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
(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!)
(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)
(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???????????
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.
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
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
"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
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