Do over night cat sitters exist?

[TMose]

Usually when we go on holiday my sister comes over to watch our two cats. However she is moving away to uni soon and before then we are having a family holiday, so she will be with us.

One of my cats is a rescue and very easily stressed, so I would not put him in a cattery. I have googled cat sitters but they all seem to just pop in for 30 minute visits to do food, water, litter etc and give them a little stroke. However, 30 minutes isn't long. My oldest cat likes to go outside and I never know how long he will be gone for so even if they did 2 visits and let him out and then came back later to let him in, there's no knowing if he'd actually be there or not. Plus my younger cat absolutely loves human company and lots of fuss and I really feel like she would be lonely with just an hour of human interaction a day. I know that people say cats are fine on their own and cope well and don't care etc but I don't feel comfortable with this.

For these reasons I really wanted someone who cat stay for longer periods of the day, and even overnight. I don't need someone to be here constantly of course, but maybe for a couple of hours or so in the day and then overnight. It would really make me feel so much better knowing that they aren't lonely and just stuck indoors. I would really worry about them.

Does anyone know if there's any websites for this kind of service where people will stay over at your house?

Absolutely. Trusted Sitters and Housesitters.co.uk are big for this.

Bonus - the sitters don’t ask for payment as they are getting free accommodation

Downside - you have to trust someone with your home and your pet for the week! But there are lots if reviews and you can also have a zoom call with the person beforehand.

By the way Housesitters.co.uk is free for the house owner, or at least was last time I looked. Trusted Sitters is a bigger name but requires an annual fee

I have never actually done this, I was going to but the trip was cancelled due to covid. Still think it’s a great idea though - win win all round.

Do any of your friends have older teenagers/young adults? Or any friends that could help you out? I used to do this just to get a house to myself!

I still stay at my friends to cat sit/dog sit sometimes they take the dog, sometimes not.

I think you'll find something if you Google overnight cat sitter.

best of luck.

I have a friend who is a dogwalker but also offers pet sits for cats as well as dogs (also other small animals!) She will stay in your house overnight- is CRB checked and will visit you at home before to meet your you and your pet.
For a cat (or dog) she would stay overnight - leaves the house as she found it (sometimes cleaner!) Works her other jobs around the pet sit so if looking after dogs would leave them max 3/4 hrs, walk other dogs then go back. Covers her local area and booked solid all Spring/Summer and covers Xmas and New Year as well. I think it's £35 per night for 1 pet and £10 for additional so has done sits with 2 dogs plus a cat for £55 a night. Always stays local to her home as she has family (DH plus older teen/adult child) - agree with PP google overnight pet sits/cat sits. A lot of her cats and dogs would not be able to cope with kennels/cattery but staying at home with someone they have met (and usually hit it off with) is ideal.

Cat in a Flat and Pawshake both have options for overnight cat sitting (not sure how many sitters they have on their books for this in practice though).

I also found this option on cat in a flat website. I live in a small northern town and there were people offering this, which surprised me!

Omg amazinggggg! Thanks everyone. When I googled the other day I didn't see anything like this come up but maybe I just didn't look properly or searched for the wrong thing. Will be having another look, thank you 😄

Trusted Housesitters is brilliant - I use it several times a year for my affectionate and mildly neurotic cat and all my sitters have been excellent. The cost is about £100 a year which is frankly a bargain.

@JoanOgden I have just been on this website to have a look and was just wondering do you have to pay the site fee plus money to the pet sitter?

No, you just pay the site fee. No money changes hands between the owner and the sitter.

I used TrustedHousesitters a few times too, never had any problems, the sitters were great. But you do need to arrange it quite far in advance because people get booked up. Some people do it all year, just travel around the country (or multiple countries!) pet sitting and looking after houses.

I do house and cat sitting, it's fab! You didn't get the results because you googled cat sitters, they all list as house sitters. Honestly if your house is nice and it's just cats you shouldn't have any problems getting someone. I use housitters uk not trusted house sitters just because my sub is cheaper and I get plenty of sits.
You don't pay the sitter on either of those sites, it's a mutually beneficial exchange, sitter gets a stay in your house and you get peace of mind and pet and house taken care of.
House owners usually leave a bottle of wine and permission to eat anything but I always just get a shop delivered after I arrive and just eat up any leftover fresh stuff. I've got four people now I regularly sit for so it all goes smoothly and I know their houses and cats really well, which makes it simple for the house owner they don't have to keep telling new people all the info.
It's brilliant! Good luck OP.

Ive got a 25% off link code for Trusted Housesitters if you want it? It's an 'Introduce a Friend' deal as I am a member.