Kirsten, I feel the same way as you do about getting to know people before trusting anyone to catsit Fister. The website of the group I'm a part of, can be rather slow, but when people join, an Excel sheet is sent to everyone with names, adresses and tel. no. - plus the part of town/country where they live. I noticed a girl from Luxemburg who had just arrived and didn't know anybody, so I called her. We're now very good friends and visit each other every so often.

You know, most people are a bit shy to begin with, so we went together to the second meeting I attended and also took her along to meet Dali's mom, which was perfect as they both speak French.

The cat I catsat first was Malcolm, his mom wrote on the site: "Randi is the best catsitter ever". I like her because of that, but also because she is a real animal lover. She always adopts older cats. When I was in Scotland, she came to look after and cuddle with Fister and I had complete confidence that she would do a good job.

When I catsat Malcolm, she had a professional service come in morning - it cost a fortune and they didn't do a good job at all! After that experience, she has started her own catsitting business alongside the Meet-up group. See her site here:

http://kattepasser.dk/

Well, what I want to get across is... get to know other catlovers you can trust!