My cat seems afraid of our pet sitter!

[lalla06]

One of my close friends pet sits for us; she has two dogs she loves and also pet sits regularly for others. I trust her and knows she loves animals. However, one of our cats who is particularly sensitive, does not seem to like her. When my friend comes over when I'm home to see me, Arya hides underneath the covers of the bed the whole time. Last time I tried bringing this cat out to see if she would at all warm up to my friend, and in her frenzy to run back to the bedroom she scratched me on accident which she never does. She is generally afraid of new people but by now she should have warmed up to my friend, and she always happily comes out when my boyfriend and I have family over.

Would you keep using this pet sitter? We already have dates scheduled with her and I know she's great, but one of the cats just doesn't seem to like her!

 

[yayi]

It's likely your friend's scent is what is frightening Arya. Maybe is the smell of other animals she handles including her dogs. Or it could just be the soap/shampoo/cologne she uses. 

By the way, hope the scratch was not too bad. It's really not a good idea to make Arya or any cat for that matter do what you want them to do. 

 

 

[piano cat]

Well I did keep the pet sitter, she is one of my best friends and we exchange vacation cat sitting and dog walking.  My old girl, 18 now, would run and hide when anyone came into the house.  The few times she showed herself it was to people who really liked the dog, like my mother.  This cat LOVES the dog.  Of course when we are away and need cat sitting the dog is either with us or being boarded.  So all my friend ever saw of her was the end of her tail as she streaked for cover.  The other cats were very happy to see my friend who would not just feed them and change litter but play and pet and talk to them.  So, yes, we worried that the one cat would be very lonely but boarding her would be even worse for her and my mother lived too far away.  There didn't seem to be any other solution, you might find the same.  It's worth a lot to have such faith and trust in the person you leave your babies with, even if the babies hide.

 

[catlover73]

I was recently out of town for 8 days.  I had two friends I trust taking care of my 4 cats while I was gone.  My oldest cat Starbuck hides from anyone but us.  My other 3 cats seek attention from our cat sitters.  My friends do know where Starbuck hides if they did need to get to her in an emergency.  One of my cat sitters has experience socializing feral cats.  If she had to get to Starbuck due to an emergency situation I have no doubt she would be able to do it. She has my permission to break my water bed frame if this ever happened.  My cat sitter still does check on Starbuck.  She takes a few pieces of her food and puts them under the bed.  She then leaves the room and spends time with my other 3 cats.  Starbuck eats the food while she is back downstairs. She checks to see if the food is gone before she leaves.   I would never consider boarding Starbuck because I think she would be terrified.  It stinks that she hides from my cat sitters but she has always done that.  My other three love my cat sitters.  I  use only one cat sitter for shorter trips.  One of my friends has been cat sitting for me for years and all my cats except Starbuck will come right up to her when we are home,  If Starbuck did decide she wanted attention while she was gone my friends would spend time with her too. Years ago when my primary cat sitter was between jobs she tried to see if she could get Starbuck used to her but it never happened.  She  spent a lot of time hanging out in our house while were at work just doing normal everyday things. She also spent a lot of time sitting on our bed room floor reading books to Starbuck or watching tv.  We let her try this because Starbuck was social to everyone when she was adopted as a young kitten.  We think that the numerous trips to the vets for shots and other short-term treatments for things like URI's and ear mites lead her to distrust other people as she got older.