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Picking the Perfect Cat-Sitter
Posted by Ingrid Newkirk at 5:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
It’s vacation time, but unfortunately, you cannot take your feline friend with you. Your neighbor will not be able to watch your cat companion either. You concede that you will have to work with an outside sitter. But how do you know that the sitter will provide the proper service? Here are some tips excerpted from my book 250 Things You Can Do to Make Your Cat Adore You.
- 1. A big smile is not a reliable reference. Check references carefully (try to determine if the folks providing the glowing endorsements are actually the sitter’s relatives and friends).
2. Call the Better Business Bureau, your local Chamber of Commerce, and any and all animal protection organizations within thirty miles to ask if they have ever had a complaint about the sitter.
3. Meet the sitter in advance and ask her questions about cats and their care (wrong answers, wrong sitter).
4. Sign a contract, but not one that exempts the sitter from liability in the case of kitty illness, accident, or death.
5. Make sure the sitter agrees to check in with you every day, no matter where you are.
6. Leave your telephone numbers, those of your best cat-aware friend or relative, and that of your vet taped to the telephone.
7. Leave water in bowls in many rooms at the house (if the sitter is struck by lightning, kitty is in far greater danger of dehydration than of starving to death).
8. Have someone you know and who knows cats check on the cat at least every two days.
9. Worry! This can help you think of other precautions.
And if you need more information on how to find a great sitter, check out this previous post by Scott VanValkenburg
Posted to Travel | Posted to Tags: Cats, Ingrid Newkirk
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Kris says...
June 13th, 2009, 12:52 pm
Just a little side-note regarding using your “friends” or relatives as pet-sitters: don’t assume that because you have a friendship with them, or because they are related to you that they will be responsible to your companion animals - be very explicit and detailed in what you expect. A long time ago, I had a boyfriend catsit for me when I had to visit family on emergency…I found out that he left the cats alone for 3 days unattended while he went skiing with his roommate (needless to say I broke up with him immediately when I found out). Always be cautious of who you entrust to take care of your animal family!
amen sigala says...
June 15th, 2009, 10:09 pm
This is not on the subject but didn’t know where else to put it. As veg or vegans how do u all feed your usually meat eating animals such as cats and dogs without contributing to the meat industry? My son wants a dog but I refuse to feed it meat so I am doing research on feeding dogs a veg diet.
Thks ahead of time for all answers.
Jade A says...
June 19th, 2009, 5:25 pm
I would have needed advices on how to choose people I catsitt for… the last person I agreed to catsitt for decided she no longer wanted the cat because the cat isnt too sociable with other cats and told me to take the cat to the SPCA that she would pay me back the fees… But I cant do that to a cat, I just cant so I ended up with an other cat… and I definitively didnt planned on taking an other one on a permanent basis!