Cat killed on road after parents screwed up when cat-sitting for daughter

This is not Kylo but another tuxedo cat. Image: MikeB.

I want to ask the readers (not many I guess!) who they think is most at fault in this story. I'll say right away that I'd apportion blame at 50:50. What do you think?

Here is the story:

In America, a young woman (26) with a full-time indoors tuxedo cat, Kylo, asked her parents to take care of her cat while she moved to a new state to live with her husband. She gave her parents strict instructions that Kylo was an indoor cat because her previous cats had been indoor/outdoor cats who'd come to early, unnatural deaths such as being poisoned and a hit and run.

Her parents agreed. But they had three dogs and liked to keep the backdoor open! Not good and I guess she might have foreseen what was going to happen and it did.

Kylo escaped the home and was hit by a car outside and killed. Her father telephoned her to inform her that her cat had been killed and she yelled at him: "I told you to keep him inside!". His response was, "Oh stop, it's just a cat". Not good.

This made things worse. She'd had begged her parents to keep Kylo inside but despite their promises they failed to respect her decision. The parents said that Kylo was curious and hinted at that they wanted him to satisfy his curiosity.

"I constantly told them 'no, Kylo is an indoor cat, keep him inside'. I begged and begged them to respect my decision with my cat and I had thought they had…I received a phone call from my father saying that Kylo was hit by a car and killed today. In the midst of sobbing and yelling at my dad, 'I TOLD YOU TO KEEP HIM INSIDE!!' my dad said 'oh stop… it's just a cat' so I promptly hung up on him and immediately called my best friend (26f)."

Comment: Not good enough. The parents failed her terribly. It highlights the problems of getting relatives to cat sit. It is very risky. There is a huge responsibility on the cat sitter to protect the cat or cats. I don't think they realise the responsibility sometimes. But the cat's owner failed her cat too I am afraid. She has ultimate responsibility for her cat. She made the decision to leave him with her parents who apparently were unsuitable and not up to the task.

One issue is failing to recognise the value of a domestic cat. The father clearly didn't. For him it was 'only a cat' which is sure to lead to carelessness.

The response from the daughter is to ban her parents from baby-sitting which is sad but understandable.

The daughter said:

"After a good cry and a stern talking, my husband and I decided to keep my parents from watching their grandchildren without us there, no matter the circumstances. If they can't respect my one wish for my cat, what is to say they will respect my wishes for my children? So, am I the a**hole for not allowing my parents the chance to babysit their grandchildren?"

The source of the story is Reddit.com. 

Make £400 ($514) in a few weeks as a cat sitter

The headline in The Sun newspaper paints an almost utopian picture of cat-human heaven in which a person is employed as a cat sitter in London, UK and they looked after three cats in different locations over Christmas for a period of three weeks at the end of which they have earned £400 in cash. 

Cat sitting. Image: supplied.

That of course is worth more if you are paying tax because you don't pay tax on the cash you earn! I am not suggesting fraudulent behavior!

It is called a side hustle so I presume that you do this in addition to another part-time job. It is designed to help people get over the so-called cost of living crisis which has resulted in people being short of cash. And resulted in cat abuse - click here to read that story.

Of course, it might be an enjoyable job if you like cats. However, it is a responsible job because, although it looks easy, I don't think it is. The person who wrote The Sun article, Miranda Knox (the cat sitter), gives the impression that it is easy and convenient but no.

You have the responsibility of looking after three cats in three different locations. What happens to them when the you aren't there? What if they 'escape' (if they are indoor cats) and get run over? Who is responsible? It is the cat sitter. The owner maybe thousands of miles away but they expect their cat to be well looked after and secure.

There is a great responsibility in looking after someone else's domestic cat. And to discharge that responsibility you receive £10-£15 a day just for one visit. That would amount to £15 per visit in effect.

I've always said that I would be reluctant to look after someone else's cat because to the client (the cat's owner) their cat is very important (or should be). If something goes wrong all hell would break loose and I think the responsibility is worth more than £15 per visit.

Trust

As a cat sitter, you have to build up to the situation where people can trust you. For example, I, as a cat owner, would not allow someone else to look after my cat if I was away for a week unless I knew that person absolutely or they had great references. 

Even then I don't think I would do it. Note: I have gone away once while living with my current cat and I took him with me in a large carrier. He's been in my company every day of his life except for the first 7 weeks when he was a feral cat.

Acquainted

For a cat sitter to do their job properly they must become acquainted with the ultimate client i.e. the cat. You can't just put a cat sitter in someone else's home as a complete stranger to the cat.

If a stranger enters a home and the owner isn't there, the cat will be particularly sensitive to the stranger's presence and behaviour. As a cat sitter, you're quite liable to elicit an aggressive reaction from a cat who's home alone while their owner has gone off to Spain for a holiday three hours earlier.

I expect that part of the contract is that the cat's owner spends time with their cat in the company of the cat sitter before they leave them alone. Although I'm not sure that that would happen every time despite the fact that it would seem to be essential to me.

Cat's character

Even the outcome in terms of cat welfare depends a lot on the cat's character and how confident they are. For a lot of cats, it takes quite a long time for them to get used to strange people. They might be very easy to get on with or not.

Insurance

What about insurance? I think you'll need it to protect yourself against damage to the property and being sued by the owner for breach of contract! I'm painting a bleak picture, aren't I?

Cats becomes ill

Don't think that being a cat sitter is easy money for doing almost nothing. And there's the usual chores such as cleaning the litter tray, making sure they are well fed and in good health. You have to know a bit about feline health and behavior I'd say. If the cat starts to behave strangely, are they ill? What do you do? Complications.

Miranda Cox works from a cat-sitting website called Cat in a Flat.

Cat sitter Los Angeles

Looking for a cat sitter in Los Angeles? Take a tip for a cat lover in London. Over here there is a recent case of a women who went to Australia backpacking. She asked a young man to look after her two cats. I presume she let him stay at the house. He did some cleaning and one of the cats soiled something, don't know how or what. It could have been caused by stress through his presence.

Anyway he lost his temper. Tried to drown them both in the bath. He attacked them for an hour and tortured them. Fur and blood in the bath. Neighbors heard the cats' screams and the RSPCA (the same as your SPCA) came around (very promptly I am pleased to see).

They found the cats on the floor twitching. They survived despite broken bones and hypothermia and wounds. They would have died but for prompt veterinarian surgery.

The man has been prosecuted and been warned he faces a year in jail.

Moral: get a professional cat sitter in Los Angeles that has been recommended or someone you can guarantee is OK. Don't take a chance. And the cats should know this person ideally as some cats will become stressed. Also some cats prefer people of certain sex. It is wise to know which sex!

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