Cat Sitting Instructions for Soba and Laksa

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Hello,

Thank you for agreeing to look after our cats Soba and Laksa. Kindly see their care instructions below. Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us via Whatsapp.

Arrivals & departures

Deb and Janik

  • Arrive Monday, 29 September for breakfast (arriving around 8am)
  • Leave Friday, 10 October any time after 7:30am breakfast.

Lawrence

  • Arrive in time for Monday, 13 October breakfast at 7:30am.
  • Leave any time after Tuesday, 21 October 5:30pm dinner. We return Wednesday, 22 October around 7am.

Ate Silvia/Kuya Homer & Ate Johanna/Raul

  • Dropping by for meals on 10-12 October.
  • It’s ok to be about 1hr early or late to meals
  • If you have time, the cats would be so happy with play time with a wand toy before their meal

Ate Silvia/Kuya Homer meal times:

  • Friday, 10 October dinner 4-7pm (special times for this day only)
  • Saturday, 11 October breakfast 7.30am
  • Sunday, 12 October breakfast 7.30am

Ate Johanna/Raul meal times:

  • Saturday, 11 October dinner 5.30pm
  • Sunday, 12 October dinner 5.30pm

Front door: Entering & leaving

  • Soba and Laksa are indoor-only cats.
  • When entering, lead with your foot to prevent them from dashing outside.
  • If returning home after a while, close the door behind you and go to the kitchen first to give them a snack (Greenies). This teaches the cats to follow you to the kitchen instead of running out the front door. Say ‘Sit’ and when both are sitting, say ‘Good job’ and immediately place a treat on the floor in front of each cat.
  • Keep external doors closed to prevent cats from running outside. If having guests over, see our Having Guests over section below.
  • If you need to leave the front door open for long periods, place the cats in the kitchen area with both sliding doors closed. For example, until all guests have arrived or when you need to bring in lots of shopping/groceries.
  1. Wake the keypad by touching it.
  2. Enter your PIN: type the 4–12 digit PIN when all buttons are visible.
  3. Press the Tick button (bottom left) to complete—the door will unlock if the PIN is correct. You may leave the screen door unlocked.

Housesitter responsibilities: Quick checklists

Daily responsibilities

  • Feed breakfast and dinner
  • Check water fountains are working

Weekly responsibilities

  • Roll out bins on Monday nights
  • Replace cat litter bin bags (best on Monday)
  • Top up litter sand if needed
  • Water plants
  • For Deb/Janik: run a cleaning cycle for the coffee machine with the silicone disc (20s x 5)

Soba and Laksa’s meal routine

Please watch:

  • Feeding Times: 7:30am and 5:30pm each day. It’s ok to occasionally be off by about an hour depending on your schedule.
  • Playtime (optional): 5–10 minutes before each meal with a wand toy(s).
  • Food: Measure dry food (from the pantry) and wet food (from the fridge). Follow the measurements labeled on the dry container.
  • Scale: Turn off the scale by pressing tare (the button to make it zero) twice. If it runs out of battery, you’ll find batteries in the bottom drawer (same drawer as cling wrap and foil).
  1. Bring both bowls of food to the feeding area.
  2. Say “Sit” once. Avoid repeating the command.
  3. Once both are sitting, place bowls down.
  4. Hold Laksa back (she doesn’t know ‘stay’ yet) using one or both of your arms to block her from her bowl.
  5. If Soba tries to eat before your signal, gently block him with your arm and say “No” firmly.
  6. Wait for Soba to sit and make eye contact with you. Then say “Good job” to signal that he and Laksa can start eating. Hint: I use my left hand to block Laksa while I look at Soba and wait for him to make eye contact.
  7. Laksa eats from the left bowl, Soba eats from the right bowl.
  8. Stop any attempts to eat from each other’s bowl (Soba may do this when he’s finished his bowl). If all food is eaten, licking each other’s empty bowls afterward is fine.

Cat 101 & discipline guidelines

  • If either cat bites (even gently), say “No” firmly, then leave them alone and ignore them for a few minutes.
  • If a cat bites you while on you, say “No” firmly, place them down, and ignore them.
  • If you see either cat on the benchtop or dining table, say “No” firmly. If they don’t jump down, gently place them on the floor. Laksa is untrained and will need to be gently picked up and placed on the floor.
  • Make sure no uncovered food or dirty dishes are left out. Place dirty dishes face down in the sink or directly into the dishwasher to avoid them getting sick or tempted.
  • If you’re cooking or eating and either Soba or Laksa keeps repeatedly jumping up on the benchtop or dining table, you may move them out of the kitchen by closing both sliding doors.
  • Soba might want to sit on your lap while you’re eating at the dining table. This is fine, if you don’t mind it. Ensure Soba does not place his paws on the table or eat your food - say ‘No’ firmly and remove his paws if he tries. If he keeps trying, place him back down.

Soba

  • Soba enjoys forehead, cheek, chin, neck and ear scratches (basically his whole head and neck).
  • Soba loves being picked up and held.
  • Soba is very tolerant to long cuddles.
  • He dislikes tummy scratches and scratches on his bottom half.
  • Pay attention to body language to avoid bites. See the cat language cheatsheet section to help understand.

Laksa

  • Laksa loves to play, especially with wand toys and tinsel balls.
  • Laksa loves cheek, forehead and chin scratches.
  • If she’s standing, she adores butt scratches (her lower back above her tail).
  • She doesn’t like her tummy or paws being touched.
  • Pay attention to Laksa’s body language to avoid bites. See the cat language cheatsheet section to help understand.
  • She can be a bit restless when being picked up. If she is wriggling to get out of your arms, slowly place her down. Avoid letting Laksa jump out of your arms by holding her firmly. This will teach Laksa to wait for you to place her down.
  • You can lure Laksa in with a cooing baby voice. Laksa loves to gallop towards you from across the house when you say hello.
  • Feel free to say hi to her while she’s lying down, she loves getting head scratches.
  • Let Laksa come and go freely so she can trust you. She doesn’t mind being picked up for short periods but will let you know she’s done by wriggling and pushing away from you.

Soba and Laksa like to play fight each day - this is healthy. Sometimes they annoy each other while play fighting and that’s ok. Most fights are self-resolving and you don’t need to do anything.

Occasionally, Soba won’t leave Laksa alone after she’s had enough and he tends to play rough. If you hear Laksa screeching for more than about 15s because Soba is pinning her down and she can’t escape, a loud clap or a stern ‘No’ will snap Soba out of it and give Laksa a chance to escape. We hardly have to do this since they’re getting along better but they might act differently in our absence. If you find they are doing this often, play time can help release their energy and get them tired. For example, if this tends to happen after you go to bed then play time before bed can help.

Feel free to take a video and send it to us on WhatsApp if you’re unsure.

There are two ways to pick up a cat. Whichever way, key is that the cat feels supported. Support the chest and back legs.

Method 1:

  1. Scoop from under the chest
  2. Support the back legs keep the cat close to the body so it feels secure.
  3. To help them feel more secure, keep the cat horizontal level like (-) and less angled like ( \ ). or ( ~ ) See https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N2oAwgx5mCg to see how this is done.

Method 2:

  1. One hand under armpit
  2. Other hand under belly
  3. Lift cat and put their front legs over your shoulder/upper arm

1

Signs of irritation or bite-mode

These easy signs indicate a higher risk of biting due to irritation or hunting/playfulness. It’s best to avoid patting during this time:

  • diluted/big black eyes
  • airplane/flattened ears
  • whipping tail

Soba is highly tolerant even during this state, but Laksa has a higher chance of gently biting.

  • Don’t play with your hands or fingers. Always use a wand or toy instead. This is so cats will not view human hands as toys, greatly reducing the chance of biting and scratching.
  • Do not continue to give them attention (petting or playing with them) if they do something incorrect (going on top of a benchtop, any kind of bites, etc.).
  • Do not follow them around if cats try to escape. Always make sure they have a place to escape and are not cornered in.
  • Please do send some videos of them each day, even if they’re just lazying around.
  • You are free to give the cats treats to reward good behaviour like sitting or cuddling with you. It’s great for bonding. You can use Greenies found in their shelf in the pantry. We recommend the final treat for the day to be Greenies (e.g. just before you go to bed), it ‘brushes’ their teeth. If you give them a lot that day (e.g. >10 Greenies), consider reducing their dry dinner down from 20g to 15g.

The cats like to silently follow you around so be careful with unintentionally locking them into a room. For rooms without a cat door, check they’re not in the room before closing the door or simply leave the door open.

The following common items are toxic or fatal to cats:

  • garlic and onion
  • chives, leeks and shallots
  • lillies and tulips
  • chocolate
  • coffee
  • ibuprofen (NSAIDs), panadol and other medicines
  • rubber bands and hairties
  • essential oils

Always keep medicines out of reach - e.g. return tablets to their boxes immediately after use.

Avoid giving cats human food. This also prevents them from begging or stealing our food.

Occasionally Laksa or Soba might vomit out a bunch of fur (hairball). This is healthy and normal. You’ll hear them before they do it. You can quickly move them to the floor if possible, for easier cleaning.

Automatic devices

  • The cat litter box bin needs replacing once a week. Monday (day before bin collection) is a great time to do this. Bin bags are found in cabinet to the left of the litter box, top shelf in the red bag.
  • The litter sand sometimes needs topping up (about once a fortnight). Consider topping up if it’s 2 inches below the guiding line. Add sand to how much you think would flatten to the line. Then click ‘cycle’. Litter sand is found in the left cabinet, at the bottom.
  • The litter box light meanings: blue = ready; red = cat detected/litter used (will cycle in 7 minutes to allow time for sand to clump); moving white dots = cycle in progress. Any other lights may indicate an issue. You can let us know, we should also get notification on our phones to find the issue.
  • You may leave the air purifier on top of the washing machine on speed 1
  • If there are any messes outside of the box (rare), you can use disinfectant spray and wipes to clean.
  • There are two water fountains, located in the living room and the office.
  • Water should be freely flowing.
  • If blinking or intermittently spurting out water, kindly add more water.
  • Make sure at least one is running so that cats always have access to water.

Home

Take bins out on Monday nights for a Tuesday collection.

  • September 29 - we will take the bins out, you just need to roll them back in after Tuesday collection.
  • October 6 - red waste + green
  • October 13 - red waste + yellow recycling
  • October 20 - red waste + green
  • Wipe all spills immediately with a damp cloth. Simple water will do for cabinets and benchtops. If water doesn’t clean it, you could also dab a wet cloth with gentle dishwashing liquid found under the sink. Or for the stone benchtops, use the stone friendly spray found under the sink.
  • Do not put hot objects directly onto the stone bench. Use corks or chopping boards, or place onto the induction stove instead.
  • Be careful to avoid cabinet damage - for example, close doors immediately to avoid banging or bumping.
  • Rinse staining liquids and foods off the sink as soon as possible to avoid staining (e.g. coffee, red sauces, wine, soy sauce). For stubborn stains, you may scrub the sink with the dishwashing stick (not the harsh metal scrub).
  • Sit on bar stools properly to avoid toppling.
  • Laksa loves to scratch the sofa and velvet armchairs. To protect them from damage, please:
    • Keep the blankets covering the tops of the sofa.
    • Keep the cat tree and cat scratchers next to the main exposed parts of the velvet armchairs (usually the back and side)
  • Recliners: tuck the leg recliners back in to its original position before getting on and off the chair. This is because focusing your bodyweight onto the extended leg area of the recliner causes toppling and damages the hinges.
  • Vacuum is found in the laundry.
  • Use batteries in the laundry. These batteries can be charged if needed.
  • Batteries and charger are found on top of the washing machine but there should already be a charged battery in the vacuum.
  • Towels are found underneath the guest bathroom sink.
  • Help yourself to toiletries found in the guest bathroom.

Kindly scan the following with your mobile phone:

wifi QR code

  • Name: Wi-Fries
  • Pass: fluffyrice123
  • Desk & monitor Use: Feel free to use the desk and monitor in the office.
  • Connecting your laptop: There is a single black cable from the curved wide 34" monitor. Plug the USB-C cable from the Monitor directly into your laptop’s USB-C port. Wait a few minutes, the screen should automatically display, and the mouse and keyboard should automatically work.
  • Gaming: You are welcome to use our gaming accounts or log into your own.

Fireplace TV Use the small white remote to navigate the TV menu. The TV will start at volume 0, so you will need to pull the volume toggle button upwards to hear sound.

TV apps: Use the Stremio or Prime app for movies and TV shows. Feel free to use YouTube as well.

Casting to the TV from your laptop The TV is on a different network so you will need to connect to a different Wi-Fi network if you would like to cast anything. Ask Jeremy for details.

  • Alexa can turn lights on/off with voice commands.
  • Lights are configured by room:
    • Living room: “Turn on lights” will switch on all lamps.
    • Kitchen: “Turn on lights” will switch on the bench light, splashback, and sink light.
  • A common command we like to use a bedtime: “Alexa, turn off all the lights”.
  • If lamps are turned off manually, they disconnect from the internet, and Alexa cannot control them.
  • Shorts link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BqlXmq-OdXk
  • Use filtered water to refill the water tank. Do not exceed the max line. Do not run the machine on empty water.
  • The red flag will appear when the tray is full of water. Bring the tray to the sink and tip water into the sink. Briefly rinse the sink afterwards to avoid coffee stains.
  • For hot water, you can use either the coffee machine or the kettle found in the bottom drawer below the stove.
  • For Deb/Janik: please run a clean once a week using the grey silicone cleaning disc. I do 20 seconds x 5 times.

Aircon/heater & fireplace operation

  • All bedrooms have aircon and heaters with their own remotes. Each white remote is kept on a table in their bedroom. If it’s a hot day, you can leave them running on max with the doors open to cool the whole house. There is also a fan in the music room.
  • If you want to use the fireplace, there’s an On/Off switch located on the right-hand side of the facade.

Some window winders hit the metal screen. Press the metal screen forward to use the winders.

  • Kindly request guests to be mindful of the cats when entering and leaving the house. Remind them to avoid leaving the front door open for long periods of time. See Outdoor Safety section.
  • Kindly educate guests if they are violating any of the points in the Don’ts section
  • Feel free to move furniture around to accommodate additional seating.
  • There are about 12 additional foldable black seats in the outside shed.
  • There are also 2 foldable tables in the outside shed.

Vet details

Veterinary clinic

Hallam Park Animal Hospital - 03 8786 3900 https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZtvDbQaDBLorer2N9