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Meowtel accepts all major credit and debit cards. Your payment method will be charged only when the sitter accepts your reservation request. Until they do, you may see a pending charge on your statement.

If the sitter declines your request or fails to respond to your request within 24 hours, the request will be canceled and the pending charge will be removed from your banking activity.

Your Meowtel account balance can be refunded back to your original payment method from your Transactions screen.

Meowtel accepts payment for reservations and all related transactions via a registered user's Gift Card Balance ("Balance"). The Balance can be reloaded via any major debit or credit card at the time of sending in a reservation request. In the event a reservation is canceled and meets the requirements of our Cancellation Policy, the reservation amount will be automatically credited back to the account's Balance.

General Terms & Conditions:

-Balances can be applied to reserve a sitter or tip a sitter.

-Balances are non-transferable and can be refunded back to a customer's original payment method from their Transactions screen.

We have a Trust & Insurance/Platform fee of 8.25%, rounded up to the nearest $0.25, applied on a per-visit basis.

This fee helps us provide comprehensive insurance coverage for your cats and property, as well as ensure prompt support from a real person. Learn more about our premium cat sitting insurance and the Meowtel Promise for eligible reservations.

Due to high demand during holidays, our sitters can set their own holiday price increase, which can be found on their profiles in the rates section. If your reservation falls within three (3) days before or after a federal holiday, or on the holiday itself, you may see a holiday surcharge applied to your reservation.

For fees specific to California, please refer to Meowtel Fees in California.

Due to high demand during holidays, Meowtel sitters have the option to set their own holiday price increase, which can be found in the rates section of their profiles. If your reservation falls within three (3) days before and/or after a federal holiday, or on the holiday itself, a holiday surcharge, determined by your sitter, will be added to your reservation.

These are the date ranges in 2025 to which the holiday surcharge applies:

1. January 1-4: New Year's 2025
2. January 17-23: MLK Day
3. February 14-20: President's Day
4. May 23-May 29: Memorial Day
5. June 16-22: Juneteenth
6. July 1-7: July 4th
7. August 29-September 4: Labor Day
8. November 8-14: Veteran's Day
9. November 24-30: Thanksgiving
10. December 22-28: Christmas
11. December 29-31: New Year's 2026

To apply a coupon code to your reservation, click on the "Do you have a gift card or coupon code?" option during the checkout process on the Payment screen. Then, simply enter the coupon code in the text field, and click “Apply”.

When the reservation ends, log in to your Meowtel account and go to your My Reservations tab (or simply Reservations on the mobile app). Click on "Details" on the reservation card, and then click the button that says "Send Sitter a Tip" and choose the desired amount you would like to tip your sitter. Please double check the tip amount to ensure accuracy, and know that your sitter always keeps 100% of the tip!

Meowtel charges based on the duration of each in-home visit. Every visit includes feeding, a water refresh, litter box cleaning, playtime, and medication administration (if applicable).

For households with three (3) or more cats, we require that you book a minimum 45-minute visit, for one visit per day. Alternatively, if you book two visits per day (AM and PM), 20-minute visits can be arranged.

Here are our recommended visit durations depending on your situation:

Overnights are always a wonderful option for any household. An overnight lasts for about 12 hours in the client's home and is more than enough time to provide great care to any number of cats. Therefore, a sitter should not charge any additional fees for extra cats during an Overnight.



Only the cats listed on the reservation are insured and guaranteed care*. 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.

*Only eligible reservations qualify for the Meowtel Promise.

If we identify that a sitter-customer agreement was made outside of Meowtel, we may deactivate your account and the sitter's account, with or without notice.

Always report outside payment requests to us by sending an email to [email protected] or calling/texting 1-844-MEOWTEL.

Once logged into your Meowtel account, please navigate to your My Reservations screen (or simply Reservations on the mobile app). Find the reservation that you’d like to cancel, click on Details, and then Cancel Reservation. Once you do so, your sitter and you will receive confirmation emails about the cancelation. Please be sure to review our Cancelation Policy here.

It’s important to note that reservations must be canceled from your Meowtel account, and you can do this while logged in to our website or mobile app. Meowtel sitters are unable to initiate cancelations from their end. If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to our Bellhop at 844-MEOWTEL (1-844-636-9835) or via email at [email protected].

Due to California's unique legal landscape, Meowtel has a different fee structure for cat sitters and cat parents in California.

Customers in California are charged two service-related fees:

1. A 30% service fee, which is already included in the display rate you see in search results and sitter listings.
2. A Trust & Insurance/Platform fee which is 8.25% rounded up to the nearest $0.25, on a per-visit basis.

These fees help Meowtel operate our cat-centric community, including working hard to improve the experience for all of our users. They also help cover benefits such as:

1. Vetting and supporting the highest quality cat sitters to service our customers.
2. Providing comprehensive insurance coverage for your cats and property, as well as ensuring prompt support from a real person through our Meowtel Promise.
3. Building trust & safety into our experience for both customers and sitters.

Yes, we offer digital Meowtel gift cards! You can purchase one securely here, where you'll be asked to provide the recipient's name and email for delivery.