Meow! How Can We Help?

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 a sitter declines your request or fails to respond to your request within 24 hours, the pending charge will be removed.

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, on a per-visit level.

This Fee helps us to provide comprehensive insurance coverage that covers your kitties and your property and allows us to provide speedy support from a real human. Learn more about our premium cat sitting insurance and our Meowtel Promise on eligible reservations.

Due to the high demand we see around holidays, our sitters have the option to set their own holiday price increase, which you can find on their profiles in the rates section. If your reservation's dates occur anytime 3 days prior to a federal holiday, on a federal holiday, or 3 days after a federal holiday, you may see a holiday surcharge added on to your reservation.

For fees specific to the State of California, please see Meowtel Fees in California.

Due to the high demand we see around holidays, our sitters have the option to set their own holiday price increase, which you can find on their profiles in the pricing section. If your reservation's dates occur anytime 3 days prior to a federal holiday, on a federal holiday, or 3 days after a federal holiday, you will see a holiday surcharge added on to your reservation.

Here are the date ranges for which the holiday surcharge applies in 2024:

1. January 1-4: New Year's 2024
2. January 12-18: MLK Day
3. February 16-22: President's Day
4. May 24-May 30: Memorial Day
5. June 16-22: Juneteenth
6. July 1-7: July 4th
7. August 30-September 5: Labor Day
8. October 11-17: Indigenous Peoples' Day/Columbus Day
9. November 8-14: Veteran's Day
10. November 25-December 1: Thanksgiving
11. December 22-28: Christmas
12. December 29-31: New Year's 2025

Here are the date ranges for which the holiday surcharge applies in 2025:

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

When the reservation ends, go to your "My Reservations" tab, 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. 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 3 or more cats, we recommend that you book at least a 45 minute visit if your sitter is stopping by once per day.

If you have 3 or more cats and you would like to book a morning and evening visit where each visit is 20 minutes long, please give us a call at 1-844-636-9835 so we can assist you.

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 encounters a household that did not accurately report the number of cats, the sitter will contact us to update the reservation and you will be charged accordingly.

*Only eligible reservations qualify for the Meowtel Promise.

Please visit your Account > Payment Methods> Add Payment Method

If you want to delete a card:

Please visit your Account > Payment Methods > Remove Card.

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 Reservations screen. Find the reservation that you’d like to cancel, click on Details, and then Cancel. Please be sure to review our Cancellation Policy here.

It’s important to note that reservations must be canceled through our website or app. Meowtel sitters are unable to initiate the cancellation directly. 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 Platform/Trust & Insurance fee which is 8.25% rounded up to the nearest $0.25, on a per-visit level.

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 premium insurance and speedy support from a real human through our Meowtel Promise
3. Building trust & safety into our experience for both customers and sitters