I would deeply appreciate the straight dope on my financial liability as a cat-sitter…in this story of everything that could go wrong going wrong… in an arrangement entered into with the most vital info withheld…the number of cats.
Mr. and Mrs. M., friends, acquaintances really, were set to go on a cruise and asked me to cat-sit. Previous to this, Mr. M. had invited me to live with them as Mrs. M. needed help (he is often on the road) and I had sublet my East cost apartment and was working on a project with no immediate income. I was also wanting to apprentice with Mrs. M. and I agreed to come the day before Mrs. M. was to fly out.
When I asked them, each independently, how many cats they had, they avoided answering me and changed the subject. I didn’t think much of this until I got there. They had 17 cats! (Nine adult and 8 kittens) I thought, O’ that’s why they didn’t answer me. I would have said no.
Once there, I felt entrapped but also having driven down from Northern CA to be there, needed a place to stay. I said OK. There were no formal terms of agreement, more an exchange of favors; take care of the cats and stay as long as you will.
Half of the cats had a serious flu and were vomiting and had diarrhea the whole time. When Mrs. M. left, she said some of them had just had vaccinations and thought this was causing it. The cats were also peeing on two of the three beds and the sofa.
I was out of my depth. I would have said no had I known the 17 number of cats much less the illness issues, the pee, vomit, and diarrhea, and 10 litter boxes of clean up involved.
I was feeling it would be impossible to have the sheets clean upon their return as the cats continued to pee just after I cleaned up, so I turned to the internet. I googled how to stop cats from peeing on a regular spot and came away with CITRUS CLEANER. I looked under the sink and right out front was CITRUS CLEANER. I thought, O’ this is what Mrs. M. uses. She had told me she was a clean freak. So, I used her cleaner on the plastic she kept over her bed, having cleaned the pee and not wanting to rewash her bedding… They cats had found a way under the plastic to pee on the bedding.
The cleaner was a hospital grade cleaner. I thought , wow, she really is a clean freak, but we are dealing with feces and vomit and pee. I would want a powerful cleaner too, so I used it. Turns out, I made a big mistake…one any non-professional would easily make, but a professional pet sitter would not.
Incident One:
The flu peaked the day after their return. The sick cats wobbled and the kittens fell over. They asked what I had done. I told them as a last resort to stop the shit and pee and vomit storm, I had used the citrus cleaner on the plastic.
They lost control. Mr. M said, YOU killed our cats. He said they are $1200 cats. Mrs. M. told me it was more around $750 and the one she sold while I was there went for $350.) At any rate, they jumped to aggressive blame, I was a “cat killer”.
NONE OF THE SICK CATS DIED. It was the cat flu.
Mrs. M. said she knew it could be anything, didn’t blame me and took them to the vet. IT was the flu. NOT my fault. They ALL recovered with medicine. Mr. M. offered an off the cuff apologize for calling me a cat killer.
Incident Two:
Three or four of the cats got chemical burns on their noses and one had temporary damage to it’s eye.
On one hand, I used the chemical cleaner that is likely responsible for this. One the other hand, this was her cleaner under her sink and she gave no instructions to not use it. Had I been a paid professional cat sitter, I might have known not to use it, but I was there as a friend doing a favor. I have had three cats, one at a time, in my life and never had a single problem. What did I know?
She took them to her vet and the bills for the highest level care was close to $800.
Would you consider me liable for this bill?
Incident Three:
The last and most tragic part of this story is that Sammy, one of their older male cat’s escaped the day before they returned. He had been attacked by their alpha cat the night before. I ran to stop it when I heard the commotion but I saw cat hair flying and the damage was already done.
This was an ongoing problem and Mrs. M. had been instructed to lock the alpha cat up before going to bed. Mrs. M had attempted to break up an attack before she left and showed me the deep gashes and bite on her arm.
The day after this attack, Sammy ran out, I believe while I was emptying my trunk so I could pick them up from the airport. I was very careful going in and out of the apartment as I had caught this cat trying to sneak out a number of times. This time, I did not see him. I was carrying my luggage in, opening the door on a stairway without a landing. He had to slip by me. I was informed it had escaped at least three times before, but they had always found him under their building. This time he was really gone.
The day before I was leaving to visit my mother, a call from Animal Control informed us Sammy had been run over.
Now, again, I was a “cat Killer”. They type up an invoice for a $1,000 bill ($800 for vet care and $200 for Sammy’s cremation) and told me everyone in NYC and LA would know what kind of a person I was…a cat killer. They both sent dreadful, read crazy, and hateful messages.
This was a complete reversal to what Mrs. M. had told me privately, that she didn’t blame for me Sammy’s escape, that she knew it was because he was tired of being attacked by the Alpha cat.
Mr. M. told me, initially, that he blamed her. He had told her, no, do not go on this cruise, you have to many cats! But once the pain started, all responsibility and blame were directed to me.
I know grief can make people mad, and to a childless couple, the cats are their children.
I have said I was deeply sorry, offered my deepest condolences and accepted that I am a responsible party for the chemical burns and the lost/ dead cat.
That said, I feel, they share in the responsibility for both. Even if I accepted full responsibility for all that went wrong, I do not have $1,000 to pay the invoice they gave me. I could manage to send small amounts and pay over time, but I feel they do share this responsibility.
I have felt bad, sad, guilty for my part in all of this …and for the loss of what I thought was friendship. I had into their home come with the vision of sharing spiritual love and believing we would all expand our gifts and knowing. Instead, from day one, I was the one who “killed” their cats.
I would very much appreciate input.
Seeking balance, closure, and sanity,
Takingpart