I’m going to be cat sitting for a week or so. The owner is bringing along most of the essentials - litter box, scratch pad, food, etc.
What I want to know is, what should I do to prepare my apartment? I haven’t the first clue. I love cats, but have never lived with one before. Any advice will be helpful - thanks!
For just a week, I would suggest that the cat stay home and you go to visit it once a day. Better for you, better for the cat.
Otherwise, you don’t have to do anything special to your place. It’s not like child-proofing, where they’re going to stick a fork in an electrical outlet.
You should start the cat in a small space. Freedom to roam is not a plus when they are injected into a strange environment. After a day then you can expand the territory.
Figure out where to put the litter box. No matter what you do, it will smell like a litter box so bedroom and kitchen are probably not your first choices. If shown, the cat will find it no matter where you put it. I used to have mine in the basement (leaving door ajar).
Watch for signs of stress, such as furniture scratching or not using the litter box.
Feed however the owner does it (fixed time, or food available all the time), and always have fresh water available.
I recently acquired a cat, and some things I learned:
Don’t be surprised if the cat stays under the bed the first week. Apparently, cats do not like unfamilir surroundings and hiding is perfectly normal.
On the other hand, don’t be surprised if the cat suddenly decides to be bold and insist on pets and loving at 3:00 am.
Do NOT wake up early and feed the cat first thing. You will never sleep in again!
Wrap up your electric wires and keep them out of reach as much as possible. They must look like string to my new cat who wanted to play with them.
At first, keep the litter and food in a place where the cat can easily find them. You may want to show the cat where they are. In the beginning (when the cat may be hiding under the bed for 23 hours of the day), they’re not all that into exploring or seeking out their neccessities.
Cats shed more than you think. Get a good lint roller now.
Since the cat is new and you won’t know how well they tolerate a dirty litter box, scoop it out daily. Some cats really hate dirty litter boxes and will go elsewhere–sometimes on your best jacket!
You may want to “secure” your breakables. I had no idea a cat who stays under the bed 23 hours a day would use her one free hour to jump up on my shelves and knock off my china ornaments.
Fresh water every day. My dogs will drink from the filthiest puddle you can imagine. The cat is much more picky.
Cats cannot resist the powerful pull of keyboards when you’re typing. It’s must be some law of physics. Start typing and the cat will come and walk across your keyboard. My cat is doing it now.
I agree it is probably kinder to the cat to leave it at home and visit it at least once (preferably twice) a day. A lot of adult cats do not tolerate change well, and symptoms of stress can include excess shedding, diarrhea, not using the litter box, not eating, finding a dark corner and staying in it…the list goes on. If there is any way to do it, cat sit the baby on his own turf and he will be happier for it.
If you do bring him to your home, make sure windows are closed. Close off any rooms you don’t want him to get into. Some cats like high places, some like low ones, and they can all get into strange ones!
I agree with Cookingwithgas that you should start kitty off in a small space. Do you have a spare room or a room you can close off to put kitty in? Put the litter box and food in there. You really don’t even need to close it off, I guess, as long as the cat’s needs can be met in one room he/she will feel safe. Kitty may like to hide for a few days then slowly start to creep around the house. Don’t be pushy. Just let kitty adapt on his/her own terms. One word of caution, some(most) cats are very particular about food near the litter box. If at all possible place the box at the opposite end of the room or at least have something between the two so that kitty isn’t looking at her shitheap while eating. They don’t like to eat where they shit.
Catsitting is pretty easy. They’re low-maintenance. Just make sure that when kitty needs lovins that you abide. You don’t want a depressed kitty on your hands. Also, if you have to leave to go anywhere, you may want to turn on a radio, not loudly, just enough to emulate signs of life. I turn on public radio for my pets when I’m gone all day. They really like that Garrison Keillor fellow.
Check to make sure none of your plants are poisonous to cats. I just had to move a big peace lily into my tiny office cubicle because I got a cat and it would kill it. But really, why not sit the cat at the cat’s house?
Yes, good advice. Here is a list of poisonous plants .
Am I the first person to suggest full Kevlar body armor?
And also a hazmat suit for the litter box changes?
Why yes, you are, as most of us assumed the OP was watching a house cat and not a Bengal Tiger. 
Sometimes cats get very dirty. You’ll need a bottle of Dawn and one of those toilet seat locks.
And one of these couldn’t hurt either.
Well, you guys pretty much called it.
Kitty arrived yesterday morning, and promptly barricaded herself under the couch the moment her owner departed. She made a couple of brief recon missions to other rooms during the day, but made no attempt to engage the enemy (me), wouldn’t be tempted by negotiating ploys (a ball on a string), and quickly returned to the safety of Fort Couch.
The siege was apparently still on when I left this morning, as she was continuing surveillance from her overstuffed kitty command post.
However, upon my return I decided to break our armed truce with a spectacularly aggressive maneuver:
I sat on the couch.
Suprisingly, this didn’t seem to bother her. She soon came out and stared at me, perhaps realizing that not everything she had been told about the enemy was true.
Then, caution to the wind, she jumped up on the couch with me and asked to be petted. And now she’s swirling around under my chair and watching for dangled limbs. So I think we’re going to be friends after all.
Glasnost has arrived.
But seriously, I wonder how much of her apparent anxiety might have been caused by never having lived with a man in the house before? Think that had anything to do with it?
Get rid of plastic shopping bags. Seriously. My friend, a cat owner her entire life, lost her kitty after it got trapped in a large plastic bag. She returned to find the cat trapped inside the bag, absolutely crazed. She thought that she’d be okay, but she wasn’t. She kept attacking my friend as if she wanted to kill her. After 2 weeks, the cat was still nutso and she had to put her to sleep. 
Aha, the plot thickens!! Let this be a lesson for intelligence to include in the OP!
But seriously, I have heard of some animals (a parrot in one case) that discriminate severely based on sex but the behavior is classic cat behavior and it probably cares little about your maleness.
The cat got out!!!
It was going great all week. She behaved, she was having fun. Then tonight she managed to get a screen door loose and got out!
I searched around and then found her back on the patio where she got out. But when I came toward her she ran off again!
I’ve been out calling her name and making noises she knows. It’s dark out and she’s dark grey. I have a flashlight…
Her owner is coming for her tomorrow!!!
This is not a joke. Please help me. What else can I do?!?
