Being a cat sitter in Chandler is great fun. We get to spend time snuggling fluffy faces, brushing soft fur babies, playing with mice and wand toys with your cats, and giving lots of treats (with pet parent permission, of course). But sometimes we have an ‘adventure’. And that’s just what happened last week to one of our cat sitters.

She arrived at the client’s home on the first day of the sit to a house that seemed very warm. The house was at about 86 degrees. Understanding that some clients will adjust the temperarture while they are gone, she responsibly checked in with the owner to see if that was the case. The owner wasn’t concerned and explained how to adjust the temperature setting, which she did. Still feeling concerned for the cats’ safety, she made an additional unpaid visit, of her own accord, I might mention. When she arrived later the house was a stifling 98 degrees! The air conditioning had gone out!! And this is part of why we recommend minimum once a day visits for cat clients. (This is the second time this has happened, too, where a Critter Caretakers client’s A/C went out and the cats were at risk of heatstroke.) We were very fortunate that they were not displaying any real signs of heatstroke aside from a bit of listlessness, but it wouldn’t have been much longer at that temperature!

Knowing full well we could not responsibly nor ethically leave the girls at the house in that heat, the cat sitter contacted me, the owner, and brought the girls to my house. She also brought their favorite toys and food, of course. The girls hung out at my house until the A/C could be fixed. The client arranged for the A/C to be fixed the next day and asked if we could meet the repairman at the house. The sitter happily agreed. She made sure the client’s home was unlocked then stayed and watched over things for 50 minutes while the unit was fixed. Meanwhile the girls were cool and safe at my house where I visited with them several times through out their 24 hours with me to give them some love and attention.

Once it was fixed we did not immediately bring the cats back to the house; rather, we waited until the house was back to a comfortable setting and without putting the girls at risk of heatstroke again.  Stella and Dani, our client’s furbabies, were not super thrilled to be someplace besides their own home, but they were in a much better place than they would’ve been had the Chandler cat sitter not been caring enough to check on them again; but that is just what our sitters do. They CARE! It is another reason it’s important to hire a professional rather than friends or family for cats. Would they have the forethought, time or initiative to go back and check on your cats? If the sitter had not gone back to check on the girls, they both would’ve been in trouble! Luckily for them that was not the case and as their owner said after thanking us, “You literally saved their hides!”