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Pet sitter fails to care for pets
#1
A family in Saskatoon arranged for a pet sitter. When the husband had to come home early he found his cats with no food or water. They had obviously not been cared for.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/...-1.4758609

This is outrageous. The pet sitting company subcontracted the job to a stranger who failed to show up.
When you hire someone to be in your home and care for your pets you expect that person to do the job. You do not expect a stranger to enter your home.

The cat sitter failed on so many levels. She did not make sure the pets were cared for. She did not warn the family  that a stranger would be doing the job. Also she was only caring for the animals every few days. I would expect a pet sitter to visit the home daily. No animal should be left alone that long.  Water could dry up in that time and it certainly would be dirty after that long. Cats especially need clean fresh water and a clean litter pan.

I am not sure refunding the money is good enough. There should be more consequences. I can't believe she thinks she will get more business from the cats owners.



The cats only survived because the husband came home early. Otherwise the family would have returned to dead pets.
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Catherine

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#2
Something is very wrong when that sort of thing happens.

Olfert "hired a subcontractor"? What right did she have to do that, legally? Surely the "contract" was between Benoit family and the pet sitting company, and no-one else? Unless that possibility was among their terms and conditions?

If not, the Benoit family may have a right to sue.

One would think that if the Benoit family had a criminal record check of Olfert carried out, and handed over their house keys, then wouldn't they have had to sign something?

I am glad to hear the cats are safe. Thank goodness the toilet seat was not left closed!
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#3
Those cats just barely survived. 

Signed or verbal the contract was between Olfert and the Benoits. There was no indication that there would be a subcontractor. 
Having hired a subcontractor, Olfert had an obligation to make sure the cats were being cared for. Sending reports that the cats were okay was misleading and dishonest. Olfert didn't know if the cats were fine. She did no follow up on the subcontractor.

The Benoits may be able to sue because they didn't authorize any one else to use their key and visit their home. They left the key with Olfert believing she would be in their house. I think there is at very least a breach of contract here and a violation of the Benoits privacy.
I hope they do sue Olfert. She should not be pet sitting in future.
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Catherine

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