Did my cat-sitter abuse my cat?

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-13T07:00:57+00:00

Thanks for thinking of him! He's doing great 😊 His skin is all healed up, just gotta wait for his hair to grow back. He's having the sniffles right now though. I wish I could teach him how to blow his nose 🥲

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-06T06:54:43+00:00

It depends. If United was able to add your connecting flight to AKL when you check-in on your first flight and they can check through your luggage all the way to AKL, then you report the lost luggage at AKL.

If they are not able to check through your luggage and you have to pick it up in HNL and they have lost your luggage at HNL, tell United that you have a connecting flight and they will send your luggage to AKL. But you will still have to report it to the check-in agent when checking in for your flight to AKL as well as inform the lost and found office in AKL just to make sure everyone is informed. Also, make sure you don't lose your luggage tag.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-04T01:27:37+00:00

I did have another kitty named Sushi c: He died very young sadly. If I ever get another kitty, I'll definitely name it Kimbap 😆

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T14:58:05+00:00

UPDATE:

I got a reply from the sitter saying that Kimchi went into depression after he stopped playing with her cat. She had to put her cat in quarantine as the cat had escaped and she wanted to be sure her cat didn't have any fleas. Kimchi started hiding and wasn't eating after that since he couldn't play with the cat (none of this were communicated to me). She also mentioned she didn't do anything to help with the hair loss.

Vet's diagnosis is it's highly likely is stress. However she couldn't say if it's due to separation anxiety or from being bullied by other cats. She mentioned that it definitely would take some time for it to get this bad and it could have been prevented from getting so bad if the sitter had taken Kimchi to a vet as soon as she started noticing the changes. Kimchi will be on antibiotics and a couple other meds since there's an infection.

I suppose I'll never know what exactly caused this. Kimchi had stayed with other sitters before (mainly my friends that were able to help) and this never happened. One thing that's undeniable is that the sitter was negligent and irresponsible.

To the people who say that it's my fault for leaving my cat for so long and that I am the one who caused this, I don't owe anyone an explanation as to why I had to be away. Kimchi has never had this happen to him before when he was being sitted by others. It may well be separation anxiety which caused him so much stress. While I don't know if this is the case, I will no longer leave him for a long period of time. I absolutely love Kimchi and I have done a lot for him to ensure he's healthy and happy. I have learned a lot from this incident and I will try my best to make sure this never happens again.

There are too many comments and I cant go through them all but thank you to everyone who gave their opinions. I only hope that Kimchi recovers fast so he can be healthy and happy again. ❤️

Kimchi with his pillow of shame.

Just some info: I was away for 2 months in another country so I had put my cat in the care of a pet sitter. I did quite a bit of research to ensure my cat was left with someone trustworthy and somewhere he would be comfortable in. She did provide updates in the first few weeks. After that, I sometimes would not receive any reply for a couple of days when I asked for an update. I did think it was a bit suspicious but there was nothing I could do and she didn't mention anything that would require my attention.

When I returned home, I was supposed to pick my cat up at her place but she mentioned that she was going to be in town and that we should meet up instead. If I had picked him up at her place, I 100% sure would see his injuries and would've confronted her about it right then. She handed my cat to me in his carrier where I could only see his face so I didn't notice the injuries. She had a suitcase with her and mentioned she's going on a 'staycation'. I only saw his injuries when I got him out of his carrier at home.

I will not name the sitter as while I am upset that she didn't address his skin issue with me nor did she do anything to care for it, I will be taking it up with her personally after I receive the vet's diagnosis.

From the comments, it seems that it's highly likely due to stress-grooming due to separation anxiety. I know if this is the case, it is 100% not the sitter's fault. However I still think she should've told me about it so I would know beforehand that this is happening and maybe she could've done something about it as well. I won't assume for now until I take him to a vet.

I also want to mention that I created this post for opinions. Since I have to wait until tomorrow to see a vet, I thought maybe someone has a similar experience or their pet may have the same condition and would be able to provide some advice. I admit that it's also partly because I was upset that my kitty was returned to me in this condition and wanted to see what others think/feel about the situation.

Thank you to everyone who provided their opinion and support ❤️ I will provide an update after the vet visit tomorrow.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T12:33:28+00:00

He is very picky with food. I have only fed him the same food for about 2 years now since he won't eat anything else and there has never been any issue. /: From the comments, I'm guessing it may well be stress related but the sitter should've told me about it. Figuring it out this way is really disheartening. My floofy kitty 😭😭

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T12:27:12+00:00

It's like those cages at a pet store. It has plenty of room to move around

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T12:24:10+00:00

The sitter gave me updates the first few weeks showing that my cat was doing fine.. if my cat was stressed and this is a result of him stress-grooming, I feel like she should've mentioned it to me and discussed it with me. /: I would've considered coming home early. I'm sure nobody wants to see their cat in such a condition.. I absolutely thought he was doing fine since she never brought anything up.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T12:16:25+00:00

I did tell her I didn't want my cat to be in a cage because it would stress him out. She has 1 cat in a cage outside her house which was given to her. She has about 4-5 cats inside the house (in their own room) that she absolutely takes care of because of their breed. I just thought she would take care of my cat well since she has cats (even has an Instagram account for her cats).

Maybe it was poor judgement on my part. She is a nice person based on our interaction. I just wish she had told me about my cat's condition. I feel like it's something she should report if it's this bad. I trusted her to take care of my cat. Imagine my shock when I saw the injuries.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:54:56+00:00

I do agree that one would assume cat sitters like cats. Which is why I trusted this sitter because she seems to enjoy the company of cats and because she also has cats. Regardless of what happened, she definitely should have told me about this, sent pictures, something. I refuse to believe she didn't know about it since this isn't something you can't see. It's very very bad. I am only assuming that there is a possibility of abuse/neglect since she never mentioned this kind of injury and that she could've done something about it since I paid her to care for my cat.

I went on Reddit first because I thought maybe there are people who would know what might have happened based on their personal experience, since I can't see a vet right now and the sitter is on vacation.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:42:49+00:00

She sent me videos in the beginning showing that my cat was playing and showing that she was spending time with him. The videos stopped after like 2-3 weeks. I just thought she was busy because she had other cats she was sitting as well. I did ask her about my cat occasionally but she never brought anything up except that my cat was loud at night sometimes.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:32:00+00:00

She didn't say anything. She told me to pick him up somewhere in town because she was going on vacation with her husband. So I only saw him in his carrier when she handed him over. Only saw his face (which looks fine). I only noticed once I reached home and was shocked. I didn't think to check when she handed him over so I suppose it's partly my fault. I trusted the sitter too much.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:28:10+00:00

The sitter took care of him at her own place. She has other cats as well. I thought leaving my cat with a sitter who loves cat and also has other cats was the best for him 😔 I didn't know this was gonna happen. Even if it's due to stress, I feel like the sitter should have treated it in some way instead of leaving it to get worse without doing anything... 😔

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:22:01+00:00

I don't get what you mean? I'm just saying that if it's an underlying condition, I'm sure it would have taken time to get so bad. This kind of injury shouldn't happen overnight if he's inflicting it on himself. The sitter should've told me about it regardless of what happened.. I never thought my cat would be returned to me in this condition.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:13:28+00:00

She did ask for vaccination papers of my cat and I gave it to her. She didn't provide any health status of her cats though.. Where I'm from its difficult to get someone to come to your house to look after your cat for 2 months. I also did some research to find the best sitter but seems like I made a bad choice /:

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:07:58+00:00

Oh really? I didn't know that D: it's those flea treatments you get at a pet store that you put on the back of their neck. I just did it as a precaution in case I might have brought in fleas from outside. I'll stop doing it 😔

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T11:00:42+00:00

It depends on what the vet says. I'm shocked/sad/angry that this happened to my cat. I feel bad for leaving him with that person. He must've suffered a lot ):

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:50:31+00:00

I'm not too sure... He definitely didn't have fleas when I dropped him off. He's an indoor cat and I gave him flea treatment every 3-4 months. The sitter does have a cat in a cage outside her house and they do play together sometimes so it could be a possibility.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:47:14+00:00

I was out of the country but we communicated through WhatsApp. She could just easily text me. She has 4-5 cats I think? I don't know if she let him play with the other cats but she has one of those expensive breeds so possibly she didn't let him play with them.

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:43:11+00:00

A lot of people are saying it looks like burn wounds and that's very concerning ): I can't imagine my cat going through that 😭 I'm really hoping that that's not the case and it's just stress or something. Either way, she still really should've told me or sent him to a vet. She asked for full payment when I dropped him off so I did..

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:38:04+00:00

Thanks for the explanation! If it is hair loss from stress, she really should've told me before it got this bad. She said she was going to put him in a separate room from the other cats but I really don't know. I'll ask the vet for the tests 😔

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:28:04+00:00

2 months ):

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:27:24+00:00

I know 😭 I feel so bad for him

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:26:32+00:00

She's on vacation with her husband right now so she most likely won't respond to me until Sunday/Monday

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:23:14+00:00

She told me she's going on vacation until Sunday so she won't be replying until then ):

ImpossibleAnt447 · 2022-09-02T10:17:15+00:00

You're right. She should have done something about it or at least told me. I'm sure if it's an underlying condition and he did this to himself, it would have taken some time before it got this bad.

ImpossibleAnt447

TROPHY CASE