pet sitter no show!

[lo]

I have four cats and one of them is one some medications, so I hired a pet sitter to come by yesterday to feed/water/change litter and most importantly, to give the meds.

We have used her many times in the past without a problem so I didn't check in with her, especially since it was one day. Now I'm nervous if she pulled this when we hired her for two weeks awhile ago... ugh, this sucks.

The cats were so hungry they started pulling bread bags down from the fridge and chewing through the plastic.

[Deleted]

I'd call her right away to see what's going on.

I hope your kitties are ok!

[awick14]

I hope your kitty's are ok.

I'd also call her ASAP an ask her what is going on.

[lo]

I plan on calling her in the morning since I didn't get home tonight till 11. I did email her, though. There's not much she can say... I'm asking her to mail our key back ASAP.

The kitties seem to be fine, but I'm pissed they went almost 2 days without food and my one cat didn't get her meds (thankfully they aren't for a very serious issue).

[niemand88f]

That's definitely my fear of going on vacation and leaving the cats. I'm glad your cats are ok, I would be really upset too.

[msmerymac]

Nov 25, 2012 9:41:32 GMT -5 niemand88f said:

That's definitely my fear of going on vacation and leaving the cats. I'm glad your cats are ok, I would be really upset too.

Same here. I found a pet sitting service I was thinking about using, and then I saw on their Yelp reviews that sometimes the sitters didn't show up (it was a large service that contracted out the work to many different sitters). I went with a smaller (3 person) pet sitting service and I've been really happy. I also have a cat on medications and who needs subcutaneous fluids and hand-feeding, not to mention fresh wet food daily. The service actually asked us to book Thanksgiving and Christmas ASAP (back in October) because we're "high priority" with Sam's special needs. So if anyone is in LA, I will recommend them to you!

OP, I'm happy your kitties are okay. Check Yelp and Sittercity for recommendations for a new pet sitter.

[midnightmare81]

Was it through a service or just someone you know? If it is through a service, then I would call the owner. The service I worked for had tracking devices in our work phones. I wasn't much of a fan of the fact that my boss could track where I was all the time since we were expected to have our phones always on us when I was only working 2-3 jobs a week sometimes (summer and a lot of our clients were school teachers or had kids home from school). But I will say it kinda saved my butt one when one very dear client called SWEARING their dog didn't get their visit, even though I left notes every time I went, and had left one that visit. My boss was able to print out the report and show that I was at their house, when, and for how long. As it turned out, the dog had a UTI, thus why the dog had to go so bad when they got home, and the owner apologized. After that, I realized what I found to annoy me at first, is actually a great tool for the sitter and the client. This might be something to look into when finding your next sitter...

[hoosierbradly]

Hope the kittens are okay, that really sucks. My ex gf always seemed to have an easier time finding a sitter for her 3 year old kid than I did for my 13 year old lab! Kid with tons of energy vs a lazy old pup?? So hard to find someone with the same love/respect for animals.

[macmars45]

I'm glad your kitties are okay.

The first time H and I went on vacation and left our kitty for longer than 3 days we had one of H's coworkers check in on her. When we returned we found her treat bag on the counter ripped open with teeth & claw marks. She would only do that if she didn't have food in her dish and got really hungry because she prefers her regular food to treats. (She weird, doesn't like catnip either.) We haven't asked H's coworker to help us out since. She asks H at least once a year if we want her to pet sit for us again but he turns her down every time.

[kellbell191]

A friend did this to us when we were OOT for my Mom's funeral. I'd try going through your vet's office; often the vet techs are happy to cat sit for extra money and they're trustworthy.

[polarbearfans]

I would call. Find out what happened. I'm tempted to nanny cam. We found out one vacation out normal pet sitter had a heart attack and his wife supposedly took care of the babies. When we got back the cats were stressed and half starved. We also had a brief period where she "lost" one of the cats and we were packing up to make the 6 hour drive home to start a search party. Ask for a refund and reasons why your babies were neglected.

[midnightmare81]

FWIW, we just got home from vacation. Our cat stayed with a friend who also has cats. They leave food out 24/7, and there was food out when we got there. We stayed and hung out for a bit and chatted, the food was out and full, and our cat didn't seem to care much about it, she was just chilling around the house. When we got home, she acted like she hadn't eaten the whole 2+ weeks we were gone. Crying for food while standing by her bowl and then pacing between the closet with the food and her bowl. Anyone would have thought she hadn't been fed the whole time we were gone, meanwhile I know she had access to food the whole time and DID eat, she is the same weight as when we dropped her off.

I should note they feed the EXACT same food we do, so not an aversion to the food they feed. She has stayed there before and is perfectly comfortable with their house, pretty much rules the roost while there, so I do not think her not eating is due to lack of comfort or fear of the other cats.

PP, I am very sorry that you did not have a good experience, but try to keep in mind that her husband had a HEART ATTACK. She probably had a lot of other things going on and may not have been on their normal schedule due to hospital visits, ect. They may not have been starved, but stressed from the schedule difference. I hate to say it, but as long as they were fed, this is the ONE excuse I find acceptable for not staying on schedule. Life threatening situations are a reasonable excuse for altering feeding times. That said, you should have gotten a discount since you did not get the exact service you were paying for. In the future, I would look into hiring a service with multiple employees so in the event something happens with one, there is someone else to cover.

[polarbearfans]

Jan 1, 2013 14:49:50 GMT -5 midnightmare81 said:

.

PP, I am very sorry that you did not have a good experience, but try to keep in mind that her husband had a HEART ATTACK. She probably had a lot of other things going on and may not have been on their normal schedule due to hospital visits, ect. They may not have been starved, but stressed from the schedule difference. I hate to say it, but as long as they were fed, this is the ONE excuse I find acceptable for not staying on schedule. Life threatening situations are a reasonable excuse for altering feeding times. That said, you should have gotten a discount since you did not get the exact service you were paying for. In the future, I would look into hiring a service with multiple employees so in the event something happens with one, there is someone else to cover.

I would have appreciated a phone call... not only finding out 2 days after the fact when she couldn't find a cat or tell me if she saw him the previous visit. I had friends with keys that could have stopped by or taken over caring for the cats. I understand the situation but we also had an agreement that our cats would be cared for (and she had no problem taking the cash we left for the service). We have people that will take care of the cats if asked but we really love how good the main pet sitter is. Its worth the $36 a day for a very clean home and calm cats. We come home and the cats are perfectly calm. There is another girl that helps out when needed but she wasn't assigned to our cats.

[midnightmare81]

Jan 1, 2013 19:20:11 GMT -5 polarbearfans said:

Jan 1, 2013 14:49:50 GMT -5 midnightmare81 said:

.

PP, I am very sorry that you did not have a good experience, but try to keep in mind that her husband had a HEART ATTACK. She probably had a lot of other things going on and may not have been on their normal schedule due to hospital visits, ect. They may not have been starved, but stressed from the schedule difference. I hate to say it, but as long as they were fed, this is the ONE excuse I find acceptable for not staying on schedule. Life threatening situations are a reasonable excuse for altering feeding times. That said, you should have gotten a discount since you did not get the exact service you were paying for. In the future, I would look into hiring a service with multiple employees so in the event something happens with one, there is someone else to cover.

I would have appreciated a phone call... not only finding out 2 days after the fact when she couldn't find a cat or tell me if she saw him the previous visit. I had friends with keys that could have stopped by or taken over caring for the cats. I understand the situation but we also had an agreement that our cats would be cared for (and she had no problem taking the cash we left for the service). We have people that will take care of the cats if asked but we really love how good the main pet sitter is. Its worth the $36 a day for a very clean home and calm cats. We come home and the cats are perfectly calm. There is another girl that helps out when needed but she wasn't assigned to our cats.

I must have missed the part about the cats being missing. I also assumed you had gotten a phone call. Not having either is unacceptable!

[arborgold]

Yikes! I would be livid if our sitter did that to us.

We go through a service that seems to be working out really well so far (and is fairly inexpensive, at least for my area).

The sitter (we always get the same one for consistency's sake) comes for half an hour each day (though now that we're feeding raw, we'll have to up that to twice a day), feeds them, cleans the litterbox, and plays with them, and fills out a report card each day for them, noting any concerns. She also occasionally takes pics and emails them. The report card and especially the pics ease my mind enormously (can you tell I'm a bit overprotective of them?)

If you're in the DC Metro area, let me know and I can PM you the company I use if you'd like.

[Deleted]

I'm sorry that happened to you and your kitties. Glad to read you are going to ask for the key back. Sorry, but I don't think I could ever trust that person again.

Whenever I watch a friend's pets I always send an email picture and a funny note from the pet. That way, they know I was there and it gives me a little reassurance they won't think I'm slacking.