Am I Overreacting? My Cat Sitter Didn’t Check Water

[Royalty]

Hey friends-

I’m new here- it looks like a great community.

I need to know if I’m overreacting or not: I came back from a week of vacation and my cat, who’s on a special diet and needs ample water because he’s had bladder crystals in the past, didn’t have his water checked or refilled while I was gone. The sitter, who appeared to be a reasonable, smart adult, told me she didn’t because it “wasn’t in the directions.” Making sure he stayed hydrated was- I honestly thought making sure he had water was self-explanatory, I guess.

Thankfully, he seems to be ok. His water was almost completely empty, and his spare was too.

Should I be concerned? I poked his belly and he doesn’t have discomfort, which is good.

Oh, cleaning the litter box daily was definitely in the directions, twice. That didn’t happen either.

Would it be rude not to give this lady a small present I was planning on?

No it certainly would not be rude in not giving her a present personally I would not be happy at all. Quiet plainly she didn't look after him as for her saying it wasn't in the directions. I'm sure she was eating and drinking herself adequately in that week. And not cleaning his litter box poor baby, is he eating and drinking ok now

 

[KarenKat]

We have an awesome lady come and care for our cats when we are gone. She has long forms to fill out for where everything is, sends us photos and definitely scoops the litterbox and checks water and food. Our fountain was making noises and she was worried about leaving it plugged in so she took an initiative to get extra water bowls out and fill them with fresh water.

If this person was a “professional” they should try a new line of work.

 

[Royalty]

We have an awesome lady come and care for our cats when we are gone. She has long forms to fill out for where everything is, sends us photos and definitely scoops the litterbox and checks water and food. Our fountain was making noises and she was worried about leaving it plugged in so she took an initiative to get extra water bowls out and fill them with fresh water.

If this person was a “professional” they should try a new line of work.

Exactly that's the way to look after cats.

 

[matt1991]

i have baddd add and im very irresponsible and i make sure to feed water clean litter boxes daily she obviously did not care at all tbh id be surprised that she didnt just come once and over flow the cat food so the cat would eat off the floor for days to stop her from having t come back during rest of week that is pretty scummy tbh especially if u actually paid her id honestly only give her half the money saying u did only half the job but u did say he had water left so the cat didnt go without water for days ect so i wouldnt overreact just never hire again

 

[Antonio65]

I have just come back from a holiday myself.

I always leave detailed (even too much) written instructions to those who come and look after my cat Pallina.
Anyway it's clear enough that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that water HAS to be changed at least once a day, even if it wasn't mentioned beforehand.

My last directions were to give Pallina her meds, the amount of food morning and evening, the cleaning of the litter box (with even the directions for the disposal of the waste, we recycle over here) and the water.
I expressely asked them to weigh the bowl of water at every change of the water to keep trace of the amount of how much water Pallina has drunk.

I left the phone numbers of three different vets who know my cat, along with the address to the clinic, and GPS coordinates in case it was to hard to find it (with a QR-code to make things simplier).

And of course my phone number where I want them to update every time they come to mind my cat.

At the end of the vacation, I pay them the agreed sum and give them a present from the place I was to.

 

[Antonio65]

I have been a cat sitter too for years.

And in addition to minding the cats, cleaning their box thoroughly, washing their dishes clean before giving them fresh food, I would also play with them, make sure they were fine and alert.
And I would also clean the house from litter on the floor, and cat hair.
I would make sure than I stayed with the cat not shorter than 30 minutes, usually an hour.
And before leaving I would call the owner and let them know how things were going.

I would also water the flower pots if needed

 

[duckpond]

I don't think she meant to actually POKE.

Casper has urinary crystals but we keep them under control with the right food and plenty of water. We also have pills for him if he needs them.

When we took him to the vet, she showed us how to palpate Casper's tummy to see if there is any discomfort or distension.

I think, by "poke" she meant "palpate."
(Which means "to examine by touching")

And... Yes... If your cat is showing signs of blockage due to crystals in his urine, it is appropriate to gently palpate your cat's abdomen to determine whether there is any discomfort or bloating due to blocked urinary passages.

If you don't know how to do that it is worthwhile to ask your vet to show you what to do the next time you visit.

Sorry, but i will disagree with this. Most people should not palpate, poke, or squeeze a cats abdomen if they think there is a blockage. I think this is best left to the vet, as they know how to do it, and what they are feeling. Most of us do not and can miss much, or cause more harm than good. So unless someone has been trained to do this, i advise not to.

 

[Caspers Human]

Our vet showed us how to palpate our cat's abdomen in order to know whether it’s okay to wait until morning to call in or whether it’s an emergency that needs an immediate trip to the animal hospital.

It’s not hard to do but I agree with you that it’s not something anybody should do without being shown how.

Just ask your vet to show you.

Your point is taken, though... Don’t try it until you have been taught.

 

[1 bruce 1]

=/

A professional cat sitter should consider themselves as such, and a professional sitter/care taker of any living being should know water is good, especially for a pet or patient with urinary problems.
I don't want to bash this person. Maybe they fudged up and pulled this excuse out of their rear end in a moment of realization. But they seriously need to consider that living things like good clean water, and living things with urinary issues like good clean water even more.
And anyone who considers themselves a cat professional would realize that cats = low thirst drive and encouraging water consumption can only happen from a spotless bowl with fresh water, at least daily if not more often.
When I was a side-job pet sitter, the rule was "do what the best sitters do...and do it better." This included washing the water bowls with hot water and soap, polishing to a shine, re-filling...checking any "free feeding" bowls for kibble that had gotten damp from the water dish (mold), litter box scooping and leveling the litter (if in 12 hours no cat has peed and the litter has been repeatedly disturbed, we've got issues!!!), "potty breaking" dogs turns into a walk and play time, etc....
This person is probably a good hearted person, no one signs up for this without liking pets, but I would re consider hiring them again. If you like them as a person (not a sitter), maybe reserve their next chance for a 24 hour out of town journey vs. a week or so.
JMO. =)

 

[B4G2011]

No it certainly would not be rude in not giving her a present personally I would not be happy at all. Quiet plainly she didn't look after him as for her saying it wasn't in the directions. I'm sure she was eating and drinking herself adequately in that week. And not cleaning his litter box poor baby, is he eating and drinking ok now

He is. Thanks for asking!

 

[B4G2011]

Wow, I would not be giving that sitter any gift, I'd show her the door. Everybody knows that pets need water! If I was taking care of your cat for you, I would wash his water bowl for him once a day and refresh his water at night with his dinner to make sure it was clean. And I would scoop his litter at least twice a day too. Common sense. Did she give him any canned food?

She did, and thankfully mixing 1/8 c water into his wet food in the evenings was in the directions, so it happened.

 

[darcifinn]

I haven’t read the whole thread but I just want to weigh and that I would flip out. My husband’s daughter was taking care of our cats while we were out of town for free, and did not refill their water. Now I pay $20x2 visits a day for someone I trust.

 

[BonitaBaby]

So I read this thread before, but didn't comment. It's been on my mind occasionally, so I will now. I definitely wouldn't give the present, but I'm wondering if she was a professional sitter or a neighbor or family friend? There would be different expectations for a professional sitter.

If it was someone helping out who doesn't have cats, I would understand the forgetting to refill the water since it wasn't explicitly stated in the instructions. Before I had my cat, I would take care of my sister's 4 cats when she was on vacation. I would mostly just feed them their cans of wet food. Watch them eat since there was a piglet and another cat who ate very little. I just checked that the water fountain had water and poured in water if it was low on water. I sometimes had to give medication to one. I may or may not have played with them for a brief while. I can't remember, but if I was adding water to their food and refilling the water fountain wasn't mentioned, I might not have thought to do it. Not out of trying to be irresponsible, but out of ignorance. (BTW, I just did it as a favor and wasn't paid.)

I agree with the posters about leaving very detailed instructions, such as wash the water bowl daily and refill with fresh water. As for the litter box, before I lived with cats, I just assumed they'd be fine with a dirty box. I think I did clean the litter boxes daily because I was instructed to. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have touched them. (Even if I had been paid, I wouldn't do what I didn't know to do.)

 

[MRG2018]

Hey friends-

I’m new here- it looks like a great community.

I need to know if I’m overreacting or not: I came back from a week of vacation and my cat, who’s on a special diet and needs ample water because he’s had bladder crystals in the past, didn’t have his water checked or refilled while I was gone. The sitter, who appeared to be a reasonable, smart adult, told me she didn’t because it “wasn’t in the directions.” Making sure he stayed hydrated was- I honestly thought making sure he had water was self-explanatory, I guess.

Thankfully, he seems to be ok. His water was almost completely empty, and his spare was too.

Should I be concerned? I poked his belly and he doesn’t have discomfort, which is good.

Oh, cleaning the litter box daily was definitely in the directions, twice. That didn’t happen either.

Would it be rude not to give this lady a small present I was planning on?

How did this person become a pet sitter? Water should be refresh regularly, not just filled up.

And without a clean litter box, it is more likely for the cat to pee some place else. Don't hire her again, no need to give her a gift. She will think she did a decent job and continue to be ignorant about the basic needs of cats.

 

[catlover73]

I am not a professional cat sitter myself. Years ago one of my friends used to be my neighbor. She went through a divorce and had a job that required considerable travel. One of her cats was also diabetic and required medication 2x a day. I volunteered to go with her to vet when she took Neo in for a check-up because I wanted to learn more about what to look out for with a diabetic cat. Her vet was awesome and gave me some good information. She also gave me a print-out that we put up on my friend's fridge. The vet also allowed me to give Neo medicine in her presence so I could make sure I was not going to have issues. Luckily Neo was very easy to give medicine to. She also had another cat named Ripley who loved people. He was grieving a bit after the divorce because he was very bonded to daddy. Not only did I go over there twice a day to take care of the food, water, litter and medicate Neo but I also spent time just hanging out with the cats. I would watch TV while brushing Neo and giving Ripley time to hang out in my lap. One my days off I spent at least 3 hours with her cats to give them attention. One work days I probably spent about 2 hours with them. My hubby would go over with me in the evening to spend time hanging out with Ripley to comfort him about missing daddy. At this time Neo was rather aloof with my hubby and tended to ignore him.

I did this as a friend. I never allowed her to pay me for spending time with her cats. I enjoyed spending time with her babies and making sure they were comfortable while she was gone. I was very lucky that Neo was so easy to medicate though. All I had to do was put him my lap and give him his pill. I used to brush him after giving him his medicine. I think this really helped form a positive association for medicine time. I kept the brush next to me on the couch during pill time. My friend said he would hide from her after pill time. I told her what I was doing with the brushing and she started following my lead with the brushing too. My friend would sometimes by me gifts when she traveled. Sometimes she would take me out to eat when she was in town or buy my drinks when we out for karaoke. I treated my friend's cats just like I treat my own cats.

My current cat sitter is a friend who is also not a professional sitter. She does not allow me to pay her because she views my cats as an extension of her kitty family. I do take her out to dinner sometimes. I do sometimes buy her gifts when we travel. My friend does come over to hang out when we are home too. My cats come visit her anytime she comes over. She recently had a break through with my shy 12 year old the last time we were out of town. Starbuck generally hides from anyone but us. In May we were out of town for the weekend. Starbuck actually asked my friend for attention. My friend spent 10 minutes sitting at my desk petting Starbuck one night. My friend called me to share the exciting news. We were very happy that Starbuck chose to let our cat sitter pet her. We all hope this will continue to happen when she comes over regardless of if we are home or not.