Pet Sitter Dilema

[Uabassoon]

I'm going out of town for two weeks and I'm not too sure what to do about Tibby and Corkscrew. Usually my roommate takes care of my cats, but the last two times I've asked her to take care of them when I get home the litterbox always looks like it hasn't even been scooped out once! And I usually give her like a $50 gift certificate for taking care of my cats and she doesn't even clean their litter box. So I asked my friend to come over every other day and scoop out the litter box, but I'm not really sure how to bring this up to my roommate. However last time she went out of town she asked one of her friends to come over and take care of her cats, I was kind of offended, because I don't like having people just show up at my house when I'm home. But do you think it's rude of me to ask someone else to do that too?

[AmberLee]

Ouch! I think under the circumstances you'd better. But I'm not sure of a good opening, either.

You are opposed to confronting her directly, right? Would you feel it was too devious to say that you want to give a helping hand to person X so are 'hiring' them to pet-sit instead? Hmmm, I'll think about this some more...

[Cataholic]

Oh, this is a sensitive one. I am thinking it is strange that she asked someone else over..when you live there, too. And, I think it is irresponsible that she didn't care for the cats better. What is she like with the cats when you are both there? Does she keep her cats boxes clean?

I think Amberlee has the best idea...let her think you are being charitable, and even bring her in on it.."are you going away over the holidays? Wanna help me help Josie? I am going to pay her a little extra to watch the cats..."

Course, if you are giving up $50 to care for the cats for a week, you might look into boarding them. I don't know what it costs..but, you might be approaching the same figure..and KNOW that the care will be good.

You are in a difficult situation. I know this doesn't help this time around, but, have you thought about moving in with someone where this won't be an issue???

[Uabassoon]

She keeps her cats litter box pretty clean, and she really seems to love my cats. But for some reason when I go out of town she never cleans my box out. Which gets to be a problem because if the box isn't clean Corkscrew turns my bathtub into his litter box.

[IMG]I know this doesn't help this time around, but, have you thought about moving in with someone where this won't be an issue???[/IMG]
I would love to get another roommate. But the problem is we both love our house. And we have a very nice landlord who lets us pay rent late when unexpected vet bills come up.

I think I might just tell her, hey I know you're really busy with work so I think my friend is going to come over every other day or so just to clean out the litterbox. And I figure if she gets mad then too bad.

[toughCookie]

well Amber Lee's idea was good, then if she presses the matter further, just tell her, that you were not happy with the way she neglected their boxes. the cats need to be taken care of while you are gone, at least the cleaniness part, if not the attention too... they will miss you and then to have their box ignored is even worse for them.

Uabassoon, I would gladly do this for you, If I was not moving.
will your friend take better care of them than your roommate, and feed them?
I just hate to see pets neglected. when Muffin was my nephews cat, I went over there every day while they were on vacation and cleaned the box, fed her and gave fresh water, and let her out of the laundry room for about 3 hours to run and play.

I really wish I could help with the kitty cats.

[Uabassoon]

I know that my roommate will feed them she's good about that, because if they don't have food they go to her room and eat her cats food. And she gives them attention, she just always forgets to clean the litter box. I haven't seen her all day, but when I do I'm just going to tell her that someone else will be cleaning the litter box.

[Uabassoon]

I think I got the situation taken care of!! I was sitting on the porch talking with my friend when my roommate got home. So I said "if you don't mind Emma will be comming over every other day to just clean the litterbox, but I would still like it if you would feed them everyday" She didn't seem offened or anything, she said that was fine with her. In fact she started making fun of my friend by saying she was in charge of poo.