u/Henry_Percival

Hey everyone I apologise if this has been asked countless times. I am new to the THS and its subreddit and had a quick scroll to see if it was a common problem.

I used to be paid to cat sit on sites like Cat in a Flat and Rover. I am now the cat owner and have just come back from my first trip away, using someone from THS.

I was wondering how much communication is reasonable when away for about 2 weeks or just generally when you have a pet?

As a sitter I am used to giving twice a day updates with images. I realise this may be a lot to ask someone who is holidaying in my home. I am also used to giving information to show the pet is happy (or will disclose if it's nervous) such as litter use, appetite, playfulness, etc. because it is a living creature and os experiencing changes to it's environment.

The sitter I just had was extremely sparse on details, and I frequently had to ask for updates after a day and a half with no updates in-between. My friend who I was travelling with said she would only expect an update if something went wrong. So we're on different ends of the expectation spectrum.

I was just wondering what's reasonable to ask for? At the beginning of the sit I definitely asked for daily updates, and did not receive these. I don't know how to review the person without seeming rude or being too critical. So I wanted advice before making a review, and also to temper my future expectations, and to learn to ask sitters what they are comfortable with. I want to be transparent but also be a good HO for people to deal with.

In the last year there has been a significant increase in gelaterias here in Edinburgh. Yesterday I saw a newish one just a few doors down from Alandas on George IV Bridge. There's a few on Royal Mile and I see an Amorino is coming to South Bridge.

Don't get me wrong I love a gelato, but I don't associate Scotland with balmy warm weather where you're aching for something cold to eat. I was just wondering if this is the new barbershop/money laundering front. Or am I super cynical?

I love Alandas and Mary's Milk bar because they feel local and have been the token ice cream places around town. My worry is they will be drowned out by all these new ones, some of which are chains.

Thoughts?

Hiya all. I was wondering if anyone has advice for replacing a front door in a tenement stairwell? I do own the flat.

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I would like a panelled wooden door. At the moment it's a very sad smooth panel of wood and a recent handyman has damaged it.

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Based off an older post asking the same question I was wondering if there's rules about it needing to be a fire door?

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I am contacting Holyrood Architectural Salvage but at the moment they don't seem to have the dimensions I need (it's weirdly narrower than the norm). But those doors are obviously not fire doors.

Heya everyone, hope this is the right place to post about this. I was just looking for advice, and maybe managing expectations.

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I had cats my whole childhood, they literally came off the street and we kept them. So I never thought about how hard it is to adopt a cat. Now I am living in the UK and finally have my own home. It's a flat so it's indoor only. I keep seeing on the news how cat shelters are bursting at the seams and there's too many cats to take it. I see thousands of Instagram reels about the cat distribution system and how they just show up.

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I cannot, for the life of me, find a cat to adopt. Every shelter I have called in my city only has outdoor cats. They won't let me have one. I tried looking on sites to buy one but people never respond. I got a bit desperate and followed an ad on Gumtree but when I got to their house it was a very dodgy experience, the cat wasn't there but they had a ton of fresh kittens.

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Why is it so hard to get a cat? How long could the search take?

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I just want an adult cat to become my little buddy and it seems impossible.

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Any advice?

EDIT: I am based in Scotland. I also don't use Facebook but all the comments are suggesting I do that. I didn't expect cat adoption to be Facebook-dependant.

Is having a cat flown from other countries really necessary when there are allegedly so many in the UK who need help already?

Thanks for the advice!