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We used to live in a college town. A few colleges in the area. The profs took off every summer to go off to wonderful places to restore and/or study. Friends there who did sitting for a living said they were hired by some to come in twice a day to do all the many little jobs. And by some to come in three times a day. Part of this included petting and play time.
I'm wondering if you have some sort of performance anxiety. Like, you can comfortably keep your home and pets perfect but you expect the same of yourself when you add on another house. Doesn't have to be so.
Hairballs ... cat .. Vaseline on the front paws. Cheap and it works. Cat licks paws .. Vaseline goes into system (safe) and hairballs just don't happen or if they do they come out the right end, not in vomit all over the place.
NOBODY who isn't the owner of the pet should be doing any medicating not specifically directed by the owner/vet - especially home remedies.
THIS is why people should only HIRE PROFESSIONALS.
Not always so easy. My roommate in college was supposed to dog sit for a few nights for some lady but she couldn't, so she asked me to do it. She told me it's a nice lady with a house in a nice neighborhood, no problem!
My friend lied...she had never met this lady and never had been to her house. It was 2 large dogs and I was told I had to stay over night and walk them each day. The house was in the woods with minimal neighbors, and creepy. It was old and the DirecTV kept cutting out due to rain. I figured I'd let the dogs out late and come back early in the AM to walk them. The second I got back to my dorm the owner called me on my cell asking where I was. I said I ran back to school (5 minutes down the road) to grab my books. She didn't buy it and 'scolded' me. So back to the house I go, and sure enough she calls me on the HOUSE phone to make sure I'm there. Overnight I discovered I was allergic to her dogs. Great. The next day I try walking them, again, 2 very large dogs, and they almost killed me by pulling me toward passing cars (high rate of speed on a windy woodsy road). It seemed like they had never been walked before (yes I have experience with dogs) So that was their only walk.
She called each night at random, late times to make sure I was there. So here I was at this creepy house in the woods with no TV and a very old computer with dial up, no iphone yet (this was over 10 years ago) and nothing to do but cough & sneeze.
When she came back she asked me to sit again. I told her nope.
THIRD example why you can't trust these cheap "friend" referrals.
The AGREEMENT was you'd be SLEEPING OVER there but YOU thought you'd sneak out, "back to the dorm" and come in the morning and the owner wouldn't know the difference. THEN you LIED when she caught you - claiming you just ran back to the dorm when all along your plan was to blow off the job overnight.
I have a million of these stories - often resulting in the death and injuries of animals.
THIRD example why you can't trust these cheap "friend" referrals.
The AGREEMENT was you'd be SLEEPING OVER there but YOU thought you'd sneak out, "back to the dorm" and come in the morning and the owner wouldn't know the difference. THEN you LIED when she caught you - claiming you just ran back to the dorm when all along your plan was to blow off the job overnight.
I have a million of these stories - often resulting in the death and injuries of animals.
Yep, this is what happens when people are too cheap to hire professionals.
I have 2 cats. I've gone on vacation for as long as 5 days and left them with extra food and water until I returned and they were totally fine. It's not that big of a deal. Cats are way easy to handle because they have minimal needs. Dogs on the other hand require far more attention and should not be left alone more than a few hours really. You can crate train dogs to stay in their crate while you're not there but it's not a good idea to leave them all day cause they need to be walked and attended to.
I can't speak for house plants so you're on your own there. But still, there's nothing stressful about this that I can see. I think you're being overly dramatic about this and should just deal with it and don't offer your help again in the future.
I stayed with a friend's two cats for a week. They puked up hairballs everywhere, even on the countertops and the refrigerator, etc. I couldn't even cook for myself because of the cat hair everywhere, and it was pretty obvious they had full access to the house and no real rules.
By the time she got back, I hated those cats. It wasn't their fault that they were allowed to puke wherever they wanted, or that they had such a hairball issue in the first place, but it was disgusting.
I don't blame the OP if this is what she is dealing with.
I was upfront with my friend and told her that I couldn't do it again, that I did not know the job would entail cleaning up after puke.
LOL...I came home today and my cat had thrown up on the floor. No big deal. They don't know to vomit in the litter box.
This is not a friend. This is just someone who needs a house-sitter and is willing to pay for that. The OP is not a professional house/pet-sitter. The OP did a "trial period" and figured out this job is not for her. Unless she has signed a contract, she has no obligation to do the second period of house-sitting. The person who is looking for the house-sitter has plenty of time to arrange for obtaining the services of a professional house-sitter.
Even if it was a friend, she is not obligated to do the second round of house-sitting. It's pretty simple to hire someone who does this professionally.
Do you not show up for work because you don't feel like it? Maybe you do, but then you're fired.
You don't have to be a professional pet sitter. This isn't rocket science. You feed and water the cats, Clean the litter box. Water the plants. Done. Piece of cake! I do this every day! For FREE.
The OP did not say it was a trial period. She had already agreed to a second 10 day sitting. This is a PAID job. You go to work like a normal person.
We used to live in a college town. A few colleges in the area. The profs took off every summer to go off to wonderful places to restore and/or study. Friends there who did sitting for a living said they were hired by some to come in twice a day to do all the many little jobs. And by some to come in three times a day. Part of this included petting and play time.
I'm wondering if you have some sort of performance anxiety. Like, you can comfortably keep your home and pets perfect but you expect the same of yourself when you add on another house. Doesn't have to be so.
As a part-time professional pet-sitter/house-sitter, I do often get stressed a bit simply worrying about the welfare of any pets under my care (as well as the home itself). Being in charge of and responsible for another person's home and animals does bring with it a bit of stress and worry (at least for me it does). Luckily I have never had a problem (and I've been doing this 5+ years), but I'm always aware of the fact that if something goes wrong, mainly with the animals but also with the house, I will, at least initially, bear the brunt of either the suspicion or responsibility for any negative occurrence. Or even if the owners are not initially critical or doubtful, having something go wrong during my stay just simply looks bad. So therefore, I am always hyper vigilant about checking locks and windows, setting alarms, following specific feeding/medication routines, not touching anything I shouldn't be touching, and not venturing into areas of the house that I would have no logical reason to be in, etc.
Also, there is that whole house-keeping aspect, whereby I always make it a point to leave each house in the same or better condition it was in when I first arrived. So in my case, I go out of my way to keep things tidy, neat, and clean; I want there to be no evidence of my having stayed there. And that adds additional work and stress to the entire endeavor.
For me, I take this job seriously, which is probably why most of these assignments cause me a bit of stress; after all, if I didn't take it seriously, I would just relax and have a 'no sweat' attitude, and as a result, I probably wouldn't offer as good a service, which would likely result in a loss of customers and a dwindling business.
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