Earn your place in the Meowtel Cat Sitter Community

Last updated: March 14, 2025:

The well-being of our community remains a top priority. While COVID-19 is no longer an active emergency, we’ve developed a 5-step checklist to help sitters and clients maintain safe and stress-free reservations by practicing general health precautions:

1. Meet & Greets: Clients and sitters can decide whether to meet in person or virtually based on comfort level and mutual preferences.
2. Conduct Meet & Greets with your sitter via FaceTime, Zoom, or Skype if you have keyless entry. In-person Meet & Greets may be conducted if both parties are comfortable doing so.
3. For the key exchange or in-person Meet & Greet, it is encouraged that both parties wear a face mask.
4. Sitters are not required to wear a face mask while making visits in the client's home, regardless of their vaccination status. Face masks do not need to be worn during overnight reservations either.
5. For the key drop-off, do the same as step 3.

If a sitter starts to feel ill while conducting a reservation and they are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, they should let you know immediately.

Please chat with your sitter before making a reservation to ensure both parties' expectations can be met and the reservation can be conducted safely. If you have any questions or need assistance with a safety plan for your home and for your kitties, please call or email The Bellhop.

When logged into your Meowtel account, go to My Cats. Here you can click on “Add more cats” on our website, or “Add a cat” in our mobile app, to ensure each cat is included, along with their pertinent care instructions.

If your reservation qualifies for The Meowtel Promise, only the cats listed on the reservation are guaranteed care, as well as covered by insurance. To ensure proper coverage, please list all cats in your home in your account and include them in your reservation. If a sitter arrives and finds unlisted cats, they will contact us to update the reservation, and we will follow up with you for confirmation.

Your cats’ profiles should include important details such as medication administration directions (including dosages and timing), feeding instructions, vaccination dates, and personality traits. The more information you provide, the better prepared your sitter will be in providing your cat(s) with the absolute best care while you’re away.

Prior to your reservation, please complete the Vet Release Form. This form allows your sitter to obtain veterinary care for your cat(s) in case of a medical emergency. Your sitter will provide a copy to your designated veterinarian to authorize emergency care if necessary. If you do not have a primary veterinarian, please indicate a preferred animal hospital or clinic near your home. We also recommend that you give your vet this completed form prior to your Meowtel reservation. In addition, you may wish to leave an authorized credit card with their office to keep on file in case emergency medical care is needed.

Please note, without a completed Vet Release Form, Meowtel sitters cannot legally transport your cat(s) for medical care.

We understand if you don't have your cat's vaccination records available right now. Just do your best to fill out the information as thoroughly as possible. You can always update this section later to ensure your sitter can provide the best care.

Once logged into your Meowtel account, head to your Reservations screen. Here you will have the ability to view all completed, canceled, in-progress and upcoming reservations. You can also modify or cancel an upcoming reservation.

While logged into your Meowtel account, you may update your home address on the My Information screen, making sure to select “Save my profile” at the bottom of the page.

Before booking a reservation, please ensure your home address, phone number, and email are up to date. Your contact information must be accurate to access your account and communicate with your sitter. A correct home address, including applicable unit or apt number, is imperative so your sitter can locate your home in a timely manner and provide essential care to your cat(s).

Log in to your Meowtel account, and you will see your Payment Methods screen. Here you may add, edit, or remove a payment method.

We’re sad to see you leave! To deactivate, please sign in to your Meowtel account. Scroll to the bottom and click on Deactivate/Delete account.

Please note: This process is for cat parent accounts only. If you’re a Meowtel cat sitter wishing to deactivate your account, please visit this page for more details, and/or send us an email at [email protected].

The Vet Release Form is an optional but highly recommended section of your account to complete before you travel. This form authorizes your sitter to take your cat(s) to your designated vet in the event of an emergency. Without this completed form, we cannot take your cat to an emergency hospital or vet clinic.

If you haven’t yet established care with a primary vet, we suggest doing a quick Google search to identify a local vet clinic where your sitter can take your cat(s) in case of an emergency. This step can save valuable time in a life-threatening situation—it's always best to be prepared as a cat parent!

In the event of an emergency, if your Meowtel sitter needs to take your cat(s) to the vet, they will need to be compensated for the additional time spent. Payment can be collected from your payment method on file, or you can choose to add it as a tip at the end of your reservation.

Recommended Compensation Guidelines:

1. For emergency vet visits* that last between 30-60 minutes, we recommend compensating the sitter at their 60-minute rate.
2. For emergency vet visits* that exceed one hour, compensation should be based on the sitter’s 20-minute rate, multiplied by each 20-minute increment of time spent on the visit. For example, if a sitter spends 2 hours (120 minutes) at the vet and their 20-minute rate is $25, the fair compensation would be: (120 minutes ÷ 20 minutes) = 6 x $25 = $150.

*Emergency vet visits include the commute time to and from the clinic, wait time, checkup time, and discharge time.