Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
My fiancé and I are headed over to England in a few weeks, so we’re going to have to leave our little one with a baby sitter and man am I ever nervous!
I really don’t like being away from Beau for extended periods of time. I know it’s me over reacting, but I love the little bugger so much! In the past we have left Beau with my mother, but after Beau’s most recent encounter with Walker… I don’t want to do that to him again.
Image from Who’s this New Face?
Beau isn’t necessarily the most needy kitty, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong when you’re not around… ammiright? So far the list looks like such:
FISH
Feed the fish when you wake up. They eat 3 pieces of fish food a day (each).TWITCH
Twitch gets fed one teaspoon of her mix a day. We usually feed her at night (so she’s awake.) We also like to let her out in her ball for a while every day. We usually put her in our bedroom alone so Beau doesn’t try to bat at her. She may poop in her ball, so don’t leave her in there too long! (20-30 minutes)BEAU
Please feed Beau 1/3 a cup twice a day (total of 2/3 a cup). Preferably at the same time every day. The food is on the kitchen wood table (left side) with the measuring cup inside! Currently he’s being fed at 5PM & 10:30PM. If it’s possible to keep him on this schedule, perfect! If not, feel free to feed him at a different time (as long as you stay pretty consistent). Beau tends to whine if he’s really hungry. Beau gets fed from a number of toys. Please try to spread his kibble out between them (1/6 in each of the balls, 1/6 in the tubes and 1/6 in the tower). Sometimes it’s hard to find his balls (haha!) because he knocks them all over the place so even if you want to put most of his meal in one ball that’s fine. Legit, anything to keep him occupied at this point. OH!Try to keep things out of his reach! I know he hasn’t been chewing much, but it’s probably best to not tempt him still, especially because he’s going to be stressed that we’re gone. If Beau stops eating let me know. He should be fine, but you never know!
If Beau struggles to pee or starts peeing outside of the litter box, let me know then call my parents immediately. This could mean Beau has a UTI and needs to get checked out by the vet.
And then I stopped writing because… well… I seem crazy, don’t I!? I mean how much information do you have to give a house sitter? And how do you make sure you don’t freak them out, but let them know that you’re just giving them all the information JUST IN CASE! Am I a basket case or does every pet parent go through this? And then what else is there… what if he throws up because he ate too much cat grass or something? I don’t want her to go into shock because she thinks he’s dying… ’cause that’s just something he does some days!
Help pet parents! What’s a good list? What’s too much? And what’s too little! Sound off below (=^.^=)
Mary Bragg says
December 11, 2017 at 3:36 amI had a horrible experience with a sitter. Paid her to come over to feed, water my 2 cats and clean the litter while we were away for a week. She never came over. Fortunately they were pretty smart. The bag of kibble was by the door and they clawed it open. We had also left the toilet lids up. When the litter was too dirty, they went in the tub where it was easy to clean up.
The woman claimed she didn’t have money for gas, even though we prepaid her. We got my sister to look after them after that.
Johnny Salib says
December 11, 2017 at 2:03 pmThat’s such a terrible thing to do. I’m actually so aggravated by this. I’m sorry you had this experience and if we were closer we’d offer to babysit!
Pipo/Minko/MrJackFreckles says
June 3, 2017 at 4:11 pmBeen there and do just that. Esp now that Minko has become ‘special needs’.
It’s OK, they are our kids and we would do that for them,right?!
Johnny Salib says
June 3, 2017 at 11:50 pmExactly! I actually just chatted to our house sitter and she’s excited and not nervous about the list at all!
Tails from the Foster Kittens says
May 31, 2017 at 4:02 pmDude.. I had eight cats.. you should have seen the list.. 🙂 Even now that we have six… well lets just say the list is pretty long when I leave and my husband stays at home.
Johnny Salib says
May 31, 2017 at 5:26 pmHahahaha! The fact that you have to leave a list for you hubby is crazy to me… but then again… I sometimes feel like I have to do the same thing with mine ;P
The Swiss Cats says
May 31, 2017 at 3:53 pmClaire understands you so well. That’s a great list. We wish you a great trip ! Purrs
Johnny Salib says
May 31, 2017 at 5:25 pmThank you so much ! And I’m sure she does!
Margaret Elmendorf says
May 31, 2017 at 7:38 amWe all hate leaving our pets and it is good to leave good lists of what to do so at least the cat doesn’t have to change his schedule. If it is a good sitter, they will go by the list of things to do. Hope you have a great trip. I think it is a great list.
Johnny Salib says
May 31, 2017 at 11:12 amThank you Margaret! Time to go continue the list 😉
BZ Dogs says
May 31, 2017 at 2:03 amI soooo understand. And the kennel were we take our boys know them really well as they are also our groomers! I still write a novel every time we go, and miss them terribly. It helps that they text us pictures of the boys playing with new (and old) friends. I don’t think they miss us as all. 🙂
Johnny Salib says
May 31, 2017 at 11:11 amI’m really hoping I can check on our little ones while we’re in England! Fingers crossed! Thank you for calming my nerves by saying that you always do it even with people that have already taken care of your little ones <3
Eastside Cats says
May 30, 2017 at 12:40 pmI’m with you…my list would be pages and pages long! “If Chuck won’t eat at first, go get the jar of nutritional yeast and sprinkle some on top…” Wish I had some info to impart, but since The Hubby won’t travel with me, he is the cat sitter 24/7. Wait a minute…I just read another blog that listed stuff to do when having a pet sitter in…lemme go find it.
http://consciouscat.net/2017/05/24/hire-professional-cat-sitter/
Hope this helps you!
Johnny Salib says
May 30, 2017 at 4:07 pmThank you so much for linking this! Will definitely check it out. And the list has just gotten longer and longer! 😛 hope our friend doesn’t mind! (We also have the “if Beau doesn’t eat his C/D food at first mix with these mixers!)
da tabbies o trout towne says
May 30, 2017 at 12:22 pmdood….sew…thiz meenz: PARTEE AT BEAU”S PLACE !!! ???? troo lee. we hope dad & fiance haza soooper grate time; a safe flight ther, home & everee wear in bee tween; N JOY & haz lotz oh fun…and yea, itz oh kay ta stress bout de petz at home; de food servizz gurl wood two, but thanx full lee mom N dad R rite ther….just in case….may bee mom could chillax at your place while dad stays home with walker ?? and if de pet sitter izza trusted friend; all de better ~~~~~and MOR info iz all wayz better; in this case’ leeve out nothin…..!!! 🙂 ♥♥
Johnny Salib says
May 30, 2017 at 4:06 pmPARTY AT OUR PLACE! 🙂 – Beau
Madi says
May 29, 2017 at 6:15 pmOh Beau
Madi here to tell you sitters are very very very good at dispensing food…not stingy like our perps can be. MOL. I have a very good sitter. Tell your peeps to travel safely and w confidence that you will be okey dokey fine
Hugs madi
Johnny Salib says
May 30, 2017 at 12:07 amWill do !!! mew mew! 🙂 -Beau!
Deziz World says
May 29, 2017 at 6:09 pmThere is no such thing as TOO MUCH!!! Mommy never leaves us, but we’re service cats, so dat’s to be expected. However, she’d write a thesis paper ifin she did. MOL You keep writin’. Maybe dat way, at least half of it will get done. unfurtunately peeps look good on paper and sound good at da innerview, but…Good luck and try to have fun. big hugs
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
PeeEss: We didn’t see anythin’ ’bout scoopin’ da pawdee box. MOL
Johnny Salib says
May 30, 2017 at 12:07 amHAHAH! You guys are adorable! Will keep on writing and yes that was the next part I started writing before I thought I was crazy!!
Elise says
May 29, 2017 at 10:47 amYeah, I definitely feel the same way.
I think it’s a lot easier to hand over your pet to someone with pets of their own & who’s had a lot of interaction with your own pet, have to admit.
For example, if I ever wanted to travel, I’d trust you to take care of Avery, no problem.
Someone like Chadi who spent a lot of time with my cat but had no pets, I’d be fine with. Someone like Jeremy with pets but who hadn’t spent much time with Avery, would also be okay with to an extent. Someone without an indoor cat, and who’d barely interacted with Avery, not easy at all.
Johnny Salib says
May 29, 2017 at 10:52 amRight? It’s nerve wracking. I know I’m going to be skyping Beau every day to see if he’s okay 😉 (Okay maybe not that crazy!)