I spoke too soon (about the cat sitting)

I swear, I need to learn to say "no" to my neighbor when she asks me to cat
sit. She *assures* me there is plenty of cat food and cat litter, but that
is never the case!

Schwartzie is on the same prescription (k/d) kibble Persia eats. She left
about 1/3 of a 4 lb. bag with instructions to just add a scoop to what is
left from the day before. When I went over this morning the bowl was empty!
I put two scoops in his bowl and looked in the bag... there *might* be
enough for another couple of days. I've been adding a little of Fedders'
c/d to try to stretch it, but there's not much of that left, either. There
is plenty of Fancy Feast but they aren't supposed to eat only that. sigh

As for kitty litter... I used up the remainder of the Tidy Cat's jug (there
was only about 1/4 of it left) yesterday morning. I saw a box of Arm &
Hammer kitty litter right there, so I thought no problem! Except the box
has been opened and is only half full! She has two cats, one litter box and
it needs to be scooped twice a day. I don't think this is going to last
until she gets home Saturday night.

Okay, I can take over a bag of cat litter since I got a great deal on Cat's
Pride scoopable clumping litter (10 lbs. for $1.50 after the coupon!). But
I pay $34 a bag for the prescription food for Persia and I'm not about give
it away just because she didn't plan ahead.

I really don't understand it. If I was going out of town for a week I'd
make sure I had at least two weeks worth of *everything*. Next time, unless
I can inspect her supplies the day before she leaves, I won't just take her
word for it. I should have learned by now.

Sorry, just venting again. I do love her cats. They're sweet, loveable
boys. But this is bordering on ridiculous.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I swear, I need to learn to say "no" to my neighbor when she asks me to cat
sit. She *assures* me there is plenty of cat food and cat litter, but that
is never the case!

Schwartzie is on the same prescription (k/d) kibble Persia eats. She left
about 1/3 of a 4 lb. bag with instructions to just add a scoop to what is
left from the day before. When I went over this morning the bowl was
empty! I put two scoops in his bowl and looked in the bag... there *might*
be enough for another couple of days. I've been adding a little of
Fedders' c/d to try to stretch it, but there's not much of that left,
either. There is plenty of Fancy Feast but they aren't supposed to eat
only that. sigh

As for kitty litter... I used up the remainder of the Tidy Cat's jug
(there was only about 1/4 of it left) yesterday morning. I saw a box of
Arm & Hammer kitty litter right there, so I thought no problem! Except
the box has been opened and is only half full! She has two cats, one
litter box and it needs to be scooped twice a day. I don't think this is
going to last until she gets home Saturday night.

Okay, I can take over a bag of cat litter since I got a great deal on
Cat's Pride scoopable clumping litter (10 lbs. for $1.50 after the
coupon!). But I pay $34 a bag for the prescription food for Persia and
I'm not about give it away just because she didn't plan ahead.

I really don't understand it. If I was going out of town for a week I'd
make sure I had at least two weeks worth of *everything*. Next time,
unless I can inspect her supplies the day before she leaves, I won't just
take her word for it. I should have learned by now.

Sorry, just venting again. I do love her cats. They're sweet, loveable
boys. But this is bordering on ridiculous.

Jill
I always make sure there are boxes and boxes of food pouches - probably 8-10
weeks worth stored up for Boyfie in case I get admitted to hospital and that
was certainly needed when I broke my ankle.
I'd probably say to your neighbour when she comes home "I am happy to look
after your cats but this will be the last time unless you provide enough
food/litter/whatever to last while you're away otherwise you'll have to find
someone else"
And stick to that decision. It's not up to you to provide for her cats and
just tell her you won't be buying any food or litter while she is away.
She's taking you for a fool as we say.
Myself, I would worry if I knew I hadn't provided enough food in case the
caretaker didn't, but obviously that's not a problem for your neighbour.
She expects you to provide food and litter!!
But what if you didn't?

Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...


"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I swear, I need to learn to say "no" to my neighbor when she asks me to cat
sit. She *assures* me there is plenty of cat food and cat litter, but that
is never the case!

Schwartzie is on the same prescription (k/d) kibble Persia eats. She left
about 1/3 of a 4 lb. bag with instructions to just add a scoop to what is
left from the day before. When I went over this morning the bowl was
empty! I put two scoops in his bowl and looked in the bag... there *might*
be enough for another couple of days. I've been adding a little of
Fedders' c/d to try to stretch it, but there's not much of that left,
either. There is plenty of Fancy Feast but they aren't supposed to eat
only that. sigh

As for kitty litter... I used up the remainder of the Tidy Cat's jug
(there was only about 1/4 of it left) yesterday morning. I saw a box of
Arm & Hammer kitty litter right there, so I thought no problem! Except
the box has been opened and is only half full! She has two cats, one
litter box and it needs to be scooped twice a day. I don't think this is
going to last until she gets home Saturday night.

Okay, I can take over a bag of cat litter since I got a great deal on
Cat's Pride scoopable clumping litter (10 lbs. for $1.50 after the
coupon!). But I pay $34 a bag for the prescription food for Persia and
I'm not about give it away just because she didn't plan ahead.

I really don't understand it. If I was going out of town for a week I'd
make sure I had at least two weeks worth of *everything*. Next time,
unless I can inspect her supplies the day before she leaves, I won't just
take her word for it. I should have learned by now.

Sorry, just venting again. I do love her cats. They're sweet, loveable
boys. But this is bordering on ridiculous.

Jill
I always make sure there are boxes and boxes of food pouches - probably 8-10
weeks worth stored up for Boyfie in case I get admitted to hospital and that
was certainly needed when I broke my ankle.
I'd probably say to your neighbour when she comes home "I am happy to look
after your cats but this will be the last time unless you provide enough
food/litter/whatever to last while you're away otherwise you'll have to find
someone else"


Or, as I said in my post, inspect her cat supplies before I say yes.

And stick to that decision. It's not up to you to provide for her cats and
just tell her you won't be buying any food or litter while she is away.
She's taking you for a fool as we say.


No, she's not *taking* me for anything. She always only just cuts it close
with the food (usually there is plenty of litter). So far I've never had to
buy food or litter for her cats. This time, it seems she's pushing it a
little.

If I had to go to town to buy the prescription food for either cat, I'd
leave a receipt, of course she'd pay me back. Why didn't she just buy
another bag of the k/d and the c/d before she left? (sigh)

Jill

On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:47:30 -0400, "jmcquown"
wrote:
No, she's not *taking* me for anything. She always only just cuts it close
with the food (usually there is plenty of litter). So far I've never had to
buy food or litter for her cats. This time, it seems she's pushing it a
little.

If I had to go to town to buy the prescription food for either cat, I'd
leave a receipt, of course she'd pay me back. Why didn't she just buy
another bag of the k/d and the c/d before she left? (sigh)

I hope she leaves you plenty of supplies next time. If you refused to
kittysit the boys ever again, even *I* would miss them.

Christina Websell wrote:

"jmcquown" wrote in message

[snip]

I really don't understand it. If I was going out of town for a week I'd
make sure I had at least two weeks worth of *everything*. Next time,
unless I can inspect her supplies the day before she leaves, I won't just
take her word for it. I should have learned by now.

Sorry, just venting again. I do love her cats. They're sweet, loveable
boys. But this is bordering on ridiculous.

I'd probably say to your neighbour when she comes home "I am happy to look
after your cats but this will be the last time unless you provide enough
food/litter/whatever to last while you're away otherwise you'll have to find
someone else"

[snip]

Myself, I would worry if I knew I hadn't provided enough food in case the
caretaker didn't, but obviously that's not a problem for your neighbour.
She expects you to provide food and litter!!
But what if you didn't?

Here's the problem with that: why should the cats suffer? If I were in
Jill's situation, I would be very annoyed about it, but I wouldn't let
the cats go hungry because their human doesn't know how to think ahead.
Then someone else always takes care of the consequences, so she never
has to learn.

I liked the idea of Jill inspecting the quantity of food and litter before
the neighbor leaves town, so Jill's assured there's enough to last the
length of her neighbor's trip. If the neighbor gets defensive about it, Jill
can then say that's her requirement for catsitting. Because the last time
the neighbor said there was enough, there wasn't, and Jill can't take her
word for it anymore. I think that's reasonable. It takes some assertiveness,
but it's certainly not out of line. Has she *ever* gone away and provided
enough of everything for them?

--
Joyce

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he
grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto a freeway.

"Bastette" wrote in message ...

Christina Websell wrote:

"jmcquown" wrote in message

[snip]

I really don't understand it. If I was going out of town for a week I'd
make sure I had at least two weeks worth of *everything*. Next time,
unless I can inspect her supplies the day before she leaves, I won't just
take her word for it. I should have learned by now.

Sorry, just venting again. I do love her cats. They're sweet, loveable
boys. But this is bordering on ridiculous.

I'd probably say to your neighbour when she comes home "I am happy to
look
after your cats but this will be the last time unless you provide enough
food/litter/whatever to last while you're away otherwise you'll have to
find
someone else"

[snip]

Myself, I would worry if I knew I hadn't provided enough food in case the
caretaker didn't, but obviously that's not a problem for your neighbour.
She expects you to provide food and litter!!
But what if you didn't?

Here's the problem with that: why should the cats suffer? If I were in
Jill's situation, I would be very annoyed about it, but I wouldn't let
the cats go hungry because their human doesn't know how to think ahead.
Then someone else always takes care of the consequences, so she never
has to learn.

I liked the idea of Jill inspecting the quantity of food and litter before
the neighbor leaves town, so Jill's assured there's enough to last the
length of her neighbor's trip. If the neighbor gets defensive about it, Jill
can then say that's her requirement for catsitting. Because the last time
the neighbor said there was enough, there wasn't, and Jill can't take her
word for it anymore. I think that's reasonable. It takes some assertiveness,
but it's certainly not out of line. Has she *ever* gone away and provided
enough of everything for them?

--
Joyce
*******************
As I've said, she always cuts it pretty close. I don't know why she does
this. The last time she went out of town she was at least where I could
reach her. I was able to tell her she'd need to stop at the vet on the way
home and buy another bag of food. (She was lucky her flight got in early
and it was on a day the vet is open until 7:00.) I don't have a phone
number for her in Puerto Rico, although she did leave a couple of cell
numbers that belong to her travelling companions. Not that it would do any
good to call her... her flight this time doesn't get in until the evening.
The vet will be closed by the time she gets anywhere near here from the
airport. And the next day is Sunday... the bet won't be open. If the dry
food runs out, I'm the only one who is going to be able (albeit grudgingly)
to buy more food for them.

Actually, I can only buy it for Schwartzie. Persia eats the same k/d
prescription kibble Schwartzie does, so I have a prescription on file at a
vet that is closer than the one we both use for actual veterinary care. I
can just pretend I'm buying a small bag for Persia. Fedders eats c/d and I
*know* they won't sell it to me. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to eat a lot
of it so he should be okay. I've been "stretching" the k/d by adding a
couple of spoons of c/d to Schwartzie's bowl. Probably not the ideal
solution but I didn't set this chain of events in motion!

She did leave plenty of Fancy Feast. The devil in me is thinking if the k/d
runs out Schwartzie will just have to eat FF. The cat-lover in me is
thinking he *needs* that prescription food because of renal problems. He's
also diabetic, although he hasn't had to have insulin shots for a long time
now. (If he still needed shots, I'd say NO to cat sitting.) I'm not
qualified to screw around with his diet. I'm fairly confident a few
spoonful's of c/d mixed in with the k/d won't be too detrimental, but just
eating FF for two days? I have no idea. I don't want him to have some sort
of setback.

I don't have a problem with being assertive, that's for sure. LOL I'm
taking part of the blame for not checking all this out before she left. I
know her track record; I should have gone over the day before she left and
checked out the supplies. In the future, I sure as hell will!

Jill

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...


"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I swear, I need to learn to say "no" to my neighbor when she asks me to cat
sit. She *assures* me there is plenty of cat food and cat litter, but that
is never the case!

Schwartzie is on the same prescription (k/d) kibble Persia eats. She left
about 1/3 of a 4 lb. bag with instructions to just add a scoop to what is
left from the day before. When I went over this morning the bowl was
empty! I put two scoops in his bowl and looked in the bag... there *might*
be enough for another couple of days. I've been adding a little of
Fedders' c/d to try to stretch it, but there's not much of that left,
either. There is plenty of Fancy Feast but they aren't supposed to eat
only that. sigh

As for kitty litter... I used up the remainder of the Tidy Cat's jug
(there was only about 1/4 of it left) yesterday morning. I saw a box of
Arm & Hammer kitty litter right there, so I thought no problem! Except
the box has been opened and is only half full! She has two cats, one
litter box and it needs to be scooped twice a day. I don't think this is
going to last until she gets home Saturday night.

Okay, I can take over a bag of cat litter since I got a great deal on
Cat's Pride scoopable clumping litter (10 lbs. for $1.50 after the
coupon!). But I pay $34 a bag for the prescription food for Persia and
I'm not about give it away just because she didn't plan ahead.

I really don't understand it. If I was going out of town for a week I'd
make sure I had at least two weeks worth of *everything*. Next time,
unless I can inspect her supplies the day before she leaves, I won't just
take her word for it. I should have learned by now.

Sorry, just venting again. I do love her cats. They're sweet, loveable
boys. But this is bordering on ridiculous.

Jill
I always make sure there are boxes and boxes of food pouches - probably 8-10
weeks worth stored up for Boyfie in case I get admitted to hospital and that
was certainly needed when I broke my ankle.
I'd probably say to your neighbour when she comes home "I am happy to look
after your cats but this will be the last time unless you provide enough
food/litter/whatever to last while you're away otherwise you'll have to find
someone else"
And stick to that decision. It's not up to you to provide for her cats and
just tell her you won't be buying any food or litter while she is away.
She's taking you for a fool as we say.
Myself, I would worry if I knew I hadn't provided enough food in case the
caretaker didn't, but obviously that's not a problem for your neighbour.
She expects you to provide food and litter!!
But what if you didn't?

Tweed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree. I always keep at least 3 cases of cat food on hand even for
myself, just to make sure I would be covered if I ever have an emergency.
In addition to what Tweed wrote, I would suggest that Jill request the
neighbor always leave a certain sum of money for her. She could use that
for the cats, as needed, and return anything that is left over. Even with
that, the neighbor certainly should leave plenty of supplies (but obviously
doesn't) because it's not Jill's responsibility to make purchases for her.

MaryL

MaryL wrote:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree. I always keep at least 3 cases of cat food on hand even for
myself, just to make sure I would be covered if I ever have an
emergency. In addition to what Tweed wrote, I would suggest that Jill
request the neighbor always leave a certain sum of money for her. She
could use that for the cats, as needed, and return anything that is left
over. Even with that, the neighbor certainly should leave plenty of
supplies (but obviously doesn't) because it's not Jill's responsibility
to make purchases for her.

MaryL

I didn't realize Jill was doing the sitting job gratis! My last
apartment in California (when I was enjoying my trips to Europe) the
building manager looked after my cats, but I paid her approximately what
I had paid a professional cat sitter for previous trips. She was
willing to do it for free, but I knew she could use the money, and it
was simply more convenient for me to use her instead of an outside sitter.

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...



MaryL wrote:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree. I always keep at least 3 cases of cat food on hand even for
myself, just to make sure I would be covered if I ever have an emergency.
In addition to what Tweed wrote, I would suggest that Jill request the
neighbor always leave a certain sum of money for her. She could use that
for the cats, as needed, and return anything that is left over. Even with
that, the neighbor certainly should leave plenty of supplies (but
obviously doesn't) because it's not Jill's responsibility to make
purchases for her.

MaryL

I didn't realize Jill was doing the sitting job gratis! My last
apartment in California (when I was enjoying my trips to Europe) the
building manager looked after my cats, but I paid her approximately what
I had paid a professional cat sitter for previous trips. She was
willing to do it for free, but I knew she could use the money, and it
was simply more convenient for me to use her instead of an outside sitter.


What does a typical cat sitter charge for the services I'm providing? It's
not really hard work. Food and water twice a day; scoop the box twice a
day. Get them outside if I can. Get them back inside (not always an easy
task). Oh, and there are two outdoor watering stations to be filled. This
time I'm watering her outdoor plants, too. She did move them from the back
patio to the front so I don't have to drag the hose around.

Maybe if I start charging I could tack on mileage charges if I have to drive
to town to buy food for them. Lord knows I could use the money, too!

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

What does a typical cat sitter charge for the services I'm providing? It's
not really hard work. Food and water twice a day; scoop the box twice a
day. Get them outside if I can. Get them back inside (not always an easy
task). Oh, and there are two outdoor watering stations to be filled. This
time I'm watering her outdoor plants, too. She did move them from the back
patio to the front so I don't have to drag the hose around.

Maybe if I start charging I could tack on mileage charges if I have to drive
to town to buy food for them. Lord knows I could use the money, too!

Jill

~~~~~~~~~~~~
My cat sitter charges $20.00 to come in twice a day. It is well worth
it--she is fantastic. She feeds Holly and Duffy twice a day (washes their
bowls and puts out clean water), scoops their litter, brings in mail and
papers, occasionally turns different lamps on/off to give the house a move
"lived-in" look, rolls the trash cart to the curb on garbage collection days
(and back in again in the evenings), and checks around to see if there is
anything damaged in case of storms. I don't have plants for her to water
(Holly and Duffy would eat any indoor plants, and I have a sprinkler system
outdoors), but I know she does that for other people who need it. She
always spends extra time grooming my twosome and playing with them. She
also leaves a daily log to tell me how much they have eaten and their
general behavior.

I think you really *should* start charging. You do this often enough that
you should be paid for your services, and it would become easier for you to
charge for extra trips into town (just as you said). That might even serve
as a reminder to your neighbor to always leave adequate supplies of cat food
and litter. She is being irresponsible, and it is easy for a "good
neighbor" to become a doormat. I have fallen into that trap myself.

MaryL