AIBU to think my neighbour’s cat care problem is not mine?

[Thepartwhereidrun]

My neighbour stopped my son on his way out last night to ask if he would look after her cat when she is away from tomorrow for 2 weeks, going in twice a day. He said sorry but he couldn’t.

I didn’t know she had spoken to him until she knocked our door and told us. Her cat sitter has let her down last minute and now she won’t be able to go on holiday unless she can find someone else. Nightmare for her, but her cat sitter is ill so it can’t be helped. I said I can’t help her but I text our dog sitter, who also does cat sitting to ask if she had availability and said I’d get back to her if she could do it.

She asked if I would also ask my son again, which I did when he got home, but he doesn’t want to do it. He has just finished his A levels and wants to be free to come and go as he pleases which is understandable. I said that if he has said no then that means he can’t.

Our dog sitter text me back to say she didn’t have any availability for the first week but could do the second week. I text my neighbour to let her know and to give her sitters contact details. She has just text back ‘no good, what am I meant to do for the first week?’

I haven’t replied as although I get she is probably feeling desperate, how the fuck is her cat my problem?

Imagine how this woman would react if anything went wrong during the cat sitting.
What happens if arrangements haven't been finalized by the time she's due to go on holiday? Is this woman likely to go away regardless and then contact the op insisting that she had agreed to take responsibility for the cat?

The updates and drip feeds from the op certainly do paint the neighbour as desperate at best and a real CF at worst but ultimately op didn’t want to do it and that’s fine.

I imagine she’s left now has she OP?

I’m on your side. It’s obviously really rubbish for your neighbour that she’s been let down last minute but it doesn’t sound like your family are in the position to step in.

We have two cats and we’re really fortunate that our neighbours feed them for us when we go away but we have a back up plan too as we cat and dog sit for various friends so have favours we can call in. Surely she has friends or family she can ask?

Offering your son £30 also seems pretty cheeky if that’s for the full two weeks, especially if she was going to use a professional sitter. We looked at one for our honeymoon as we didn’t want our neighbours to feel they had to care for our cats for two full weeks and they charged £25-£35 per day for two visits.

Well it's an opinion that's all and my opinion is that it's mean to be so unobliging

Me too. How hard would it be?

Exactly this

Pretty difficult when you're not there for some of it.

I'm assuming you haven't read the updates, but even the original post says that OP couldn't do it.

Read the thread and explain how OP could do this when they won’t be there for many of the days.

Fuck me, people confidently saying it isn’t hard to feed the cat for 10 minutes a day, yet it’s beyond them to spend less time than that reading OPs posts. 😂

When I had neighbours looking after a cat, or home-boarded our dogs, I always gave them a letter to show our vet; authorising treatment and agreeing to pay any bills incurred.

Tell him to get it in writing first!

If you want to be a responsible pet owner and still go on holidays you have to accept that it is going to take organisation and often money. We need 2 weeks care soon for our dog and we’re paying £40 per day for it. Yes it’s painfully expensive but she will be well looked after which is important so that we can enjoy our holiday.

The people on this thread. Youre absolutely not being unreasonable even if the reason is just that you cant be arsed!

Fucking hell im so glad I dont live where you people live.

Even if youre going away for work for 3 days between yiu and your son you could make it work for a week until the dogsitter takes over the following week.
You could easily just pop in and chuck some kibble down and tell neighbour you wont be messing around with brushing and letting cat in and out, just food and water. And if you need to put extra kibble out and leave the cat for a 48 hour stretch it would be fine.

People in the uk are so fucking mean honestly. Can't stand the slight bit of inconvenience because "why should I have to?". Because youre a neighbour thats why. Lets hope yoi dont wake up one morning and realise youre living on your own and actually need your neighbour....for whatever reason.
Shame on you for raising a young man with no sense of community. Wants to go camping with girlfriend? Well you have the whole summer to do that. Literally 12 weeks. The situation is there are 3 days within that 12 week period (the 3 days you are working) where you need to stay home. Why? Because the neighbour needs help.

But okay, crack on.

something else. They are cheeky fuckers because they find it pays. Not this time though.

thank you. We will.

I'd get the money first!!

you sound sensible. I bet you didn't try to guilt people into do it either

well she has got this thread to prove its not true

This thread doesn't prove anything, it could all be made up!

If I generally get on well with the neighbour I'd help her out. It's no big deal. If I didn't like them then I wouldn't. One day you may need a favour. Of course if its not possible for you to do it or would cause huge inconvenience, again just say no. Not sure I'd want you as a neighbour though.

You would prefer a neighbour who gets angry when a working teen doesn’t respond within an hour?

You have strange ideas of neighbourliness.

Shame on you for raising a young man with no sense of community. Wants to go camping with girlfriend? Well you have the whole summer to do that. Literally 12 weeks. The situation is there are 3 days within that 12 week period (the 3 days you are working) where you need to stay home. Why? Because the neighbour needs help.

You expect a teen to cancel his camping trip to accommodate a tight arse neighbour who refuses to pay a cat sitter even though she has the money?

When’s the last time you changed your holiday dates to accommodate a neighbour?

I won’t hold my breath.

You're going to get lumbered. Keys through the letterbox with a note.

Tbh you're missing a trick here. 5 grand upfront or piss off. Why are you all giving this headspace anyway. So the fuck what if she has to cancel her holiday? It's not your problem.

He doesnt have any camping dates book yet