NEGLECT COMPLAINT
Owners may sue cat sitter
Rebekah Benoit is considering legal action against a Saskatoon pet minding company she says neglected her two cats severely while her family was out of the province.
The owner of Prairie Critter Sitters, Paula Olfert, has refunded the money Benoit paid upfront to care for Rusty and Salty, but Benoit says she now has to replace items damaged while the cats were on their own in the house, plus veterinary bills that may be result.
The cats are now recovering in the care of Benoit’s sister until the family returns to Saskatoon. The Saskatoon SPCA confirmed it received a complaint from Benoit about the incident and is investigating.
“For me, it’s particularly egregious because these animals can’t talk, they can’t defend themselves, they can’t call for help, they can’t tell anybody what’s happening to them,” Benoit said.
She hired Olfert to watch Rusty and Salty while the family visited Nova Scotia from early July until Aug. 16. Her husband had to leave unexpectedly for work and flew back to Saskatoon on July 15. When he got home, he told her the cats greeted him at the door and were “frantic” to see him, meowing, and “acting weird,” and there was an odour in the house, she said.
Her husband found there was no food left in the cats’ feeder, their water bowl was dry, the litter box was a “solid brick of urine,” and appeared to not have been cleaned since the family left, she said. With the litter box unusable, the cats began to use one of her children’s beds as a litter box, soaking it with urine and feces. The mattress and bedding have to be replaced and the carpets need to be steam cleaned.
The cats got their water from the toilets and the bowl of one of them was completely dry, Benoit said.
Her husband called her right away, and she reached out to Olfert; after getting no response, she called the police, concerned about Olfert’s well-being, she said. Police checked in on Olfert, and Benoit said a police officer told her Olfert was fine and had said there was a “miscommunication” between her and an associate who was supposed to mind the cats.
“He called me and he told me that, and I was just livid because it meant that she was there sitting at home, comfortable, while my cats were dying of thirst and starving to death in the same city,” she said.
Benoit said her texts to Olfert continued to go unanswered, until she raised the possibility of legal action in a message. Benoit said Olfert told her there was a miscommunication and a private contractor was supposed to go to the house.
Benoit said she hired a professional sitter because her sister had plans to be out of the city for a week. “I felt I was being more responsible that way, by not kind of burdening my family and hiring somebody,” Benoit said.
Olfert was to take over care of the cats on July 10 after the family left town on July 7. Benoit said her sister checked on the cats on the July 8, and she later received texts from Olfert telling her the cats were fine.
In hindsight, she wishes she had asked for photos as proof the cats were being cared for, Benoit said.
In an email, Olfert directed The Starphoenix to a statement she posted to the Prairie Critter Sitters Facebook page, saying she will not take any more time to address the incident only to be berated and threatened by strangers.
In the post, she wrote that when unforeseen circumstances arise and the company is not able to complete its obligations in a contract, an associate or independent contractor is brought in and the client is informed of the change.
“For reasons still unknown at this time the associate was unable to fulfill the contract. She did not inform me of this. She is no longer with Prairie Critter Sitters,” Olfert wrote in the Facebook post. She added that new policies and procedures would be implemented to prevent “this dangerous situation being repeated.”
Benoit said she has also received social media messages, but they’ve been offers of support and people sharing recommendations for other pet sitters.
“Obviously, I’m pretty leery at this point to leave my cats with anybody besides my own family. But it’s just scary. You trust someone, you think they’re going to do what they promise to do when they take your money.”