Cat Sitter! Where To Find The Perfect One?

My husband and I are leaving town for a week but we own an almost 5 month old kitten.
We were investigating about cat sitter services becouse we think is not to great to bringing her to a cat hotel or so.
The only thing is that we are doubting if hire someone to come daily, for how long, or for how many times will be ok?
Also we don’t know where service is the best one, any recommendations?

Thanks!!

We’ve used a variety of cat sitting services. We pick ones that say they are licensed and bonded, we check online reviews from Yelp, post on Next Door asking for recommendations. We have also asked nearby friends as well.

I like a place that wants detailed instructions, ones that will text me photos when they visit. And usually there is a meet and greet first so they can meet the cat and see where all the litter boxes and food are.

We usually have them come twice per day since we feed wet food, although on the past when they had kibble they would come once per day, or even every other day. In addition to food, litter, and wellness check the sitter usually plays with the cat and is a friendly face. Now I like them coming over twice per day for that reason too.

I’ve never had a kitten, so this advice is for an adult cat. Kittens may need more frequent visits. I would guess at minimum two per day, but I have heard they can get into a lot of trouble unattended too.

Is there a reason she can't come with you? Does the out of town place have a no pets policy?

KarenKat said:

We’ve used a variety of cat sitting services. We pick ones that say they are licensed and bonded, we check online reviews from Yelp, post on Next Door asking for recommendations. We have also asked nearby friends as well.

I like a place that wants detailed instructions, ones that will text me photos when they visit. And usually there is a meet and greet first so they can meet the cat and see where all the litter boxes and food are.

We usually have them come twice per day since we feed wet food, although on the past when they had kibble they would come once per day, or even every other day. In addition to food, litter, and wellness check the sitter usually plays with the cat and is a friendly face. Now I like them coming over twice per day for that reason too.

I’ve never had a kitten, so this advice is for an adult cat. Kittens may need more frequent visits. I would guess at minimum two per day, but I have heard they can get into a lot of trouble unattended too.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice!!!

IndyJones said:

Is there a reason she can't come with you? Does the out of town place have a no pets policy?

Click to expand...

It is a 12 hrs flight, That’s why.

I live in the apartment building so now I have a sitter that lives one floor down, and it's super convenient and actually I feel a lot better knowing that there's someone so close in case my cats need extra visit etc (I monitor them on the Wifi camera when I'm away, so I hope I'll catch if something goes wrong - never did, all they do is sleep when we're away ). So I greatly recommend someone living very close, maybe one of the neighbour is experienced in cat care?

But: when I had a single kitten, I couldn't imagine leaving her home alone, and since she was brave, social and easy going, we just gave her to our catless friends for two weeks. She was super good while in there, having a constant company, and we got thousands of photos. The bigger the cat, the more difficult it is to introduce him to the new territory, but with the kitten, you could do this if you have someone you trust enough.

If you join the nextdoor app and ask about it you will get many responses. My cat sitter, a business, came 3x a day and sent me pics by texting every day and let me know how things were going with my cats and that they changed the water and litter every day. I texted them instructions and they came over before I left

Also depending on where you live and the time of year, finding one early is good. I was in the California Bay Area and I needed weeks of notice for visits and months if it was near a holiday.

Ohhh

She's a witch said:

I live in the apartment building so now I have a sitter that lives one floor down, and it's super convenient and actually I feel a lot better knowing that there's someone so close in case my cats need extra visit etc (I monitor them on the Wifi camera when I'm away, so I hope I'll catch if something goes wrong - never did, all they do is sleep when we're away ). So I greatly recommend someone living very close, maybe one of the neighbour is experienced in cat care?

But: when I had a single kitten, I couldn't imagine leaving her home alone, and since she was brave, social and easy going, we just gave her to our catless friends for two weeks. She was super good while in there, having a constant company, and we got thousands of photos. The bigger the cat, the more difficult it is to introduce him to the new territory, but with the kitten, you could do this if you have someone you trust enough.[/Q

She's a witch said:

I live in the apartment building so now I have a sitter that lives one floor down, and it's super convenient and actually I feel a lot better knowing that there's someone so close in case my cats need extra visit etc (I monitor them on the Wifi camera when I'm away, so I hope I'll catch if something goes wrong - never did, all they do is sleep when we're away ). So I greatly recommend someone living very close, maybe one of the neighbour is experienced in cat care?

But: when I had a single kitten, I couldn't imagine leaving her home alone, and since she was brave, social and easy going, we just gave her to our catless friends for two weeks. She was super good while in there, having a constant company, and we got thousands of photos. The bigger the cat, the more difficult it is to introduce him to the new territory, but with the kitten, you could do this if you have someone you trust enough.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experience!! Hopefully I can find someone near!

Click to expand...

maggie101 said:

If you join the nextdoor app and ask about it you will get many responses. My cat sitter, a business, came 3x a day and sent me pics by texting every day and let me know how things were going with my cats and that they changed the water and litter every day. I texted them instructions and they came over before I left

Click to expand...

Oh wow I will download it right now! Thanks for the advice!

KarenKat said:

Also depending on where you live and the time of year, finding one early is good. I was in the California Bay Area and I needed weeks of notice for visits and months if it was near a holiday.

Click to expand...

I am in Dallas, hopefully I find someone trustable soon

I have used care.com for a couple of sitters. You can post jobs for free and members are free to respond to them and you can reply back. I did this the first time and the sitter I got was "okay" but neither Krista nor myself were particulary satisfied with the job she did. If you are browsing the site, and you see someone you like, you will have to pay for a membership to initiate contact with them. I did this for the second sitter and found one I really liked. Care.com does background checks on their care providers so that's one less thing to worry about. The price is reasonable too and it's easy enough to stop your paying membership once you've found someone you like.

I recommend doing a training session and then a couple of practice feeds before you take the big trip. You want to shore up any differences in communication, care style, effectiveness, etc BEFORE you leave.

Search Google for a Pet Sitter Checklist template. At a minimum, you should have written out your vet and emergency hospital information, your travel contact information, a local contact if you have one (for example, sitter can't find her key, who do they talk to for a spare?), and of course care instructions: foods, medicines, toys, as well as environment like lights or music. For as much of this that makes sense, I like to get colored stickers and match the instruction to the physical object it refers to in order to make things extra clear. If my Krista is to be fed "Rawz Turkey and Turkey Liver" canned food, the note may have an orange sticker next to this point, and every can of Rawz Turkey has an orange sticker.

The vet techs at your vet's office may do pet sitting on the side. Just ask

I also live in Texas. I don't think there is pet sitter licensing in this state. But I do know one pet sitter locally. She suggests. you check for a bonded sitter or service, and ask for three recent customers you can contact.

Do you have any friends,family, or business associates that can do it? My husband and I have cared for a senior kitty for a friend who loves 45 minutes away for free. But paying for gas might make it easier

Neko-chan's mama said:

Do you have any friends,family, or business associates that can do it? My husband and I have cared for a senior kitty for a friend who loves 45 minutes away for free. But paying for gas might make it easier

Click to expand...

Se are barely new in Dallas, and we don’t know that many people here, that’s why we are looking for cat sitter services.

LTS3 said:

The vet techs at your vet's office may do pet sitting on the side. Just ask

Click to expand...

Good idea!!! I will check that out!

ArchyCat said:

I also live in Texas. I don't think there is pet sitter licensing in this state. But I do know one pet sitter locally. She suggests. you check for a bonded sitter or service, and ask for three recent customers you can contact.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice!