Talk to me about having a Cat Sitter visiting your home whilst you are away?

[Verbena91]

We have a newish cat and are looking ahead to Christmas when we are going to be away for a few days. I had a cat as a child and my grandad used to come and feed her, but that's not a option for us and we have no-one locally we can ask, so we are going to book a cat sitter service. I have a recommendation of a company from friends.

I just wondered how people find using a cat sitter and if there are any tips or advice on what to ask for? How many times a day do they come to you for example?

Also I feel very funny about having people in our home - I don't feel very comfortable but I think I just need to get over it as I definitely don't want to put our rescue cat in a cattery, and I also don't want to stop having holidays!

Does anyone have a petcam or anything like that? Do the pet sitters mind if there are cameras? Do you lock your rooms before they come?

A lot of questions!

We have similar, she comes twice a day, play with them, change litter tray, feed them etc. she also does small favours like bins out, water garden if it has been hot. We have 2 cats and they would not like being in a cattery so that’s the only option that work for us.

How funny i used to do that as a pet sitter 🤣 cameras or not, i think most of the sitters know how to be respectful of people’s houses! I have 0 cameras indoors when my sitter comes, only outdoors cameras

Mine comes morning and night for 10 mins and sends us photos of the cat. When we come back I always know exactly what time she has been as my cat will go and sit by the front door at those times.

When she pops in pre holiday to collect the key my grumpy old cat is always very happy to see her.

You get to select potential sitters from applicants on the site and can then have video calls with them. I also live in a touristy area and would try and weed out people who were obviously just looking for a free holiday as (understandably) they would want to be out and about all the time rather than looking after my cat. I would also try and spot people who were "professional" house sitters who just go from sit to sit. The bad experience I had was compounded by the fact that the sitter who disliked my cat couldn't leave my house (even though we had come home early due to a family emergency) as she had nowhere to go until her next sit started. We ended up in a hotel for two nights whilst she stayed in our house!

Re the debate about cameras some sitter sites don't allow house owners to have cameras on whilst the sitters are there for obvious reasons. I know it was in the Ts & C's for THS.

I have several cameras, my cats like to migrate between rooms. My cat sitter knew this when she took the job several years ago. She's not bothered as most people have some sort of a camera these days.
My cats have a machine that feeds them their dry food and she only comes to give them wet food and spends some time with them, they mostly ignore her, they are cats🤷🏼‍♀️ and they are almost 15 years old, they are not really bothered by much these days (indoor only cats).

I don't love having anyone in my house either, but that's the price of going on holidays. My cats would absolutely hate going to a cattery, especially one who is very skittish.

We go away 3-4 times a year and never had any issues.

I asked her in to meet me and the cats and explain about the cameras, what I need her to do etc. I haven't seen her in person in years, we just communicate via WhatsApp. She's a nice, quiet girl, but has done a proper training, is insures etc and had good references.

We put our rescue cat in a cattery once while we went on holiday. The cattery seemed great and the staff were lovely but he was incredibly distressed, pissed on everything and took days to get back to himself afterwards. It was immensely traumatising for him and I felt so awful, I’ve never got over the guilt. Cats are territorial animals and prefer to be in their own territory, and rescue cats especially are better off at home. I’m glad it’s fine for your cats. I will never use a cattery again.

if we are just away for a few days i’ll pay one of the teenagers i know to cat sit, any longer and i use a professional cat sitter. but whoever it is ask for the same cat care: We don’t have a cat flap so i ask them to come in the morning and feed the cat then let her out for the day, garden with lots of shelter, then in the evening feed her and make sure she is in for the night, litter tray etc..cat seems happy enough snd would hate having to go to a cattery. i don’t think the cat sitter stays more than a few minutes. good security for the house though and they will open curtains, water plants etc

We found ours using cat in a flap. She is so good and will water plants, take bins out etc if needed.

Our cat is quite antisocial but really likes her.

I se cat sitters.

you can basically get anything you pay for. I have one who comes twice a day, spends time playing with the cats, sends multiple videos and photos, but is £££

then another, you choose once or twice a day, it’s literally, in, feed, litter, check the cat’s alive. She usually pops in on her way to walk the dogs she pet sits.

one somewhere in the middle, daily updates, odd photo, chats to the cat for a bit.

i actually quite like it. I get a bit anxious leaving the house for long periods, Brian starts fretting did I lock the door, switch the oven off, have we been burgled/burned to the ground, the usual 🤣. I find it reassuring that someone is checking on the house as well.

it does depend on you cat though. My last was very needy and would not have done well being left, so he went to a cattery where he could complain loudly to someone all
day. This cat has issues with strangers and new environments, plus she hates other cats, so she’s more comfortable in her own home.

We have cameras we didn't get them to spy on our wonderful cat sitter. We got them because when we got cats we could no longer use the burglar alarm as they would set it off.
We put one on the food bowl and then we can usually see both cats. We use it when we leave the timed bowl too to check that it opens.
Our cat sitter is fantastic and we trust her. If she wanders it's to find the cats e.g. one was in the loving room and didn't come and greet her. She sends me pics and a line about if they were OK, or didn't come when called, or played etc.
I have her twice a day - although if we are away for a week or more occasionally she will only come once if she has plans before I book her. Then she sets the timer bowl just like we would.

Our cat sitter comes twice a day to feed and play with our boy. He gets very lonely without anyone in the house. He’s also allowed to come and go through the cat flap whenever he pleases so she checks that the batteries on it are working and there is no glitch that can prevent him from using it. We love having a cat sitter, she looks after him but also waters my plants, open and closes our blinds and is a generally a reassurance that our home is all fine. It’s good to have someone be seen to come and go in case your empty house is targeted. No cameras.

I cat sit and do pretty much the same as this person, I don't care if there are cameras, I have nothing to fear.
I am naturally not a snooper and I am very security conscious.
I prefer to not go upstairs but of course I will if asked.
I don't think you can expect sitter to stay too long as often the c at disappears! But if c at wants a fuss I am very happy to hang around with it !

When I moved two years ago I found my cat sitter by posting on local websites/fora and asking for recommendations.

I would never again use a cattery - some years ago I had two cats and sent them to a highly recommended cattery for just three nights while I moved house. Both came back thoroughly traumatised. One had IBD from then onwards and the other suddenly developed diabetes. Cats are very wedded to their home environments.

Fortunately I received a great recommendation for a young woman who adores cats. In her day job she WFH so instead, when I am away, she WFH at my house, meaning that my very sociable young cat has lots of company. On the occasional day when she can't do that she makes two visits.

I have pet cams around the house which she knows about, and she has my permission to switch them off when she is in the house (although never does). She sends me regular photographs and videos and my cat loves her!

Mine is the local dog walker. So its a real plus that she walks by the empty house 10 times a day. When Dcats where little she visited twice a day, fed and cleaned the litter. We got a daily video too.

Another TrustedHousesitter user here- if we’re only away one night we just stick some extra biscuits down, if it’s a couple of nights we get a friend to pop in, but anything longer than that we put a post on THS.

We have done it about ten times since living in our current house, and never had a bad experience- everyone is always friendly and considerate. We’ve never done a phone or video call beforehand just that with the applicant on the website, but you do have that option if you want to.

I know you said that you don’t like the idea of someone in your house OP, but for us we prefer it as it means the house isn’t left empty. Also as our cat is indoors he’s very friendly and social, so we prefer to have someone who is around the house rather than having someone pop in for ten mins a day and then he’s on his own for the next 23odd hours.

I had a penfriend who used https://www.workaway.info/
to do pet sitting for people. She was an air hostess normally but loved animals as well as travel so this is one thing she used to do regularly. Have a look here
https://www.workaway.info/en/signup/host
you might find out more about the people that do this - this page specifically mentions hosting house or pet sitters. You should be able to see reviews for the people doing this left by their previous hosts.

hth