Skip to Content Skip to Sitemap

Reliable, Honest and Decent, Cat Baby-Sitter for my beloved furry Baby

Italy, Umbria, Umbria

Pets

  • Cat(s)

If you love horses there is a horse in the village who belongs to an old man that needs care and that you can ride occasionally if you build a good relationship with her.

Duration

  • Dates: variable

Testimonials

They have no testimonials

Facilities

They have WIFI

About this assignment

As women living on the edge of the countryside alone, we prefer either couples or women only.

Due to the above we ask for safety issues we had here in the past with men on their own, that men on their own please do not apply.

In a house sitter we are looking for reliability, honesty, clarity, simplicity. Keeping things simple and to a minimum. There is not much to do here unless you want to, then there is to do as much as you want to be active in your surroundings.

What responsibilities are required of the house sitter

When applying please make sure you have read the whole profile and that you specify why in particular you are applying here, 2) what your availability is; and 3) if you are ok with all conditions. If you don’t answer these questions upfront including your name, surname and your age and current occupation, I won’t bother reply because attentiveness and absolute communication clarity and reliability are part of the requirements for living in our house. We would prefer french speakers, but we speak also italian, some Spanish and English. Mostly you would be required to look after the cats, Morgan the white one in the pic, if he was human he would say the things in the red sign, because he is convinced of being a witch. He also has a greate sense of humour if you can get to chat to him. Apart from his grandiose aspiration, Morgan likes to have wet food a lot, it´s his little cat-drug, called “pappina”. I buy tins or it would not be affordable. For pappina Morgan would do drudgery and he even steals pappina from his own kittens. In spite of the fact I tell him off quite fiercely when he does. When we leave you will have 3 cats, Morgan, his fiancée Ari and their little kitten to care for. Besides Morgan I have photographed Silvestro, who´s Morgan probable brother and the terror of the village. Silvestro is very stubborn on wanting to live with us, but Morgan shan´t hear it. So whenever Silvestro stalks the surrounding, Morgan fights him off and stalks him back. While such nonsense cannot be avoided, I still ask the house sitter to try and keep Silvestro far from the garden (without harming him obviously) while keeping Morgan as domestic as possible, giving him small spoons of wet food throughout the day when he comes in. The kitten and the Mum however prefer to have wet food 3 times a day a couple of spoons each and the rest of the day is dry food. You need to keep the mother and kitten separate from Morgan when they eat because otherwise he eats their food. Whereas dry food they share and i just make sure there is some in their bowls when they become empty. Apart from that there is just to water the plants.
This is important, because otherwise my little Morgy will end up shitting himself when Silvestro gets in the house. He does that literally and it´s quite horrid when it happens as he has long hair so the rule is that Silvestro is not allowed in the garden or house . We have an irrigation system that works on and off. I would like someone that is present a bit every day for the cat, to give him cuddles and let him feel he still has a home even if I have to leave sometimes. This is a long term position, you would have your own independent room and bathroom, the kitchen and living room are shared sometimes with woofers but none are planned at the moment. The bathroom and bedroom anyway are solely yours and you have your own entrance so you won´t even know we are here when we are other than the fact you won´t need to cat sit when we are here but just help with the garden. Apart from the minimum required we will just leave house sitters free to get involved in the other house activities as much as they want to be part of the communal spirit of growing vegs this spring and next autumn and share them. Because this is a long term, bills for electricity or water that are a lot above the average bills will be charged extra to the house sitter, but that said usually when these surcharges show up in bills it is not much because we still have a good rate.

What are the good features of the property and location

We are in central Italy, in the countryside within an hour from the sea, the mountains, and even the hot springs, etruscan ruins and rivers less than half an hour from here! The house where you will live has a separate entrance and you have your private bathroom and private space, you are not in our house, so when we are here it does not change anything to you.

What does the house sitter need to consider before applying for this assignment

It´s kind of in the middle of nowhere, you do need to have great love for country life and needing peace and quite. That said in the summer there is more initiative promoted by the villages pro loco and the restaurants of the village.
Please do not write me generic application letters to then ask for a video interview, as it is simply unconsiderate of both of our time. I personally do not have the time to video interview everyone and I am cautious before I consider talking to someone online and give out any private details for online contact due to serious privacy concerns and issues regarding people who in the past were sending non-genuine applications for phishing purposes.

So I require applications that are specific to this post, motivating precisely what attracted you about this application and if you agree with all the points made in it regarding the handling on the sit, house no-shoes rules etc. I also require two valid refrences possibly landlines which I can check, clear dates and ID check, in the sense I will need to see your ID before I provide our private contact details. It´s our home and we need to protect it. We hope you understand we have no time for every random application. Make sure your letter responds to all points made here which for your ease I repeat below:
1) Your name and surname, age and whether you are applying for yourself only, if not include also the details of your friend or partner.

2)Your experience with cats and country houses and country life in general, and your surivivng skills gained in the country life if any.

3) Your full references recommendation with their contact details.

4) Your ID.


At the time of arrival the ID document will be checked in person, a photocopy will be necessary to register the house sitters at the local police station as it is required by local regulations regarding B&Bs and guest houses whehter it is guests or guardians, this is one although not currently active the laws still apply and no we cannot make an exception for you, we need a regular house sitting contract to comply to local law even if you were to stay a week. We do not accept short term applications so please don´t apply unless you wish to stay for at least a couple of months.


Surely mindful applicants will understand that we had to put these rules into place so that only serious and responsible people with the genuine intention to actually house sit for us and no second purposes will apply. Consider this will also save plenty of your time too because after putting together all the information required here your application will be ready for other house sits positions as well, which will save a great deal of time to all your potential hosts in screening and short listing the most thoughtful applications.

P.S. Una nota sul francese, italiano (o spagnolo in effetti)

Una cosa importante per me se parliamo in italiano o in francese. In Italia e in Francia é convenzione darsi del lei (in Francia del voi, “vous”, in italiano del “lei") tra adulti se non ci si conosce. Queste forme che forse molti stranieri e alcuni pessimi insegnanti della lingua italiana e francese ritengono erroneamente superate, fanno ancora parte della cultura italiana e francese, e aiutano a mio avviso a mantenere dei sani confini nelle circostanze delicate di condividere la propria casa e i propri animali tra sconosciuti. Nella mia esperienza i rapporti che si sono mantienuti formali e professionali sono sempre stati quelli che si sono dimostrati più affidabili e sicure per i miei gatti e la mia casa. Per questo e non per mancanza di cordialità chiedo a chi parla italiano o francese di mantenerci sul “lei”/“vous” attenendoci al contratto e a un rapporto professionale regolato dal contratto che si può scaricare dal sito.
gentili saluti

Kind Regards

Emma, Maja and Annemarie

Last updated: 29 May 2023
7 sitters have applied for this assignment

Enlarge map

Testimonials

This member hasn't got any testimonials yet.