get back too.

I need to write a message to tell him to F off but
In a less aggressive way. I hate confrontation but I really want and need to say something. We pay him a bloody day rate Angry

OP posts:
Haus1234 · 21/12/2021 15:52

We have a camera set up to avoid this - I’m very paranoid that they will forget and our cats will be hungry! So sorry that you’ve been let down and do confront him (once you have your keys as you say!).

Queenie6655 · 21/12/2021 15:52

Complete bastard
Fuming reading this

So sorry

In all honesty bet they are fine

But that is not the point

How dare anyone do that 😡😡😡😡😡

CheddarGorgeous · 21/12/2021 15:56

I popped round to my then-boyfriend's flat once when he was away. He had paid someone to come in to feed and water the cats and she had obviously just stopped coming. Their food and water bowls were completely empty and they drank and drank and drank when I filled them. Took them ages to even get to the food they were so thirsty.

Cat sitter gave some bullshit story that she'd sprained her ankle so asked a friend to go instead but she was just an evil human being.

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Cats
Original poster
CalmDownBoris72 · 21/12/2021 16:01

I was a hit worried he’d managed to sneak past the doorbell but I’ve just checked our hallway motion detector and there’s been no motion there either so he definitely hasn’t been there.

It’s terrible how people can do this to pets,

OP posts:
Iamanicepersonreally · 21/12/2021 16:08

This is just awful. I'd be really angry and upset. Your poor cats 😿😿

Hope478 · 21/12/2021 16:10

Say nothing until you get your key back, then change the locks.
Then review them EVERYWHERE and do not pay them a bloody penny. I hate dishonesty.

FreeBritnee · 21/12/2021 16:12

Fucking hell what a despicable bastard 🤬

strawberrymilk7 · 21/12/2021 16:16

Your poor cats. A pp said he may be sick, I don't believe that for one second. Someone looking after your animals would know they need to contact you/ arrange someone else to feed the cats, not just abandon them for days!!
Get your key back and refuse to pay him.

Dilbertian · 21/12/2021 16:23

CalmDownBoris72 that is disgraceful. No wonder you're upset.

I recommend Petpals. At every visit they always email a report of what they did and how Mr Cat behaved, together with photos of Mr Cat. It's lovely and reassuring to get these reports and photos when we're away.

ProfessionalWeirdo · 21/12/2021 16:32

Change the locks in any case, OP. There's no guarantee that he hasn't had a spare set of your keys cut and kept them.

RunningFromInsanity · 21/12/2021 16:52

Send a message asking how the cats are today. He’ll either lie or give an explanation for why he hasn’t visited.

Then when you get home you ask for your key back, explain why you aren’t paying him, and leave a review warning others.

Beautiful3 · 21/12/2021 16:54

Thats awful. I'd message and ask how the cats are, if he lies I'd save it. Wait for him to drop off your keys and then tell him off. Don't pay him one penny.

VitalsStable · 21/12/2021 16:59

Message him saying you've had a message from someone on FB saying a cat that looks like yours has been hit by a car and is dead!! Ask if he saw cat today and was it ok???

ShirleyPhallus · 21/12/2021 17:03

@VitalsStable

Message him saying you've had a message from someone on FB saying a cat that looks like yours has been hit by a car and is dead!! Ask if he saw cat today and was it ok???
Oooooh yes I like this!
TheOccupier · 21/12/2021 17:06

@ColitisSucks

I used to know a friend of a friend, who was house and pet sitting. We were invited to the house for an evening of food/drink. On the understanding that the owners knew and had okayed it.

During the evening we discover the hamster cage has been shoved in a cupboard, and the cat has been 'chased around the house with a nerf gun' by the sitters daughter, and not been seen for a full 24hrs since. She thought this was hilarious. We made noises about leaving at that point, for her to announce we had to help her move sodding furniture back to where it should be so the owners wouldn't know she had had a party.

I was so embarrassed and angry to have been part of the whole shit show.

I would NEVER trust someone who wasn't immediate family to look after my pets.

I'd have gone round when the owners were back to tell them what had gone on!
mcmooberry · 21/12/2021 17:10

OMG I would be so angry about this!! I am commenting so I can get an update when he is confronted! I assume he may have done this before!
Obvs get your keys back and change the locks.
Your poor cats!

PatchworkElmer · 21/12/2021 17:21

I think I’d message ‘Hello! Have you been to see the cats yet today? Just wondering how they are?’

astorsback · 21/12/2021 17:23

This is why i refuse to trust anyone else to look after my cats. You just cant trust people and a surprising number of people are devious and lazy and dislike cats.

I have an automatic litter tray, water fountain and a timed feeder. The cats only go to boarding cattery for three nights or longer and they are brilliant, taking pictures everyday and sending up dates.

How do you know this person?

TheCreamCaker · 21/12/2021 17:24

The cheeky, useless bastard. We had a "professional" company to look after our (we had 3 cats then, one on medication), who seemed really good, had care plans, and said it would be no problem at all to apply cream to one cat. We had CCTV and noticed that this so-called pet-sitter was arriving at 8am, when we'd asked for lunchtime and teatime (our son was at home in the mornings then). He stayed for 3 minutes. When we got home, the litter trays (3)were full and stinking, there was wee and poo on the tiled floor, and the cats were very unhappy.

I'd ring, tell them how very unhappy you are, and I'd leave a review on their website/Facebook.

Wheresmywoolyjumpers · 21/12/2021 17:30

Wait til you get back and get your keys. Ask how it went. See if he is honest and has a reason for not coming. He will want to know why your cats have been fed by other people. Then dump him for not letting you know he could not come in very day.

MeredithMae · 21/12/2021 17:35

"Hi, we're really missing the cats today! How are they doing, any chance for a photo maybe?"

Then when you inevitably get a lie back, say nothing, get home, get the keys back, go bananas.

steppemum · 21/12/2021 17:36

If the bowls were loaded up with wet food when your friend went in after 2 days of no feeding, that doesn't make sense.

the bowls would have been half empty/empty and the food strewn round (as happens with an overfull bowl)

if they are still full, that suggests that he has just been in?

Fluffycloudland77 · 21/12/2021 17:43

Well I wouldn’t like to go that long and most cats are slaves to their stomachs too.

I used a cattery till they fed my Bengal boy 3 pouches a day not 4.. I wish I’d set dh on them. He ate for a week solid when he got back.

Longingforatikihut · 21/12/2021 17:44

This is why I don't use pet sitters or even friends anymore. Too many people not doing it properly. I never go away more than over night and use a gravity feeder of dry food. Trust no one!

Proseccoandchips · 21/12/2021 18:00

Oh your poor cats! How terrible, I can’t believe that people would do this!

If you booked them via company you should definitely make a complaint and they will hopefully get kicked off their books.

I hire a lovely cat sitter via Cat in a Flat and she sends me text updates and photos/videos every day, which I really appreciate, as I’m such a worrier and miss them so much when I go away.

I used to also cat sit with them myself, and I could never imagine skipping a visit or cutting it short. If anything, I often ended up staying a little longer than so I could eg give them a good play session with the wand toy.

It was such a pleasure to meet and spend time with all those lovely cats and kittens, and the owners were all so nice too.

I hope you manage to find a reassuringly professional and caring cat sitter in the future.