protip for people hiring petsitters: "[animal] NEVER does [x thing]" is practically a guarantee that said animal will do x thing at least once while you are gone

me over here: "Ari's never been scared of fireworks!"

my roommate on the 4th of July: "Ari was anxious until you got home."

Ari: /curled up and napped peacefully through 6 hours of illegal fireworks once I arrived home

(on the one hand, it's extremely sweet that he trusts me to protect him from sky explosions, but on the other hand, if I'd known, I might not have left him on the 4th!)

YUPPPPPPPP

(and to be clear i never blame the owners for this, i just take literally everything they say about their pet's behavior with a grain of salt because who the fuck knows how said pet will act with a stranger)

animals are so goddamn weird

(ti's not a sign that they don't know their pet well, it's just a sign that they aren't a stranger/non-household member to their pet and their pet is accustomed to them!)

my uncle watched my cats while i was on a trip with my parents once and my cat that never causes trouble ever kept stealing his shoes??????? and hoarding them under the bathroom sink???????????

he has never done anything even remotely like that before and hasn't since

Tunes (my childhood cat) used to carry things around meowing at the top of her lungs as a cry for attention. slippers, bras, stuffed animals. We often came home from vacation to find that in our absence, a pet sitter visiting daily was insufficient attention so she'd covered the front hallway with stuff demanding people (not present) pay attention to her.

but she didn't cover the front hallway in stuff when we were home! or even when we were gone for the day at work. So the first time she did this was really hilarious.

my favorite yelling for attention was the time she stole one of my mom's clogs, then tried to fit through a mostly closed bedroom door, yowling and slamming the shoe into the doorway repeatedly because she couldn't pass but wouldn't let go of it.

but normally it happened once in a blue moon, not... 30 items in the front hallway when we were gone for a week.

that is so cute though

Lemon Wimsey refuses to show himself to petsitters, he does not permit them to look at him.

last month i fed a cat once a day for two straight weeks and never saw her

I feel like Opal will vanish and go full cryptid when I go on vacation, I've never left her for long enough to need a sitter but I'm planning something for next year

And watch me tell the sitter that and then she'll actually emerge and demand attention instead

The closest I’ve gotten to this is when I picked up thumby from the vet after a check up and as soon as her carrier got handed to me she started yowling and meowing and I went ‘yeah she’s really chatty’ to the tech who was surprised because she never made a peep

Red Reflector : one of my cats did that

Quiet in the back with the vet the whole time, but on they way to see me (I guess she smelled me) she just started meowing

I think it’s a familiarity thing

They feel safer suddenly so

"And watch me tell the sitter that and then she'll actually emerge and demand attention instead" I HAVE ALSO HAD THIS HAPPEN LMAO

"artemis is shy and will keep his distance from you" artemis greets me at the door every day and spends my whole visit purring and rubbing against my legs

awww cute

... I could be very sure my Misty would not do that XD she will at best hiss at you from the top of the stairs