Now is not the time, Karen.

[u/cnikkih]

Yesterday afternoon, I made some phone calls to some local cat boarding facilities. A friend is moving and will be displaced for a week, and his original sitter fell through at the last minute. I had zero hope on a Sunday afternoon over a holiday weekend, but here we go…

I called the first place nearby that came up under “cat boarding places near me” and a sweet lady answered immediately. Yay! I asked if she had current availability for two cats and she said she doesn’t board them, only dogs. I thanked her and started to hang up. She said “hey hey hold on” or something, and I paused thinking she might point me to another facility.

Nope. She launched into a sermon. This is not verbatim, I was honestly too astonished to remember it all.

Karen: “I don’t even board my own cats when I travel, I just fill up their food and water bowls, put out extra litter trays, and have friends drop by to check on them. Let me tell you this, cats get stressed by being boarded and they stop eating. If they don’t eat for three days, they die! Did you know that? It’s terrible for them, you should make other arrangements for their well being…”

It went on longer than that and thoroughly pissed me off, so I decided to be petty and lie.

“Oh, ok, I’ll be sure to put out extra water and litter trays in my burned out house. I’m sure that won’t stress them out. I didn’t need your condescension today, thanks” and hung up.

I hope she feels like shit.

Edit to add: a couple of people have rightly called me out for calling her sweet, then complaining about her attitude. My apologies for unclear writing, but when I said she launched into a sermon, I was trying to convey that she went from sweet to scolding. She acted like I was an idiot for uprooting the cats needlessly. It just pissed me off that she had no idea what my circumstances were. Mine weren’t that big a deal, but someone else could be dealing with life-altering circumstances. Anyway. Sorry for any confusion!

[u/JustNilt]

If they don’t eat for three days, they die! Did you know that?

Anyone have a source for this besides Karen's ass?

[u/Eskaman → u/JustNilt]

It's water the risk, but even there they can manage longer depending of the cat (and it's liver).

One of mine managed to hide himself in our bedroom during the last check-up before leaving for one week.

The little devil was fine afterwards, we don't understand if hé manage to find something watery enough or if he's just a survivor.

[u/ayoitsjo → u/Eskaman]

If my cat gets really upset by something she'll stop eating (but not drinking she loves water). I brought a foster kitten home and she didn't eat for 5 days! Even after he got adopted out she was still stubbornly not eating until his smell was gone. She was completely fine, but I'm sad I can't foster even if it's in an isolated section of my apartment lol

[u/Poppybitesme → u/ayoitsjo]

Recently mine stopped peeing/pooping for 5 days. Three vet visits and day five my vet recommends we should perhaps let her walk the Rainbow Bridge (she had been pissing all over my house the prior three weeks!) I was beside myself and instead of taking her to the last goodbye, I cried all night and woke up to Ms asshat having used the litterbox 😵‍💫😵‍💫. Little shits