Cat Sitting & Need to Vent

[Rhea]

DH and I have been cat sitting for one of his friend's for 3 weeks. She's a beautiful little girl cat, about 18 months old. She a bit of a excited kitten but nothing that we didn't expect or can't handle. We've had cats before! There have been no problems and W-cat is due to go home on Monday. Today she was intent on covering her mess in the litter box so I stopped her and checked out her poo. W has worms. I did my due internet research and it looks like it's tapeworm. I couldn't get in contact with her owner so called W's alleged vet (friend gave us the name and number) who said, swing by and they'll give me some worm medication. W's owner got in contact with me shortly after, said she was pretty sure it was thread worms (aka - pin worms) and said that sounded good. So DH trots off to the vet and there's no record of W having ever been so DH can't get the drugs for her. Now that I read the email again I realise that it never said this is W's vet, it said here is vet's contact info. So I assumed and all today when emailing about it the fact that W had never been there was never mentioned.

DH calls me and asks me what to do and we decide to take cat in for an appointment. Owner calls after that and she's sorry about all the trouble, she'll get the cat tonight. I say it's no trouble, I'll just take cat to vet. No, owner is stopping what she's doing and picking up W and her father will just take the cat to his house, where 2 other cats live tomorrow.

I'm upset and I both feel like I have a right to be and like this isn't my cat so it's not my place. 1 - W-cat has the best personality ever! 2 - vet said it probably was tapeworm (I took photos!) and that it was best to take her in for an appointment and get the good stuff rather than the stuff at the grocery which is unlikely to do anything. 3 - Owner is convinced it's not tapeworm because W-cat isn't thin. 4 - rather than keep W at our house, owner is going out of her way to not only pick her up early but because she still isn't actually around the cat will now be going to another place and potentially exposing more cats to the worm problem.

The vet appointment is free. It's 5 minutes from our house. The only cost is the worm medication. It's not a big deal. DH says that now that we've consulted the owner, we can't take W to vet. I agree. DH says we shouldn't have consulted the owner and just taken W to the vet. In hindsight, maybe I wouldn't have done, but it was a non-emergency and if they were already treating her or had treated her in the past I wanted to comply with what the owner was choosing to do. If the cat suffered a serious injury, of course I'd just have taken her to vet without even thinking!

My upset is that the owner is so insistent that W not go to the vet that I'm not convinced that she'll get the attention that she needs. And that tomorrow she may be exposing other cats to worms.

I feel better having written that. I don't think I'm looking for advice, there's nothing to say really. But I'm a bit pissed off at my friend-by-marriage at the moment and I want and need that feeling to go away. W is not my cat.

 

[LLJsmom]

I feel badly for the cat... And sorry that you need to deal with this as I know you feel for the poor kitty too...

 

[movie zombie]

possession is 9/10th's the law......
she is in your care.
when she is in your home under your supervision you get to make the call.
this "friend" needs to understand that and respect that or find another cat sitter.
also, do you really want to cat sit W even if she is a great cat knowing her worm problem was not addressed?
while I realize you want to respect W's "owner" I think there needs to be some real clear communication before you agree to sit again.
too bad: sounds like this kitty deserves a better "owner" companion.

 

[Gypsy]

too bad: sounds like this kitty deserves a better "owner" companion.

Also worms can be passed. Especially if there are fleas. So it's not safe for the other two cats at the other house either. All around irresponsible owner.

 

[Rhea]

too bad: sounds like this kitty deserves a better "owner" companion.

Also worms can be passed. Especially if there are fleas. So it's not safe for the other two cats at the other house either. All around irresponsible owner.

That's exactly my problem. If W were staying, I'd take her to the vet. That was my plan. But upon knowing my plan, W's owner is now picking her up tonight with 4 hours notice.

possession is 9/10th's the law......
she is in your care.
when she is in your home under your supervision you get to make the call.
this "friend" needs to understand that and respect that or find another cat sitter.
also, do you really want to cat sit W even if she is a great cat knowing her worm problem was not addressed?
while I realize you want to respect W's "owner" I think there needs to be some real clear communication before you agree to sit again.
too bad: sounds like this kitty deserves a better "owner" companion.

Thank you for your response. A lot of what you said was addressed in my original post.
But to clarify. The worm problem was only discovered today.
Upon discovery the owner is finding another cat sitter, her father, who has 2 cats.
No, which is why DH went to vet to get pills, and why I made an appointment when the vet said they hadn't seen W before and would need to see her before giving worming meds. I was fine to watch a wormy cat who was in the process of being treated. Owner chose to take her cat back instead.
There was clear communication. We agreed to watch W and asked for vet contact details and was given them. I didn't think to ask, so if cat gets worms are you going to cut your holiday short and get someone else to watch her rather than paying a very inexpensive vet bill? W is an indoor cat and has had no contact with anyone besides DH & I for 3 weeks. Owner knows that so I doubt she thinks it's something we've done.

I feel badly for the cat... And sorry that you need to deal with this as I know you feel for the poor kitty too...

Thanks, I needed this! DH & I are both quite taken with kitty. I think she's made DH realise that not every cat will dislike him like my old cat did, and I think it's helped me realise that a new cat is in order soon.

 

[movie zombie]

ok, my original post really meant to say that you have the cat right now...........meaning she needs to understand that while a cat is in your care in your home what you say goes. glad she's picking the cat up....sorry her dad's cats will be exposed to this. hoping you won't be sitting for her again. feel sorry for the cat.

 

[missy]

Oh my, I am sorry you are in this situation Rhea and very sorry for the poor kitty. If you still can I would bring the cat to the vet before the owner gets there and just play it off as you wanted to do her a favor and it wasn't a big deal for you. And I wonder if her father's cats are not infected as well if they spend time around her cat...and if not they will be if she has her cat stay with him. Do you have her father's phone #? Or it that really nervy? When it comes to health and care issues sometimes I think it is OK to overstep if necessary.

It sounds as if you and your dh would love to adopt this sweet kitty. Does the owner really want to keep the cat if she is not willing to give her the proper care? Makes me sad as I cannot understand any reason for ignoring this other than she is not a good pet caretaker. Why is she so insistent on not having her cat get the proper care and treatment? I don't understand. I hope the cat gets the care she needs.

 

[azstonie]

You and your DH are kind and loving people, too bad W-cat can't be YOUR kitty.

I have two Westies. Our vet knows us well. When we have the dog sitter come take of our dogs, we call our vet and tell him that if needed he is to do anything/everything needed and to charge our Visa for it (he has the number); we would be there within the day to take over.

We would never expect our dogsitter to front money for vet care.

We also leave our Garmin navigator for the petsitter and it is loaded with the drive to the vet and the drive to the after-hours vet too.

 

[Calliecake]

Oh my, I am sorry you are in this situation Rhea and very sorry for the poor kitty. If you still can I would bring the cat to the vet before the owner gets there and just play it off as you wanted to do her a favor and it wasn't a big deal for you. And I wonder if her father's cats are not infected as well if they spend time around her cat...and if not they will be if she has her cat stay with him. Do you have her father's phone #? Or it that really nervy? When it comes to health and care issues sometimes I think it is OK to overstep if necessary.

It sounds as if you and your dh would love to adopt this sweet kitty. Does the owner really want to keep the cat if she is not willing to give her the proper care? Makes me sad as I cannot understand any reason for ignoring this other than she is not a good pet caretaker. Why is she so insistent on not having her cat get the proper care and treatment? I don't understand. I hope the cat gets the care she needs.

+100. I'm angry and I haven't even met the sweet baby. I would bring her to the vet to make sure she gets the treatment she needs. I would also pay the vet and medicine bill. Is there any way they would consider letting you adopt her? They have already proven they are irresponsible pet owners.

 

[movie zombie]

Oh my, I am sorry you are in this situation Rhea and very sorry for the poor kitty. If you still can I would bring the cat to the vet before the owner gets there and just play it off as you wanted to do her a favor and it wasn't a big deal for you. And I wonder if her father's cats are not infected as well if they spend time around her cat...and if not they will be if she has her cat stay with him. Do you have her father's phone #? Or it that really nervy? When it comes to health and care issues sometimes I think it is OK to overstep if necessary.

It sounds as if you and your dh would love to adopt this sweet kitty. Does the owner really want to keep the cat if she is not willing to give her the proper care? Makes me sad as I cannot understand any reason for ignoring this other than she is not a good pet caretaker. Why is she so insistent on not having her cat get the proper care and treatment? I don't understand. I hope the cat gets the care she needs.

+100. I'm angry and I haven't even met the sweet baby. I would bring her to the vet to make sure she gets the treatment she needs. I would also pay the vet and medicine bill. Is there any way they would consider letting you adopt her? They have already proven they are irresponsible pet owners.

I see I was not alone with these thoughts.........you wrote it more direct and better than i.

 

[NOYFB]

Oh my, I am sorry you are in this situation Rhea and very sorry for the poor kitty. If you still can I would bring the cat to the vet before the owner gets there and just play it off as you wanted to do her a favor and it wasn't a big deal for you. And I wonder if her father's cats are not infected as well if they spend time around her cat...and if not they will be if she has her cat stay with him. Do you have her father's phone #? Or it that really nervy? When it comes to health and care issues sometimes I think it is OK to overstep if necessary.

It sounds as if you and your dh would love to adopt this sweet kitty. Does the owner really want to keep the cat if she is not willing to give her the proper care? Makes me sad as I cannot understand any reason for ignoring this other than she is not a good pet caretaker. Why is she so insistent on not having her cat get the proper care and treatment? I don't understand. I hope the cat gets the care she needs.

Agree 100% with Missy on this. I would so take W to the vet and get the meds to a) help her and b) avoid spreading the worms to the other kitties. If your "friend" gets mad at you for doing that then there is clearly something wrong with her and she is not a responsible pet owner. All of the cats should be evaluated and treated as necessary.

My Tinkie had tapeworms a few months ago, caused by fleas (very common to get tapeworms when having fleas), (she's an indoor only cat and the vet explained that the fleas probably hitchhiked in on our clothes from the outside or possibly dogs that live in our building - our other cat was not affected at all). She had not lost any weight, so that's not a sure sign of tapeworms, fyi. We treated her with some inexpensive meds and she was all good. It's not a big deal. The fact that your friend is being so defensive about taking W back and not allowing you to take her to the vet concerns me.

 

[Rhea]

Hi all, W went back to her owner last night. The vet was closing last night so we were going to take her there this morning.

I feel a bit better. When W was picked up by her owner, DH, in his very causal way repeated what the vet said and the owner seemed to take that on board. W also did a big poo first thing when she got home so owner got to see first hand before W went to her father's. From the conversation, I think that had an impact. Rather than my high-strungness, which is the opposite of owner's personality, DH and owner talked, and DH and owner match better on personality so that was probably a smart choice.

I know W has been to the vet regularly, I had her immunisation record while watching her, and I know she has a regular vet in another city in the South of England but that vet wouldn't post me worming meds and I couldn't get down to see them. I was just under the impression that W had been to local vet (W has two homes) and if she had we'd have just picked up the medication. It was the vet needing to see her that threw off the timeline of being able to get W medication before her owner got her.

I wish we could have kept her. Though I'd have changed her name

 

[missy]

Thanks for the update Rhea. I hope it all works out and the kitty gets the care she needs. And I hope you can adopt a sweet cat to add to your loving family very soon.

 

[Calliecake]

Thank you for updating Rhea. I was worried that W had not had any of her vaccinations.

I will never understand people who do not take proper care of their pets. My sister in law told me a few weeks ago that her dog hadn't been to a vet in 8 years.

 

[CJ2008]

Hi all, W went back to her owner last night. The vet was closing last night so we were going to take her there this morning.

I feel a bit better. When W was picked up by her owner, DH, in his very causal way repeated what the vet said and the owner seemed to take that on board. W also did a big poo first thing when she got home so owner got to see first hand before W went to her father's. From the conversation, I think that had an impact. Rather than my high-strungness, which is the opposite of owner's personality, DH and owner talked, and DH and owner match better on personality so that was probably a smart choice.

I know W has been to the vet regularly, I had her immunisation record while watching her, and I know she has a regular vet in another city in the South of England but that vet wouldn't post me worming meds and I couldn't get down to see them. I was just under the impression that W had been to local vet (W has two homes) and if she had we'd have just picked up the medication. It was the vet needing to see her that threw off the timeline of being able to get W medication before her owner got her.

I wish we could have kept her. Though I'd have changed her name

That's awesome Rhea...glad to hear.

I have the same "issue" when it comes to animals...I come off very high strung (because inside my head I see all of the potentially horrible things that are going to happen, NOW) and it turns some people off to what I'm saying... So that was a very smart choice to have your DH talk to her instead...more got through. So you did a lot for that kitty just by doing that.