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Original poster

Cat-sitting drama!

170 replies

tabbycatcuddles · 21/08/2025 20:50

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?

OP posts:
SimplyAFolly · 22/08/2025 18:52

Most cat sitters are doing House sitting as well, very cheap deal. cattery is not fair on the cat, its like you staying in a remand centre for 16 nights

Original poster
tabbycatcuddles · 22/08/2025 19:16

Angrymum22 · 22/08/2025 16:21

But she was willing to organise her own trip before her DM volunteered her. The OP makes out that she saved the day. She didn’t, she took advantage of a situation to solve her own problem. My DH has frequently volunteered me in the past to do favours for people and I hate it, I suspect the girls mum was party to the OPs rant about having her catsitter pull out short notice and saw a solution without checking with her DD.

Her DD may already have organised day trips to look for accommodation, it’s not difficult. DS organised viewing appointments for rented accommodation for uni while at home and then spent a day going round the houses they had listed. It doesn’t take 16 days. Everything is online now and even if you want to meet and be interviewed by potential housemates there’s this thing called teams or FaceTime.

The OP is coming across as a bit of a saint, when in actual fact she just took advantage without considering whether the girl actually wanted to cat sit for 16days. Not everyone would be jumping up and down with glee about 16days on their own in London. Maybe 16 days in a coastal resort considering the weather recently but not London at the height of summer.

Edited
Show quote history

Lol, I can absolutely assure you I did not take advantage. She was living in Leeds - that's a heck of a daytrip to come and see flatshares and then go back, particularly as you need to see dozens before finding one. She probably wouldn't have come down so early, but that's only because it cost her - and she eould have been pretty pressured to take the first place she saw which as a non-Londoner can be daunting. She didn't have a job in Leeds so was happy to come earlier to see neighbourhoods. It's it about saving the day - it was mutually beneficial which i'm guessing you don't get? We both benefited, but i hate the idea of her rummaging in my cupboards

OP posts:
sandwichlover93 · 22/08/2025 19:26

LittleBitofBread · 22/08/2025 15:39

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.

Show quote history

It’s not that you need to be a professional to realise those things aren’t good behaviours but a professional will come with insurance, DBS checks, good reviews and something at stake (their business) - so they aren’t likely to do any of those things!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Cats
opencecilgee · 22/08/2025 20:29

Cheeky cow

£50 a day for cat sitting? Is she quite well?

you have to mention it to her. And her mum

opencecilgee · 22/08/2025 20:34

You pay a registration fee for this site. They match pet sitters to homes. Somebody stays in your house. For free. They look after your pets in return

they dont get paid. Its an exchange of needs

to drink your wine is terrible. She ought to replace them

opencecilgee · 22/08/2025 20:36

tabbycatcuddles · 22/08/2025 19:16

Lol, I can absolutely assure you I did not take advantage. She was living in Leeds - that's a heck of a daytrip to come and see flatshares and then go back, particularly as you need to see dozens before finding one. She probably wouldn't have come down so early, but that's only because it cost her - and she eould have been pretty pressured to take the first place she saw which as a non-Londoner can be daunting. She didn't have a job in Leeds so was happy to come earlier to see neighbourhoods. It's it about saving the day - it was mutually beneficial which i'm guessing you don't get? We both benefited, but i hate the idea of her rummaging in my cupboards

Show quote history

The “girl0 is 24. She could have said no

Original poster
tabbycatcuddles · 22/08/2025 21:05

opencecilgee · 22/08/2025 20:36

The “girl0 is 24. She could have said no

Show quote history

Well, quite. She was keen!

Anyhow, I won't say anything because really I don't want to create an awkward situation at work with a colleague. I think perhaps she had friends around and opening extra wines after being tipsy seemed like a great idea.

OP posts:
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/08/2025 21:56

Angrymum22 · 21/08/2025 22:13

I am shocked that you didn’t pay her. But then I live rurally and it is pretty standard to pay for housesitters with or without animal care. They are more inclined to keep it tidy rather than use it like a hotel.

IMO you should have paid her something, maybe £10 a day. I dare say she left the place a mess because she thought you were being a bit of a cheapskate.

My dd pays a neighbour’s son a tenner a day to come and feed 4 cats.

FuzzyWolf · 22/08/2025 22:04

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/08/2025 21:56

IMO you should have paid her something, maybe £10 a day. I dare say she left the place a mess because she thought you were being a bit of a cheapskate.

My dd pays a neighbour’s son a tenner a day to come and feed 4 cats.

Show quote history

Presumably he gets that £10 because he isn’t actually getting anything out of the arrangement so is only in for a financial reimbursement?

CatHairEveryWhereNow · 22/08/2025 22:06

We get a professional cat sitter and pay £27 a day - image it could be more in London. 7 years ago it was £15 a day just gone up since then.

I don't think she would have found accommodation that cheap in London TBH but it does sound like perhaps expectations weren't clear either side.

You won't get the wine back so I'd chalk this up to bitter expericne and consider paying a professional pet sitter next time or cattery.

BlakeCarrington · 22/08/2025 22:11

I think you’ve been a bit of a CF OP, and it’s come back to bite you one the bum.

AmyDudley · 22/08/2025 22:15

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/08/2025 21:56

IMO you should have paid her something, maybe £10 a day. I dare say she left the place a mess because she thought you were being a bit of a cheapskate.

My dd pays a neighbour’s son a tenner a day to come and feed 4 cats.

Show quote history

Does the neighbours son stay in your DD's house so he can look for flat shares saving himself over £1000 in hotel costs?
Does he help himself to nine bottles of wine and leave her house in a dirty mess ?
No?
Totally different situation to OP's then, and not even remotely relevant.

MyElatedUmberFinch · 22/08/2025 22:16

Leave it, you were tight not to pay her, another cat sitter or a cattery.

Ohlifelife · 22/08/2025 22:18

Sorry I've only read the first couple of pages of replies and given up in disgust at the number of pp giving OP a hard time for not paying this catsitter.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: OP's cat got looked after and the woman got free board and lodging in London at a time when it was useful for her to have a place to stay.

To behave like that in someone else's home was quite frankly disgusting . I hope her new employer's find out what kind of slovenly person she is.

I would definitely be contacting her and asking if that is how she normally behaves in other people's homes. And I would be letting her mother know the type of person she has raised.

Ladedahlia · 22/08/2025 22:37

MyElatedUmberFinch · 22/08/2025 22:16

Leave it, you were tight not to pay her, another cat sitter or a cattery.

Quite unreasonable.

Ladedahlia · 22/08/2025 22:41

I really wonder whether all these people saying the OP should have paid the cat sitter as well as feed her , let her stay in her house free and provide nine bottles of wine in exchange for feeding a cat would do this themselves. If the cat sitter had been inconveniencing herself to travel just for that ‘job’, was someone with insurance and experience etc and was not expecting food and wine , paying her would have been fair enough perhaps. I see ads for pet sitters a lot on Facebook and it’s a kind of ‘come and have a free holiday in my house and look after my pet at the same time’. No payment mentioned.

LadyGreySpillsTheTea · 22/08/2025 22:55

LittleBitofBread · 22/08/2025 16:15

Wow, I wouldn't try to reschedule like that (extraordinary circumstances notwithstanding).
Some hosts ask you to arrive a day or two before, to get to know the pets, do a proper handover and (whether they say this explicitly or not) to make sure the sitter is safely there before they go, which I think is sensible. I've done that and am always happy to.

Show quote history

Especially when we have early flights we ask sitters to arrive the evening before so that we have a solid hour to take them round the house, introduce them to our scaredy-cat boy, and above all make sure they’re actually there. We make that fact clear in our initial listing so anyone who’s not happy with it shouldn’t apply. Luckily we live somewhere that’s hugely popular with sitters so we usually get all five applicants (the maximum allowed at a time) within an hour or so of the listing going live. It also means if we get any sitters cancellations (which has happened) we’ll be able to find a replacement at fairly short notice.

howdowedo · 22/08/2025 23:06

I used to cat sit in London in my 20s. I lived in a grotty house share and thanks to cat sitting got to stay in some really nice places! Never expected pay or wine in return! Oh and I always tidied up after myself.

Laura95167 · 22/08/2025 23:07

You got 16 days live in cat sitter for the price of 9 bottles of wine? You got a bargain!!

I cant believe you were taken aback by the girl working for you wanting to be paid. And I think she was generous doing it for some wine.

Additionally, when she asked about payment (reasonable) you said I cant pay you (presumably you were going to pay the original sitter more than the cost of 9 bottles of wine) but use the house, ill leave food, treats and wine. So she drank the wine. Its understandable she would think that was ok because you offered it. You didnt cap it.

I think unless you specified. X bottles of wine. Or dont touch this alcohol you cant penalise her now

She didnt throw a party or neglect the cat be grateful

CinnamonJellyBeans · 22/08/2025 23:29

I'm loving how people presume the cat sitter must live in some kind of hovel and should come and housesit and catsit for the sheer luxury of carpets, running water and a bit of food and wine.

I always pay mine between 30 and 50 quid a day.

Original poster
tabbycatcuddles · 22/08/2025 23:39

Laura95167 · 22/08/2025 23:07

You got 16 days live in cat sitter for the price of 9 bottles of wine? You got a bargain!!

I cant believe you were taken aback by the girl working for you wanting to be paid. And I think she was generous doing it for some wine.

Additionally, when she asked about payment (reasonable) you said I cant pay you (presumably you were going to pay the original sitter more than the cost of 9 bottles of wine) but use the house, ill leave food, treats and wine. So she drank the wine. Its understandable she would think that was ok because you offered it. You didnt cap it.

I think unless you specified. X bottles of wine. Or dont touch this alcohol you cant penalise her now

She didnt throw a party or neglect the cat be grateful

Edited

I don't think you've read any of my posts, have you?

OP posts:
Original poster
tabbycatcuddles · 22/08/2025 23:41

CinnamonJellyBeans · 22/08/2025 23:29

I'm loving how people presume the cat sitter must live in some kind of hovel and should come and housesit and catsit for the sheer luxury of carpets, running water and a bit of food and wine.

I always pay mine between 30 and 50 quid a day.

I have no idea where she lived (assuming student accommodation as she was a student?) But the truth is she didn't come down as a favour or to perform a job for me - she came to London because she'd been offered a job here.

OP posts:
Miriabelle · 22/08/2025 23:47

BlakeCarrington · 22/08/2025 22:11

I think you’ve been a bit of a CF OP, and it’s come back to bite you one the bum.

Good grief have you any idea of how much it would cost to stay that amount of time in a hotel room in Zone 2 right by a tube station? Where you wouldn’t have all the amenities of someone’s house/TV/washing machine/kitchen plus a nice cat to look after? For free at 24 when you have no money because you’ve been a student and you’re starting a new job, and need to look for somewhere to live which is also a huge task in London, especially travelling in and out of different neighbourhoods by tube? (I’d stay there now and be very pleased, OP — I love cats :) )

It’s definitely not the OP who was being a CF.

TenaciousDeeds · 22/08/2025 23:54

You should have used Trusted House Sitters instead. My friend is one and stays in the most amazing houses in the UK and Europe. You don’t get paid though, as it’s like a nice holiday while you care for their animals. This woman was a total CF IMO!!