Hi all,
I am housesitting this weekend and looking after 2 dogs and 3 Siamese cats.
The owner is adamant that the cats cannot go upstairs and has warned me that they are very fast and sneaky so I have to be quick going through the doors.
Today I was bringing the hoover downstairs so obviously the door was open fairly wide and I had my hands full, all three cats darted upstairs behind me as I was getting through the door to downstairs. It was so quick and then they just disappeared into various hiding places upstairs!
I managed to track 2 down and tried to coax them out. I made some progress with one, tried to pick her up and she bit me very deep, now she just hisses at me. I cannot even find the third one. This went on for a few hours, various treats, tuna, playing cat noises etc. I don't want to manhandle them as I don't want to get bitten again and don't want to scare them so I can't think of what else to do really.
I have told the owner who suggested that I sit in silence in the kitchen waiting for them to come down and then close the door behind them. I have been doing this now since 8pm and none of the cats have come down. It's now 1:30am.
I'm at a complete loss for words, the owner is due back tomorrow and I know the last thing she'll want to do is deal with this but I have no idea how to get them down!
All the cats' food, water and litter trays are downstairs and I am really concerned I haven't seen them at all. Does anybody have any tips or tricks for coaxing cats? They are terrified of me and just hiss at me when I go near them.