Cat sitter is told her compensation is the electricity she used while staying in the host’s empty apartment for 2 weeks, while covering all her own groceries and needs

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Aug 24, 2026 6:15 AM EDT

Let's get one thing out of the way: I trust my feline instincts, and they are telling me: you don't like this lady, like, at all. 

Now, this is coming from me, someone who would, and I can't stress this enough, happily(!) take care of your cat, her cat, or any cat, for free. This is about entitlement and how this lady, who obviously isn't a cat lady despite owning a cat, takes favors and her cat for granted.

She sounds like she treats her cat like a decorative plant that occasionally needs a pep talk. And I'm not having it.

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  • AITAH for being annoyed my mom's acquaintance called "energy usage" a fair trade for two weeks of free cat-sitting?

    Young woman sitting on the floor, gently petting a tabby cat sitting no a sofa
    via DimaBerlin

    Cat sitter gently petting a cat

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 1 (22F) house and cat-sat for an acquaintance of my mom's (41F) for two weeks. No payment was ever agreed on, which is fine, I
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  • wasn't expecting one. But when I arrived, the house was basically empty. I'm talking empty shelves, no seasoning, no sugar or flour, nothing to put on bread,
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  • absolutely nothing. So I bought all my own groceries out of pocket for two weeks.
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  • It also wasn't just basic feeding and litter. It's a flat, so the cats can't go outside, meaning I was constantly entertaining them. They
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  • regularly pooped outside the litter box, which I cleaned up. One of the cats has trouble with his hind legs, so I was asked to massage his back legs and give him
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  • magnesium for it, and his leg trouble also gave him I had to clean off him regularly. So this was daily hands-
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  • woman gently stroking a relaxed tabby cat with both hands
    via DimaBerlin

    Cat-sitter spending quality time with a cat

    Representative only.

  • on care, not a "just check in on the cats" favor. And before I leave I always clean the whole house, take out the trash and do laundry too.
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  • After she got back, she messaged me, upset but nice about it, that I'd used up a bottle of olive oil she'd gotten as a birthday gift (a "dressing oil," not for cooking,
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  • apparently worth around 40 euros). I hadn't known it wasn't meant for cooking, and there was no other oil in the house to cook with, so I used what was there. A previous time, she'd also
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  • commented that I'd taken bread from the freezer (it was the last two slices, I wasn't going to buy a whole new loaf for that) because it
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  • turned out to be one of her kids' gluten-free breads and she had to buy new ones.
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  • Woman gently scratches tabby cat's chin
    via DimaBerlin

    Cat sitter gently scratches cat's chin

    Image for illustrative purposes.

  • I told her I understood the oil thing was annoying, but also pointed out that there was nothing else in the house either, I'd had to
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  • buy all my own groceries, and that normally when you take care of someone's home and pets for two weeks (feeding, litter, cleaning up after them, medical stuff, all of it),
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  • it's common to at least have basic supplies provided or some compensation for groceries. I said it wasn't really about money, more
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  • that living in and taking care of someone's home for two weeks and having to fund it all myself feels off.
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  • This sitter walked into a flat with a feline roommate who required leg massages, magnesium supplements, and regular bakside cleanup. The host called that arrangement a fair trade for energy usage, as if the cat’s medical needs were a spa amenity included in the complimentary stay.

  • Her response: first she said she never expected to pay, she thought it was just "nice for me to have some time living on my own."
    via Pizza_dough42

  • Cats with mobility issues do not care about someone’s generosity narrative. They care about clean litter, food that does not come out of the sitter’s paycheck, and a human who will wipe their backside without treating it like a moral failing. This particular cat needed daily hands-on care, not a philosophical debate about whether free housing counts as compensation.

  • Then, after I pointed out that previous times there actually were basics in the house, she said she "never really provided basics either
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  • time" and didn't expect to this time. Then she sent this: "I don't actually intend to give any compensation. I think the energy
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  • The host framed the whole situation like a wellness retreat. “You get to live on your own!” when the cat needed someone to massage its hind legs and clean up messes that happen when a pet cannot use a litter box properly. That’s a live-in nursing job with a furrier uniform. Not a taste of independence. 

  • usage you get from staying there is already a fair trade So thank you so much for all the times you took great care of things. I'll figure out another option for the cats going forward."
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  • So essentially: free housing = payment, my actual out-of-pocket grocery costs = not her problem, and now she's ending the arrangement instead of just...
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  • providing groceries or a small stipend. Am I overreacting for being upset here? It's not really about wanting to be paid, it's the
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  • logic of "you living somewhere is the payment" while I'm still the one covering the costs.
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  • Edit: My mom knows about her after I told the situation and thinks she is crazy! And her and my mom are not friends, but acquaintances
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  • No-Philosopher8042 Please never catsit for her again.
    via No-Philosopher8042

  • The sitter just needs to let her find another option. Plenty of sitters will trade actual care for actual groceries or cash. And her cat obviously deserves someone who treats its needs like actual work instead of a barter system where the animal’s medical care funds the host’s spending plan.

  • _never_say_never_ I'm so sorry you got ripped off like that. What a user that woman is. I house and dog sat for 10 days several months ago. The dogs were 2 small designer dogs. One was
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  • older and no trouble at all but the other one was a destructive loveable little brat that regressed in her potty training, probably bc she had never been away from her owner before.
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  • The lady had asked me what foods and snacks I like and had stocked her pantry, frig and freezer to my liking, including my brand of coffee. and tea.
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  • She had every streaming service and i binged watched so many shows and movies. She also left me with the keys to her luxury car, had made up 2 gift baskets for me, one with chocolates and one with really nice bath and spa type
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  • products and left me a gift card for a nice nearby restaurant. I felt like I was on vacation! We had agreed on a fee, but she felt bad that the pup forgot he was house trained
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  • so she added a tip. I was paid over $800.00 and was asked if I could be available again. You better believe I didn't hesitate to say yes! Never again take on a job like
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  • that without a mutually agreed upon fee. That woman has no manners or class.
    via Pizza_dough42

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employment issues workplace-stories Cats entitled people cat sitting
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