Why You Should Say No to Feeding Your Friends Cats

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There are a lot of pet owners out there who want to bring their pets with them wherever they go. However, there will be times when this is either impossible or impractical. As a result, it is no wonder that a lot of pet owners will ask their friends to pet-sit for them from time to time. After all, most people care a lot about their pets, meaning that they want to entrust their pets to someone that they trust. Unfortunately, people who have been asked to pet-sit for their friends should exercise some care and consideration before accepting because there are a number of reasons that their friends should seek out a professional pet-sitting service instead.

Why Shouldn’t You Pet-Sit for Your Friends?

For starters, most people tend to have limited time. As a result, even if they are eager to pet-sit instead of having been guilted into doing so, they are going to be able to spare no more than a limited amount of time for them. Unfortunately, this can lead to substandard care. Even worse, it isn’t uncommon for pets to get stressed out to some extent when entrusted to someone besides their owner, meaning that a lack of time can exacerbate the issues that can come up because of that.

Following up, there is no guarantee that a random person will have a clear idea of what a particular pet might be. Sure, most people will have a general notion that an animal needs to be fed, watered, exercised, entertained, and expel waste, but chances are good that most of them won’t know much about the specifics unless they have personal experience. Due to this, it isn’t impossible for someone to miss the signs of a potential problem in the animal that has been entrusted to them even if they have the best of intentions, which can prove rather unfortunate should someone’s luck sour.

Finally, if something goes wrong, that can put a serious strain on a friendship. Simply put, most pet owners care a great deal about their pets, meaning that they tend to have less than happy thoughts whenever their pet suffers for whatever reason. This can be particularly true when a pet-sitter making a mistake happens to be a friend because of the preexisting bond of trust between them, meaning that it can feel as though a violation of that trust even if the friend did their best. As a result, when someone gets asked do some pet-sitting for a friend, it tends to be better for them to say “No” in a polite but nonetheless firm manner than to be pressured into it because there is no sense in risking a good friendship.

Summary

Due to this, people who suspect that they might end up getting asked to pet-sit by one of their friends might want to have a plan in mind in case they ever get asked to do so. For instance, saying “No” sounds simple and straightforward, but in practice, it can be a lot more difficult than it seems on initial consideration because most people have an understandable desire to be there for their friends when they need them. As a result, some practice saying “No” might prove very useful in the long run.

Besides this, said individuals might also want to have some kind of explanation on hand, which might enable them to turn down requests to pet-sit while ruffling as few feathers as possible. Sometimes, this is easy because people have their own obligations, meaning that they might not have the time. However, if that isn’t the case, it might be best to just point out that they might not be familiar with taking care of a particular pet, meaning that they are not the best person for the job so to speak. This is particularly useful if someone has actually looked into some of the pet-sitting services that can be found in their local region so that they can recommend a reliable and reputable example to a friend in need. This way, they can not only avoid the job of pet-sitting but also point their friend in a direction that should enable them to get exactly what they need.

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