Cat sitters/visitors

[BatshitCrazyWoman]

I've adopted a cat 😺 She's a cautious little thing, and wouldn't like a cattery, so I was thinking of getting someone to come and feed her and pet her twice a day (I'm going away for the weekend in October).

Is there some sort of register of suitable people anywhere?

Picture of Mabel attached

Cat in a Flat for drop-ins and Trusted Housesitters for overnights - I have had good experiences with both.

I have a black and white cat called Mabel!

Mind my home/house ? something like that ive used for longer stays.
weekend might be good enough with a person popping in

Oh thank you, Cat in a Flat was the one I was looking at today, I just want someone to come in twice a day.

My last boy quite liked the cattery!

Local FB page for recommendations. There are a few in our area who lots of people recommend.

I got my lovely sitter from a local animal group I'm in. She's great

Did you adopt Mabel from a rescue shelter? It might be worth asking them (or any local animal shelter) if they can recommend someone. That's what we did and have a lovely lady who works there come in twice a day to feed our cats when we are away.

Someone coming in and out of your house will also help to make it look "occupied" while you are away, especially if they were willing to make sure no post sticking out of letter box or open/close curtains!

Also your vet may well know someone. Our vet knows our catsitter well.

@TimeForLunch

Did you adopt Mabel from a rescue shelter? It might be worth asking them (or any local animal shelter) if they can recommend someone. That's what we did and have a lovely lady who works there come in twice a day to feed our cats when we are away.

I did, but I asked (over email) and she didn't reply.

Local Facebook group is not particularly helpful on this (replies along the lines of 'my mate Jane will do it' even though Jane isn't actually a cat sitter, just a random woman who lives in the area).

Vet hasn't responded either!

@eddiemairswife

I have a black and white cat called Mabel!

Great minds!

Excellent cat name 😁

@Mabelface it is an excellent name. I only give my pets names I love!

I thought my cats wouldn't like the cattery. But I found them a good one and they adore it!

@Toddlerteaplease

I thought my cats wouldn't like the cattery. But I found them a good one and they adore it!

My previous cat liked it, the two before him tolerated it. Mabel is a bit nervous, so I'm pretty sure she'd hate it.

Most dog walkers will do cat visits

Cats Protection have this on their site. Might be worth a try. Mabel looks very sweet😻

www.trustedhousesitters.com/house-and-pet-sitters/united-kingdom/

My cat is quite a nervous boy as well. Doesn't go out much by choice it seems. I toyed with the idea of cat sitter/feeder whilst we go away but decided against in the end because I just don't think he'd cope all those hours on his own he's pretty needy.

I found a lovely little cattery ran by an amazing lady. As much as he hates the journey in his carrier, when he gets there he's happy as Larry. Being fed fresh tuna and chicken treats, being brushed and stroked and cuddled in the day, generally being treated like a lord. A good cattery can devote so much time to the cats, and are such cat lovers that they'll be used to dealing with nervous cats and will persevere. The cattery I go to even has an Alexa in the cat pods and she asked me what his fave music was

It's definitely worth considering giving it a go.

@Orangelover my cattery sounds like yours. But even they don't have Alexa's. Through they did toy with the idea of FaceTime calls with your cats.

If you go on trusted house sitter there's a pet sitter section. Cute fur baby 🥰

@Orangelover. I'd book in for me!! 🤣

@BatshitCrazyWoman. I hated taking my shy/nervous one to the cattery, but she coped much better than my Houdini boy!! I'd give it a go, it's only a weekend & it might be better than having a stranger come in & out of her house?!

Most of the time we had people stay, usually god kids (older teens) or staff (who worked fir us, early 20's) who jumped at the chance to have a house to themselves.

The odd time my mum popped in the fuss & feed, but they (obviously) knew her anyway.

I'm sure Mabel will be fine whatever you do, it's only a short time.

She's very sweet. I've had her for just over a week, so she's still kept in my spare bedroom/office, and it's really hard to tell how she'll be in a couple of months. I'll got for the cat feeding person, I think. I don't want anyone staying in my house though, if I'm not here, she sleeps, as most cats do.

That cattery sounds amazing, there's nothing like that here! A couple of them, including the one I used for my boy cat, have closed down ☹️

We used Cat In A Flat, and found a lovely cat sitter. She also brought in post, watered plants, turned lights on and off and sent us a video every day of the fur babies.

That's good to know @MrsSchadenfreude

I used a cat-sitter from Petpals recently. One visit per day cost about the same as the cattery daily rate. I also bought a timer feeder for the wet food, and I use a slow feeder for the dry food. Cat-sitter cleaned and refilled the timer feeder, topped up the dry feeder, cleaned up around the food, stroked and played with Mr FattyCat, and put all post in the kitchen. And he sent us a photo and a report every day. Very pleased with the service.

This is one of the photos he sent us. FattyCat is a very ChattyCat.