Pet sitting - Spanish Real Estate forum - Spanish property

Linka · 08-20-2008, 07:16 PM

Whelst waiting at the vets recently I over heard a gentleman asking if their was a cattery near by that might have a vacency. He was told that it was very short notice and they would be full.It accured to me ,being an owner of several Moggies, that If we ever wanted to go away on a family holiday we would be stuck for someone to take care of our fury friends. Cats don't like being put in a cattary,much prefuring to stay in their own home.It can also it can be expensive.(approx 7.50 a day) It set me wondering how many other people in the area faced the same problem.
So I had an idea.. How about a system where Cat owners come together on the forum and say when they are away , for how long, and their general area.
For example: September 12 -24th twice daily feeding required for two cats near the montimar hotel. Private message Linka.
So you get in touch if its near you and BINGO, two sets of happy cats and owners.

Homefinder · 08-20-2008, 08:16 PM

Hey Linka - that sounds a great idea!
The only problem I can see is payment of some kind. Like moggie owner A gets help from owner B but, when owner B needs help, owner A is unable to reciprocate for some reason and owner B has to get help from owner C.
You'll have to get your head round that one but a small payment might resolve the issue.

Whilst talking about feeding cats, is twice daily feeding necessary? To my best knowledge: If you give a dog a huge bowl of food it will eat until it makes itself sick but cats are not like that.
We have always had an office cat. We are now on our 3rd in 20-odd years. We are very busy but sometimes there is nobody here for a full day. We leave food in her bowl and leave the lid off the dry food bin. That seems to work but she has been brought up to eat dry food - she won't even eat the stuff out of tins.

Having said that I am also going to explain why an office needs a cat. We are right on the edge of open land and, during the winter, rats and mice come in to make homes inside.
I used to have to put poison down but the effect is horrible. The poor little things lie on the floor hemmoraging to death. I know that rats and mice are repulsive but they are still living creatures and deserve our respect.
With a cat around it is a quick, natural death or, if they have any sense, they smell the cat and don't come near the place. As well as that we make a home for a poor unwanted stray.

Another Moggie Story: Actually this was out first office cat. The girls came in one morning and found her waiting on the door-step. She was not much more than a kitten and they gave her some milk. We decided to adopt her and, before anything she went to the vet for all the usual stuff including an "Op". The vet told us that we were too late because she was already pregnant - amazing because she was so young.
When her time came we put her in a basket in a store outside at the back and she produce 3 kittens. One poor little thing was really skinny and sickly, I think the mother was too immature to provide for it.
One morning we found the kitten on the front doostep. The same thing happened the following morning as well. The mother had walked all around the building to leave her baby on our doorstep because that had worked out for her - amazing!

Homefinder

Linka · 08-20-2008, 08:40 PM

Nice stories, Did you keep the second kitten?
When we moved here we had a Cat that we brought from England . We now have six! I know its crazy, but we are both soft touches. My sister said that normally the man stops the women becoming a mad cat lady but Guy is as bad if not worse than me.We got the first fromThe Denia cat home, he was in the Costa Blanca news as 'Cat of the week' . A ball of white fluff with a ginger tail. Number two came from The cat lady at Jalon market. He is a very plain looking skinny black and white moggy. She had been taking him to the market every weekend for two months, and no one wanted him. So he became ours. About two months later we went to the market and thought it would be nice to let her know how he was getting on. Big mistake.. as we came home with two more, a beautiful pair of blue eyed strippy kittens. Then at xmas we found a little gray kitten in the road, all wet through and starving.
Now we ignore anything Kitten related as you have to stop somewhere!!
Your right about the feeding, if its dry food, once a day is fine. A small payment would be a good idea if the two people that get together can't work an exchange out.

As for Rats and mice, ours love to bring us presents, Rats, Mice, moths, lizards,birds

Bits of lego, pegs, fircones, twigs, etc.