I was taking care of a co-worker’s pet and her garden for a week while she was out of town, and one of her cats was an indoor/outdoor cat. I hadn’t seen him for a few days, and couldn’t find him anywhere. I panicked and tried looking everywhere but he was just gone. I told her via email about it while she was on vacation, apologized profusely (even though it wasn’t really my fault or anything), and she said not to worry about it. Turns out the cat was just hiding REALLY well somewhere in her house, haha!
But yeah, if the cat had actually DIED, I’d probably still report it. Missing is pretty close to dead though.
As a pet owner, I would want to know. Not so I could drop everything and fly home to sob over the body, but because I would know what to expect.
Of course, my catsitter calls me every day with an update. He’s a very good friend and knows that I love my cats. The worse thing that has happened was when I was at a bike run in a different state for a pet rescue group and one of my old sick cats died. Ironic, but not unexpected.
See that’s EXACTLY what I want my critter sitter to do. Things can change very rapidly with old, sick animals. They can go downhill very quickly, and my vacation is absolutely not more important than their wellbeing. Why should the dog have had to live in pain just because the owner was on vacation? Euthanizing the dog without consulting the owner is obviously a no-go, letting the dog linger in pain til the owner is home would be terrible, I don’t see that Kevbo did anything other than what had to be done. Horrible for all concerned, but a fact of animal care, unfortunately.
Meaning I’d bring the pet to the vet, and put the owner and vet in touch with each other. I would not put myself in the position of advocating for their pet’s death. Perhaps that makes me a poor choice as a pet sitter. That’s okay, if I had any idea the pet was that fragile and near death I wouldn’t have agreed to do it.
I was furloughed while on vacation in 2008. When I found out, I asked my boss when the descision had been made. He said “About 2 weeks ago.” (I had been gone for 3 weeks). I asked him why he didn’t call to tell me right away, “we didn’t want to spoil your vacation.”
Great, if I had known I wouldn’t have spent so much money!
If my cat is sick, call me. If my cat is dead, wait until I get home. In other words, do not ruin my vacation by calling to tell me about something that I can’t do anything about.
Also, do not bury someone else’s cat. Bring the cat to the vet and ask them to hold it until they get home so that they can decide what to do with it.
I would want to know right away. Not because I’d want to come running home, but because “down” time is a rare thing for me. Chances are, when I get home, I’ll have a poopload of unpacking and laundry and e-mailing to do,a nd the next day my desk will be piled up with with work.
I’d like to find out while I have the free time to think about it, and grieve, and be ready to face the world again by the time I get back.
Got it, thx for clarification. Well I doubt most if any would “advocate” for that unless they had good cause, and it’s still up to the owner, of course. And you sound like a good choice FWIW
Excellent point; agreed.
If you can. I don’t think most vets will do that for very long and I’d bet many not at all. It’s not like they have a massive freezer in the back.
I agree – this is something a person has the right to make up their own mind about. Worst thing that happens is that you take up five minutes of their time on a phone call. The more likely scenario is now they have the option of telling you what they want for disposition of the body and, if it’s important to them, they can cut their vacation short to take care of things themselves.
Personally, if someone left me in the dark about that, and I came home from vacation to find a body in the freezer or dumped in an unmarked hole in the yard, I would be livid, with a very strong possibility that I would never trust that person again. That would ruin my vacation way more than being told the truth.
Dude, it’s a cat. You just kick it and tell it to get the hell out.
Really I think if the owner doesn’t leave this kind of info before going, it’s the babysitter’s call and the owner has zero right to piss and moan about it after the fact.
Sorry. I usually leave detailed instructions (particularly for the rabbit). People who look after my animals know what to do. I cannot understand someone going away and leaving their pets in someone else’s care without having “in case of emergency do…”. I always have a contact number, Alternate emergancy pet sitter numbers, vets (and any treatment going onto my account), my parents etc…
Anyone who failed to let me or someone who could contact me know in this situation would be a pretty crappy friend (mind you unlikely to happen because I don’t let just anyone look after the bunny)
Kevbo absolutely did the right thing. No-brainer, IMO.