Would you leave your animals and not be in contact?

Winchester

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We trust our petsitter implicitly. That being said, when we're gone, we do check in from time to time, just to make sure everything is OK. Not every day, and if we're away for a weekend, sometimes I don't call. We don't leave the cats alone without a petsitter, though. She comes in twice a day to check on them and to check on the house. She's a gem.
 

nanner

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I also trust my sitter completely. I leave a contact number, a bottle of wine, and a note. That's it. They live down the hall, they have two cats themselves, and they'd be really annoyed if I called everyday. Larry's such a shy guy, he hides when someone comes in, anyway, so all they do is put food down, fresh water and scoop the poop. I tell them his hiding places in case there's an emergency, and that's it.

Another neighbor on my floor - a neighbor for 35 years - used to do it, and I went away once last year and came back and I saw her daughter in the hallway, and I said, "I want to thank your mom for taking care of Larry - as always, a great job!" and she said, "Mom died last night" - :( Apparently she had a heart attack right in the hallway. I was devastated, as she had been a friend as well. I always felt that she and her husband were there for me, I watched her kids grow up. And then Kelly, the daughter, said, "But I saw your keys on the table and went in and fed Larry." I couldn't believe it. In the midst of this tragedy, her daughter thought to feed my cat!!

I have wonderful neighbors, and I don't worry a bit when I'm gone. Sometimes I'm totally unplugged and out of touch, like tomorrow, when I leave for Mexico. I'm leaving the number of the hotel, but that's all I can do. I just have a basic cell phone, with no internet, long distance, or anything. But, I know he's in good hands. I have to trust, otherwise I'd spend my whole vacation worrying, and that wouldn't be good. :)
 

Draco

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I trust my cat sitter completely. She's my co-worker as well, and owns 2 cats of her own. She also has a side business of pet-sitting, so I know she's well experienced.

I don't have to call her, she texts me every day with a new picture of my cats with a brief update if any.
 

subvet642

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No! I don't even like to be away from them, so I don't think I'll be traveling ever again. I hate traveling, anyway.
 
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jennyr

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It is11 days now, and I haven't heard anything. I don't even know when exactly they are coming to collect CAramel - she said ' two weeks give or take a day or so'. ANd I don't have a mobile number - I thought there was one on the envelope of documents she gave me but it is the house landline, that I had anyway. So.... maybe they are not coming back? Or maybe I am panicking needlessly.
 

ibiscribe

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Two weeks is 14 days, maybe wait a few before starting to worry? It seems odd to me that they are vague on when they are returning, but maybe they are just trying to be cautious. Are they trying to factor in an uncertain flight schedule?

Even if it was a permanent relocation to re-home an animal I would still want to stay in contact. For instance, the lady who takes care of Ana, Tohey and Keef still sends us pictures and hand-written notes about how they're doing. But it was relatively easy to entrust them to her, because it was clear even early on that she loved cats just as much as we do, and she bonded with them right away (even if Tohey and Keef took a little longer to warm up to her--but that's the mark of a really great pet owner, she knew they just needed a little patience and she had plenty for them).

That having been said, it could be a challenge for me to leave my animals in someone else's care just to go on vacation or the like, because I have had some very bad experiences in the past. The first time, we asked our neighbor to feed our animals. Instead she robbed our house! Our landlord's daughter ended up feeding the animals when she realized they were starving. The second time, we left our dog Murphy at my cousin's with the agreement that she'd be staying in their home. They said yes absolutely, we totally understand. But Murphy was left outside alone for the entire two weeks, ate and drank virtually nothing, was extremely thin when we got back and had had one of her teeth almost wrenched out from chewing her chain. They failed to even notice any of this going on. :( The third time we asked my aunt--a dog lover--to take care of her while we were moving. We said call us any time if it looks like it isn't working, and we'll take her back ASAP. We didn't hear from her for two months, she refused to answer our calls. Finally she admitted that she'd taken Murphy to a shelter. Apparently she couldn't wait the hour drive it would have taken us to get there. Talk about a nightmare.

Fortunately that shouldn't ever happen again. I've learned my lesson about trusting family with animals--never again, unless it's my mother, but with her any of my pets are as good as hers and vice-versa. Here in Florida we're also close friends with a wonderful lady who loves cats, and whom we have cat-sat before, so I know there would be safe hands nearby if we needed them. :) When we cat-sat for her two kitties Carson and Chelsea, we called and texted them and even sent them a few photos and video via phone showing them their cats were doing well, lol. I know she would do the same for us if our situations were reversed. I could never not ask that they were okay though--even when I was visiting my father and mom was at home with the cats, I was still asking about them every single day. :)
 

catspaw66

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I had a friend look after my cats several years ago while I was in the hospital, and found out after I got back that they only cleaned the litter boxes once a week and stole all my medication and food and several small things that they thought I wouldn't miss.

Now I use my neighbor Sam, and he came every day to check water, food and scoop litter boxes. It helps that he has four cats of his own, along with 8 dogs.
 

jcat

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It is11 days now, and I haven't heard anything. I don't even know when exactly they are coming to collect CAramel - she said ' two weeks give or take a day or so'. ANd I don't have a mobile number - I thought there was one on the envelope of documents she gave me but it is the house landline, that I had anyway. So.... maybe they are not coming back? Or maybe I am panicking needlessly.
Have they left France? They might not have given you a mobile number because they didn't want to incur roaming charges, or they're someplace where they can't get service. That would also explain why they haven't called.
 
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MoochNNoodles

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I actually dont check in much.  I completely trust the girl that house sits for me and she can always contact us or my Mother very easily.  The most I do is text.  I do usually let her know we got there and also update her on when we are coming back because with small kids its subject to change.  I know if there is a problem she will contact me and I always leave her alternate ways to get ahold of us (such as the number to family we are visiting).  I wouldn't relax and enjoy the vacation if I felt I had to call home all the time.  I miss my girls; but I'm there to enjoy.  Vacationing with kids has been hard enough; I'm glad I have someone I trust like that.
 

lsurova

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I would call daily if I was near, but if I was overseas, then maybe weekly.
 
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jennyr

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They are back! I got a call yesterday and they came round this morning to collect him. He was very glad to see them, but kept running back and forth between me and his 'mom' as if to tell me 'Look who's here!'. They weren't abroad, only a couple of hundred miles away, in Bordeaux and brought me back a bottle of nice wine. Anyway, I am glad he is home now and all is OK. I would still never leave a pet like that.
 
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jennyr

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However much confidence I have in a sitter I still want to know how they all are, any funny things they have done etc, because I MISS them. And whether I am away on vacation or business I guess that I like to feel that I am still their mom.
 

AbbysMom

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I'm back after being gone for 8 days. My brother watched Abby for the first 5 days and I didn't have to call him, he called me a few times. It was his first time watching her. For the last few days we didn't check in with our friend that was watching her.
 
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