My dog ate the hamster I was looking after… and other tales of pet-sitting woe

Telegraph

2 days ago

As the summer holidays draw near, pet owners face the perennial question: who will look after the dogs, cats – and lizards – while they're away? Some splash out on luxury pet hotels, others check their sulky felines into the local cattery. But many of us turn to friends, neighbours or relatives for help. Whether that's wise is another matter. Professional pet sitters come with experience (and a price tag to match), but your teenage neighbour may be less well-versed in animal care – as these cautionary tales reveal…
Our Staffordshire bull terrier ate the hamster in the night
– Shelina, 37, digital creator
My dog Louis was a Staffordshire bull terrier and a total softie. I had guinea pigs at the time and he was scared of them and the cat. So I wasn't worried when family friends asked me to look after their children's hamster while they were away.
But the hamster's cage was fastened shut with a thin strip of Sellotape, which my younger sister idly fiddled with as we chatted. They also hadn't told us the Sellotape was there because the hamster regularly escaped. That night we went to bed, hamster safely in its cage – or so we thought.
During the night, Louis let out one big 'woof!' He never barked, and it woke the whole house up. We went back to sleep but the hamster cage was wide open, and there was no hamster. We searched the entire house, beds, cupboards – but there was only one conclusion. Louis' big woof was followed by eating him. I was horrified – but when we told them, the parents' reply was, 'Oh thank God! That hamster's been a total pain.'
My babysitter blew up
– Caroline, 46, publicist
We were looking after the rabbit from the children's nursery when we had to go out one evening and booked a babysitter. We had no idea she was allergic to fur – but she had a massive reaction, and her face swelled up to an unrecognisable size. The poor girl ended up in A&E. It turned out it wasn't the first time: she was an animal lover and couldn't resist picking the rabbit up, despite her medical history.
I had to forage in a heatwave
– Sophie, 30, pet sitter
I'm a pet sitter, and I had one very tricky client with a tortoise, a chameleon and two fish-tanks. I had to go foraging greens for the tortoise in a heatwave because it would only eat fresh dandelions, so I was told. When I had to miss one evening, and my cover – a vet specialising in reptiles – had to stand in, the client was furious with me about disrupting her animals' routines, because apparently the chameleon's bedtime was strictly 7pm.
The dog took my contraceptive pills
– Emily, 33, behaviourist
As a student, I used to house-sit. Once, I looked after a dog that broke through two stair gates, got upstairs, into a suitcase and ate a packet of contraceptive pills. Thankfully, I was on the kind that aren't toxic to dogs. Even so, it required an emergency vet visit and a long phone call to the poison centre to find this out. I stopped pet-sitting after that.
The sitter wouldn't wake up
– Natalie, 40, business owner
We had a bit of a disaster on our first holiday after getting a dog. We'd booked a lovely pet sitter who already knew him, but the day before we were due to fly, she texted to say she couldn't do it – her own dog was in season. Instead, she promised her younger employee would stay at the house and look after him. By that point, we didn't really have a choice.
On day two, the next-door neighbour texted to ask what was going on, as the dog had been barking for over an hour. It turned out the sitter had slept in and hadn't heard him barking to go out for a wee. Unbelievably, the same thing happened for the next two days. We were sitting by the pool in Lanzarote, trying to get hold of the business owner to go and wake her employee.
Throughout the week, we were also getting regular WhatsApp photos of the dog's poo, as the sitter was worried he had a tummy issue. It looked fine to us, but eventually we agreed to a vet visit just to appease her – £80 later, we were told there was nothing wrong.
The cat disappeared on day one
– Jacqueline, 67, women's club founder
We were living in Germany in military housing – and we volunteered to look after one of my then-husband's employees' cats. There was no information at the handover, it was just, 'here's the cat, see you in two weeks.' She was a beautiful, white, fluffy cat… and she disappeared on the first night. I was frantic.
I got everyone in the flats involved in looking for her – every flat was checked, we walked miles searching, and drove down all the local roads. I was convinced she'd been cat-napped because she was so pretty, or even worse, run over and concealed. There was no sign of her, and for two weeks, I desperately ran through all the ways I might apologise. Then on the day her owners were due back, she wandered in through our patio doors. I was so relieved – until it transpired that she was pregnant. It must have happened when she was with us because the owners never let her out. Thankfully, she only had two kittens, and we took both of them. It was the least we could do.
The cats staged a dirty protest
– Jess, journalist
I used to pet sit for various neighbours when I was a teenager, with a very fluffy and friendly rough collie and his two cat cohabitants amongst my clients. I dutifully went every day to water plants and feed the animals, and after a week or so took the opportunity to snoop around the house – just a little. To my horror, the cats had taken it upon themselves to defecate all over the bed of the master bedroom – and had seemingly spread it around. Unfortunately, this act of protest had clearly happened early on in my care of them, and was fully set in. The response of a 15-year-old with very little laundry experience? Call my mother, obviously – who came straight to the rescue. The owners were never the wiser (I think).
Never let the dog roll
– Bharati, 45, sustainable accessories brand owner
I used to look after a friend's two dogs regularly; a Jack Russell and a Pekinese. On one occasion, the weather was good and I decided to take them to a new park to have a good run around. The Jack Russell absolutely loved it, rolling around and running everywhere. When we returned though, I noticed he was scratching more than usual and I knew something wasn't right. I tried to call my friend to get the details for her vet but it kept going to voicemail. So I booked an appointment with the closest vet I could find – £130 later, it turned out the dog had caught fox mange.
Incompetence nearly killed the cat
– Colm, 28, radio producer
My ex-girlfriend was obsessed with her Persian cat, and when she went away for a few days, she asked me to look after her as she didn't trust strangers. She had bought a very expensive food system which meant the cat could trigger her own dinners, and showed me how it worked – I just had to refill it. I filled it up the first morning, then I had to go away unexpectedly overnight.
Luckily, I calculated there would be enough food until I got back. It wasn't until I turned up again that I discovered I hadn't flicked the switch, and the poor cat had been unable to access her dinners. When I opened the kitchen door, the cat was lying by her impenetrable food bowl, and I was overcome with horror. I didn't confess, but I still feel terrible about it.