Adventures in Cat-sitting

While we say this about everything, Gothamist thinks there's a movie in the NY Times real estate story about a Clinton Hill resident Nicole Davis trying to find a cat-sitter for her travel-phobic pet, Boris, while the owner was in Montauk learning to surf. After much searching (Were people scared of the G train? Are people too suspicious of a too-good-to-be-true deal of cat-sitting in exchange of living in an apartment?), Davis found fresh-faced college graduate, Andy Hart (a Hoosier), who was crashing at friends' apartment while looking for work, through Freecyle.org. Of course, in the movie, there'd be international intrigue, a kegger, an antique ring that Boris swallows, or attempting to walk Boris outside with a catleash, using him to meet the ladies. Gothamist found this happy tale rather heartwarming in that utterly New York looking-out-for-number-one way with Davis' assessment of the situation, "I hope Andy becomes my cat-sitter for the summer...I want him to find a job and be able to afford a place, but I don't want him to stop cat-sitting."

The photograph above is from Marilynn K. Yee's photos in the Times - there's an awesome slideshow of Davis and Hart describing Boris, finding a cat-sitter, and living in NY. And indeed, Boris looks "big-boned." When Gothamist catsits, we tend to call the owner and then put the phone up to the cat's ears, waiting for the cat's confused look. There is the option of cat kennels but they can get expensive. What are your tips for cat-sitting?