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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.

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.