we had a petsitter not long ago, while we went to a family reunion, the gerbils were fine, and casey was fine when we got back, but we had to housbreak shadow all over again, she kept pooing in the house after that, makes us think she did not let shadow outside very often. make sur ethe petsitter you find, comes over lotes before you leave to your cats get aquanted with her. ummmm, make sure you interview lots of people and go with your gut