About Alexia

TL;DR – Do not recommend. She texted me twice a day that everything was great and my cats were fine, but they were pooping/peeing on every surface in the house and she didn’t even say a thing about any of it. Came home expecting happy/healthy cats, but instead unexpectedly cleaned up cat poop for over 2 hours before I could go to bed. She also did not spend the minimum time required with the cats per visit. To be clear – not her fault the cats had diarrhea all over the house – I won’t even blame her for not trying to clean any of it up; absolutely her fault that it was happening for days and she knew it, but said everything was great and the cats were fine. The long version: My job posting included specific details about the job - the dates, care requirements (feeding the cats, ensuring they have plenty of fresh water, changing the litter tray, and spending time with the cats/playing with the cats), visits per day (2), minimum expected time per visit (20 minutes), rate of pay, etc. Lexi was very diligent in following up during the interview process and was happy to do a phone interview and stop by the house before we went out of town so she could meet the cats and I could show her where everything was - awesome! I emailed her details about the cats, pictures of them, our vet info for emergencies, etc., and was reassured and ready to go out of town knowing my cats would be in good hands. Off to a great start! After I agreed to hire her for the job and closed the posting she sent me a message with the rates she would charge. I explained that the rates were clearly stated in the posting and she agreed to accept the posted rates. I started to get a little worried when she kept reaching out repeatedly to confirm the dates, but I told myself that her double checking was a good thing...I'd rather her be sure than not show up, right? While I was out of town she sent me text messages, pictures, and videos twice a day assuring me that she fed the cats and that they were doing well. She even agreed mid-week to make sure my son's ant colony had water and let me know they were doing ok. I thought that was awesome because it was totally my fault that I forgot about the ants and that they might need extra water while we were away. Again, I was happy that all was going well and my kitties were well cared for. But here's the kicker....my cats were pooping and peeing ALL OVER THE HOUSE and she never said a thing about it. I'm talking diarrhea on the walls, the curtains, the sofa, my bed, the cat towers, the floor, the chairs, my bedside table...EVERYWHERE. I got home from the airport late as planned, and instead of going straight to bed as planned, I had to change the cat litter, fix the litter box, change the bedding, start decontaminating my whole house, and doing laundry – none of which I was expecting BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TWICE A DAY THAT EVERYTHING WAS FINE AND THE CATS WERE DOING WELL! After I got home to a nightmare I sent her some follow up questions like how much of the wet food were they getting, did anything smell off, was she or any of her cats sick, when did the diarrhea and the eliminating outside of the litter box start, etc. so I could have an accurate picture of what happened for when I took them to the vet. She helpfully answered my questions and reassured me that she noticed that it started more towards the end of the time I was away but wasn't sure how to clean it up AND STILL NEVER MENTIONED IT. She said that usually when cats do this it's because they are stressed more often than they are sick, and next time she would spend more than a few hours with them. That made me curious because if she spent "a few hours" with them, why were they so stressed? Did she mean a few hours over the course of the nine days, or was she saying she spent a long time with them each visit? I had stated in the job posting and mentioned during the interview that the minimum time per visit was 20 minutes because I didn't want the cats to be stressed while I was gone and I had never left them for such a long time before...so then I checked my video doorbell logs. She spent at least the required 20 minutes at my house on only 5 of the 18 visits – that’s less than 1/3 of the visits. On 6 of the 18 visits she was there for less than 10 minutes. That means she spent less than 10 minutes with them more often than she was there for the minimum required time and didn’t stay as long as she was hired to stay more than 2/3 of the time. She also did not replace the litter tray (it's an automatic litter box that you can use a reusable tray and loose litter, or you can use the disposable trays and replace them when they need changed). Instead, she filled the litter box up with extra litter so high that the rake couldn't move through the litter and it was frozen/in error mode and full of unscooped/unraked poop. I told her during the home visit before I left that I usually use a reusable tray and loose litter, but to make things easier for the pet sitter I got disposable trays for the week before I left and while I was gone and showed her where it was kept- all she would have to do is throw away the old tray and put the new one in mid-week. Instead, she somehow used 2.5 x 8 lb bags of litter (more than a 3-month supply) in the 9 days I was away. Normally I would just write this off as a “oh well, that was unexpected” kind of thing, but combined with everything else it was just piling on.

Jessica H.

4/22/2025