Cat-sitting drama!

[tabbycatcuddles]

Long story short - we have a usual cat sitter who had to cancel at a short notice this year due to unforeseen circumstances. We were going away for 16 days, and I got into a bit of a panic - so when I casually mentioned being desperate for a catsitter at a work meeting, I was happy when a colleague mentioned her daughter could maybe help.

We live quite centrally in London, and the daughter had been coming to London for job interviews, staying in hotels. She had found a job but was finding it hard to find a flat share without being in the city, so she was keen to come down earlier to get herself settled before her new job started.

I met her on zoom, she seemed fine so we agreed she'd stay here and look after our cat. She would be welcome to use the house as her own for the 16 days. Few days before we travelled, she asked how much I would pay her. I was a bit taken aback as we hadn't discussed money, and she suggested £50 a day! I said that wasn't doable, and I could really only do it for room and board, but I'd be sure to leave lots of food, few bottles of wine, some treats etc. She agreed. Cat is an outdoor cat so very little work overall.

holiday was great, cat seemed happy over whatsapp, but when we got home, the house was a mess. We'd left it spotless. There were sticky,set stains on tables and counters, toothpaste and soap globs in the sink, dirty dishes, ALL our towels used up and shoved in, damp, to the laundry basket, stinking. I wasn't expecting her to clean but I did expect her to tidy up after herself.

But she had also taken (or drunk!) a box of 6 bottles of wine. I had left her 3 in the fridge, and the 6 were for a dinner party later this month. They were boxed up and put in in the coat closet.

DH thinks just leave it, as the cat was happy and looked after, but I want my wine back! Forget about it or message her?

One bottle is 3 (large) glasses. But yes, 9 bottles over 16 days is quite a lot. Roughly 6 units a day or 42 a week. Way over the recommended limit. Did the cat sitter have friends round?

I think she’s a greedy CF OP and agree that the offer of free accommodation in exchange for feeding a mainly outdoor cat for a couple of weeks was a gift. I also think rummaging in your cupboards and drinking £120 worth of wine is theft.

if your colleague asked how it went I would be inclined to tell her.

This I think. She had a massive saving (huge!), you got your baby looked after. Yes it’s annoying but has just cost you some clearing up (that’s not ok on her btw) and some wine. I’d leave it at that

I’d love the chance to stay in London for a while for free in exchange of cat sitting.

Also, for reference, I pay £15 a day for my cleaner/cat sitter to come in twice a day, or £10 for a single visit (if we’re coming back at lunchtime). South east London.

Lol! I'm reading the replies this morning and this one made me chuckle. Shame indeed. I think maybe you are quite out of touch. I certainly didn't lure some young woman into house imprisonment.

As for others, thank you, I will definitely look at trusted housesitters. I would prefer the cat to be looked after at my house rather than in a cattery if possible, so I don't think there's a way of avoiding strangers.

When I spoke to the girl the arrangement was very much done on mutually beneficial basis and she was thrilled at getting a place. She is not a professional sitter, nor did she know much about cats (which is ok as our cat doesn't have any specific needs, just lots of cuddles and feeding).
I also did not expect any cleaning or house chores. Just stuff like let the towels dry before shoving them in the laundry? Or stack your dishes in the dishwasher and I'll turn it on when I get in? Note taken about 3 bottles of wine not being enough, but i literally cannot stress enough that she benefited hugely from this. It's rare to find a house share in London that quickly. 16 days is not much. She might have needed to get an Airbnb for a month first which is what a lot of people do when looking for a London flat share. Those cost a pretty penny, and we are in zone 2 by a tube station.

I wouldn’t expect to pay her in that scenario either. The situation worked for her and worked for you. Free London accommodation in return for feeding a cat. Sweet deal at 24. I’d have been super pissed off to return home and find the place in that state as well. And the wine - well that is rude but I probably would have left more available for her for 2 weeks. I wouldn’t say anything, especially if her mother is a friend

I think she was incredibly fortunate to be offered a whole house to live in free, with food and wine in exchange for doing nothing but feed and cuddle a cat! It saved her a fortune in rent. I would have been fuming to find the house in a mess on my return. She had no entitlement to be drinking extra wine either.

She's a piss-taker.

I regularly house- and pet-sit for friends and the first time I did it I didn't realise I'd be getting paid. I would have absolutely done it for free; good friends, nice house, I love the pets etc. I can work from anywhere, so it's not like I have to take time off to do it.
They pay £10 a day. The way I see it, it's £10 more a day than I was expecting! It covers my train fare and goes towards my grocery order for the stay.
I know my friends are going to clean after I've gone anyway, so I don't really clean, but I would wipe up stains on tables, hoover or sweep up any mess I made etc (common sense, no?) and always make sure the bathroom is OK when I go, with no stains or smears.
Towels I sometimes wash while I'm there, or otherwise I'll leave them hanging on a rail so they don't moulder.
I'm given free rein of the pantry and fridge-freezer. I use cans of tomatoes etc, and veg that needs using up, and drink their coffee. I don't drink alcohol but if I did I'd maybe take a beer or two from the pantry, but would also buy some of my own.

Drinking a box of wine that was in a coat closet suggests that she's rummaged through the whole house to find it.

Asking £50 a day is delusional, especially for one low-maintenance cat. My friends give me a little extra if any of the pets needs medication while I'm there as it means more responsibility (and sometimes being cursed at by a struggling, furious chicken!), which I think is lovely but do not expect and wouldn't demand.

You were doing her a favour providing somewhere to stay in an expensive city in exchange for minimal 'work'. She's 24 and really should know better.

I could have done a better job at 11.
I could tidy up after myself, feed a cat , let it in and out, push a Hoover round , wipe up spills and wash pots - by hand.
And hung up wet towels.
And I wouldn’t have drunk any wine.
Asking for £50 on top of free board and lodge was a red flag.
And digging £120 worth of wine out your coat/Hoover cupboard is stealing really.
She has totally disrespected @tabbycatcuddles
i certainly would be mentioning the mess and wine …. Even if I didn’t expect a refund.
At 24 she should know better.

She drank booze that was in a cupboard, I’d say it clearly wasn’t for her. Maybe you should have been more specific ie ‘We’ve left you 3 bottles of wine in the fridge, please don’t use the bottles in the cupboard, they’re for a dinner party’. Leaving damp towels is just lazy. Think I’d be asking her to replace the 6 bottles, especially at £20 a pop! You say it’s not that much, I wouldn't dream of spending that much on wine unless it was a gift. You have her 16 days of free accommodation in central London, yet she’s cost you money!

Not the point, is it.

I'd say you need reimbursing for the wine and if she objects ask her how she came across it in a box at the back of a closet.

3 bottles of wine is very stingy over 16 days. 8 bottles ie half a bottle a day would be a rock-bottom minimum for me. You are right that it was shitty of her to use all your towels and leave the place in a mess but you can't deal with that in retrospect. If you have a cat sitter again you know what ground-rules to set.

Maybe not everyone drinks half a bottle of wine a day though.
I can't imagine expecting anyone to leave me alcohol when I was house-sitting, much less accusing them of being 'stingy' if they didn't leave my required quantities.
I can't imagine thinking to ask for £50 a day to house-sit and look after one easy cat, either, especially if it was in Zone 2 London and saving me hotel/AirBnB costs.
I think some people are very grabby.

As a pet owner but also someone who was once a clueless young 20 something in London excited by the bright lights of the city, I can completely see how you're annoyed but possibly a bit naive to have agreed to this. People can be a little bit lacking of house cleanliness awareness or not notice it as much at that age. Taking the wine when it was stored so discreetly and required a rummage to access is seriously cheeky though! It must be horrible to think of her going through your stuff like that. Depending on your relationship with the colleague, it might be worth mentioning it to them to see if they would repay you for the wine but only you know how that colleague is likely to react! I use the catinaflat website to book catsitters but only choose a catsitter with a lot of good reviews from different people and repeat instructions (the site tells you the number of those).

Would it cause tension at work with your colleague if you followed this up?People tend to be very passive on Mumsnet and accept all sorts of poor behaviour.

If it wouldn't affect your work, I would absolutely text her to query it. I probably wouldn't go in all guns blazing but perhaps play it coy and message something like "I'm looking for my crate of wine that I had put far back in the coat cupboard. Did you move it somewhere when accessing the hoover?" - gives her an opportunity to offer up excuses or apologies. If she does come back and say she's drank it I would then respond a little more brusquely by pointing out that they were not stored in an accessible spot which should have indicated that they were not on offer.

But I wouldn't expect the money back, or replacement bottles, in reality.

While 3 bottles of wine over 16 days may not be a lot to some (it is to me) - 9 bottles over 16 days definitely is!

Air BnBs cost a pretty penny but so do cat sitters who sleep over. The alternative was cancelling your holiday so just move on and you’ve learnt your lesson re not having a professional do the job.

I would have to raise the issue of the missing wine with her. She really shouldn’t have gone poking about in your cupboards. Ask her if she happened to come across a box of wine as you can’t find it and say it was put aside for a special occasion, and that you’re quite upset you can’t find it.

You don't have to be a 'professional' to realise that you shouldn't rummage through cupboards to find and drink whole boxes of wine, or that it might be a good idea to hang up wet towels.
I'd agree with the suggestions to look at Trusted Housesitters; people review each other so (hopefully) you get a true picture of what both sitters and hosts/sitting experiences are like.

Good tactic!

There was no requirement for the OP to keep her cat sitter in wine! For goodness sake I really wonder about what I read in here sometimes. She was given board and lodging and three bottles of wine! You think she should have been left enough so she could drink every day?!!

At 24 she should've left the place much tidier. But the main thing is that the cat was OK, wasn't in any way traumatised or went missing. To be honest that would be my first concern.

I'm glad it's not just me thinking this. The expectations some people have beggar belief.

I wouldn’t expect to pay her when she needed somewhere to stay. Yes if she was doing you the favour and leaving her place to come and stay at your request - but it was a mutual deal. My niece does this with her boyfriend as they don’t have a place of their own and are thrilled to get a gig cat sitting in a nice tourist area.