u/Wrong-Rush-6584

Hey fellow cleaners, to start I have a condition called POTS & also SVT which make me dizzy and sick feeling quite often. I push through but working a standard job wasn’t feasible anymore so I started pet sitting. This led to a pet sitting client hiring me as their house keeper once every two weeks. I’ve since picked up another cleaning client but truthfully it is physically taxing with my condition I just need some income. (EDIT: we’re in NC)

The first cleaning client has been a problem from the start but I’ve made a lot of excuses for her and assumed I was being dramatic. I don’t get paid fairly imo (not sure if I’m allowed to say the amount here). (EDIT: 100 for the three hours) Every time I come in her house is a disaster. It’s just two people: the client and her husband & two cats. No kids. I myself have 15 rescue cats at the moment and my house has never been this messy.

Every surface will have food crumbs, grime, and clutter. Dishes will be stacked up across the kitchen counters and dishwasher will be full. She wants me to declutter first every time which can take up to an hour depending on how bad it is that day. Minimum 30 min. She also wants me to do the dishes. Which would be fine if it weren’t so many. The toilets will have feces all over them, even down the front. Bathroom counters will be just as bad as the main house. (EDIT: we’re also expected to do the pet room & clean up two weeks worth of cat pukes from various surfaces) She expects me to get it done in 3 hours.to get it done in that time frame I often have to bring my partner along with me.

It should’ve been a red flag but when she asked me to take over housekeeping she said that ‘for some reason’ her last few cleaners would just stop showing up or wouldn’t go through their whole checklist etc. I see why they dropped her and never replied now but I’m in deep.

I’m appreciative of the extra income. Where I’m frustrated and ready to quit and/or set boundaries is: she’s now asked me to complete the clean before noon every time. That may be easy for others but with my conditions I need a lot of time early in the day to get my body right before I can do the work. Any time I do heavy work before 10 am I end up sick for days. I don’t know WHY it’s just how my body functions. I told her when I started that I cannot start earlier than 10am; aside from my conditions my partner works a very late shift and wouldn’t be able to help before that time AND we have so many rescue animals that need morning meds & treatments.

Would I be in the wrong to say no and back out of cleaning for her if we can’t come to an agreement? I don’t usually set boundaries, it’s something I get lectured about from my friends and family. I let people take advantage of me and I’m working on that. But with this being a client and I’m staff I’m unsure if I even have a right to say no?

So my eldest cat has been having bathroom issues and we tried everything we could first but eventually had to give into the vet’s recommendation: laxatives in her food daily. MiraLAX.

I used to take insane amounts of laxatives every day during the height of my ED. That was my purge method.

To monitor her bowel movements we have to isolate her to our main bedroom & bathroom with her own litter box. I feel like there’s a loaded gun on my nightstand, just staring at me. But it’s been a few weeks and I haven’t even tried. I haven’t let the scooper slip into my water or coffee. I haven’t felt any temptations. Just mild anxiety.

If this were three years ago I would be down a dark path already, uncontrollably. I’m sharing here because my boyfriend is supportive but doesn’t understand my random celebratory dances when I dose her food in the evenings and put the cap back on without even considering taking it.

Since the darkest of dark times I went from scary skinny for my frame, then gained a lot of weight because my body had gone through so much in 10 years, then recently started losing it naturally with proper nutrition and exercise. Building muscle and being capable. And now to have my nemesis next to the bed without giving in….. I finally feel like it’s in the past.

My partner and I rescue cats together and have different shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. In our 10 years of doing this we have had super sweet, clingy, cuddle bug female AND male cats. All different coat colors. It seems to depend on the individual personality more than anything.

A close friend of mine wanted to adopt one of our newer kittens but her boyfriend shot it down the moment he found out all of our kittens were girls. He then went on to say (with conviction) that girl cats are too crazy and evil and he will only ever allow male cats or male animals in his home. My friend sees nothing wrong with her boyfriend’s opinion and I may have really upset her by saying it felt misogynistic and she got defensive.

But we’re all cat people here: do you see THAT BIG of a difference in genders and their personalities? I’m typing this while my female cat / love of my life is sitting on my lap and she’s been purring and staring lovingly at me for an hour so maybe I’m just bias.

Hey guys! I’m feeling awkward about a long overdue & necessary vet appointment with a client. Normally in this situation I would give this suggestion without second thought. But I’m very close with this client and she always seems like a nervous wreck about her dog. She is a relative but by marriage and it’s a recent marriage. So I don’t know her super well but her husband has always been my ‘uncle’ even though he’s actually a cousin. His daughter and I were like sisters growing up.

She (client, ‘aunt’ by marriage) is verrrrry obsessive about her mini Australian shepherd. The dog has a lot of anxiety, I truly think it’s because of how she is / treats him though. He doesn’t have all of that nervous energy with me when I’m boarding him for an extended period of time. But the real issue is his teeth. She’s mentioned before that she needs to do something about his teeth and ‘can’t figure out why he’s always licking and smacking his mouth’. This has been said a few times over the 2 years I’ve been watching the pup. She mentioned a recent surgery so I just assumed that she had finally taken care of it. Especially with how crazy/picky she is about the dog.

The last time I watched him, less than a week ago, he yawned and I finally got a good look at his teeth. They were AWFUL. Stomatitis & plaque built up so bad it’s overtaking his gums entirely on both sides of his mouth. It’s THICK. His breath smells like rotting flesh & poop. This poor dog must be in SO much pain.

I want to tell her that at this point he needs a major dental surgery, & probably most of his teeth removed with how long it’s built up. But she is a little difficult to talk to sometimes and I genuinely do not want to ruin our relationship because of the familial connection as well as how much I do like her pup and he’s the only one I am willing to board. He’s so polite, well behaved, and LOVES all of my rescue cats. But I can’t stand thinking about his pain. We took in a cat with stomatitis and she was miserable until her surgery it was hard to watch.

How would you guys go about it in this situation?