Such a shame. They have taken a fantastic app that worked brilliantly for sitters and pet owners and absolutely ruined it. This company (Rover) is aimed at dog sitting and dog walking. They’ve adapted absolutely nothing in order to adapt it to cats. In particular the following changes have been put into place (from the old app) which are dreadful:

1. You need to select particular times - this is often irrelevant for cat sitting. The previous app allows you to select once or twice a day visit. This worked absolutely fine.
2. They cannot adapt pricing for multiple animals and multiple visits so the calculations are ridiculous and need to be adjusted behind the scenes by the cat sitter offering extra admin and confusion for owners because it looks like the prices have doubled or tripled from Cat in a Flat. CIAF sitters do not charge double their fee for looking after two cats in one place.
3. Rover now take payment at the point of booking. This is the point that I find the most appalling. The previous app allowed you to make a booking and pay three days before to secure it. This worked fine. Now you cannot secure the booking without payment, and this is often months in advance. Rover claim that this is to allow for 'better security' for the pet sitter but that is nonsense because they still don’t get paid until three days after the sit. Where is my money? They must be making a fortune off this.
4. Their attitude on social media has been totally shit. There has been no client or customer consultation and the announcements have gone down extremely badly. Responses are copied and pasted without addressing real concerns. I do not know anyone that is happy with this transition.
5. The 'suggested cat sitters' brings up ridiculous suggestions that are miles away. I’ve been using the same two people for the last three years and they do not even appear on my radar or suggested list. I have to book them by going into previous bookings. Why aren’t they listed and how is this affecting their new clients? I do not want a cat sitter who lives 5 miles away nor I suspect they would be willing to drive 5 miles to come and feed and play with my cat for 20 minutes.

Please could somebody create a new app for car owners that is back to the normal version of Cat in a Flat because you would be inundated with customers.

Really sad that this lovely app was sold to such an absolutely dreadful company who clearly do not care about cat owners. Like many others I’m exploring how I can make private arrangements with my lovely cat sitter and not give money to this absolutely dreadful company.

Avoid.

THIS IS NOT A CATSITTER WEBSITE

What the hell is going on with my CAT in a flat profile asking me to sign up to Rover? And complete a new account for something to do with dogs?? Of all the mergers…
It tried to charge me for a cancelled booking, deleted or changed the profilesof my cat’s friends (his 2 fave sitters). Dodgy, and took 3 emails to confirm they won’t try and charge me again.
Anyway, before this I have had the best experience with Cat in the Flat - like I mentioned, my elderly antisocial rescue made friends with 2 awesome sitters. Their patience, love and genuine care meant I was happy to book either over the platform.
No longer, I’ll just reach out directly to arrange.

The shafted Catsitters should set up a new website - cat parents will follow them!

I have been a cat owner on Catinaflat for 5 years. We go away 4 times a year for between 1 to 3 weeks at a time. I used to love the app. I found several sitters on it over the years and all have been reliable. I just tried to rebook my current usual sitter for 2 weeks this summer and found that her fees had jumped from £14 per visit to £21 per visit. So I had a more thorough look at the new terms and conditions and it seems that I would also have to pay for the whole catsitting right away rather than the day before as was the case previously. Also, during a catsitting I always communicate with the sitter via whatsapp and apparently that is not allowed anymore. For all these reasons, the Catinaflap app is no longer fit for purpose. So I contacted the catsitter on whatsapp and asked if she would consider taking the catsitting outside the app, which she was happy to do, for £14 per visit. She is also leaving the platform as she has many regulars that will happily follow her. It is a real shame because I did like the security booking through Catinaflat provided.

Bis vor kurzem war ich grosser Fan von Catinaflat und als Sitterin aktiv. Nach der Übernahme von Rover ist meine Motivation stark gesunken Sitting anzubieten. Rover verkauft die neuen Optionen als Sicherheit, ich sehe es eher als permanente Überwachung.

Fixierte Zeitvorgaben, bei "Besuch" einstempeln, Besuch wird getrackt, Kommunikation nur über die unübersichtliche App... wenn ich nicht schon neue Aufträge hätte, würde ich die App wohl sofort abschalten.
Catinaflat hatte Timeslots, basierte stückweise auf Vertrauen - das hat prima funktioniert aber nun ja, Rover hat Catinaflat "kaputt gemacht" :-(
Eine liebevoll gestaltete App für Vermittlung, welche auf Vertrauen basierte wurde in eine dienstleistungsorientere unübersichtliche App die KI gesteuert ist umgemünzt.

Der Kundendienst bemüht sich, scheint aber mit der Migration total überfordert.

Je croyais avoir trouvé un super service pour faire garder mes chats, mais depuis le rachat de Rover, les prix ont simplement explosé ! Cat In a Flat était clair dans ses prix, je n'étais pas obligée de payer des suppléments à droite à gauche qui font gonfler la facture artificiellement. D'autant qu'un de mes chats est un véritable fantôme, timide et ne joue pas. Il est clair que la visite réservée n'est pas pour lui, il en n'a pas besoin, mais pour la médication de mon autre chat malade chronique. J'aurais donc aimé continuer payer par visite et non pas chat ! Tant pis, je regarderai ailleurs pour les faire garder.

An absolute shambles now they have merged with Rover. They have completely ruined everything that was brilliant about Cat in a Flat. Through the old CIAF booking system my sitter was £14 for 1 visit in a day and £17 for 2 visits in a day. I’ve tried to book again for 1 day, 2 visits and the new system does not allow for the discounted 2nd visit. The price is now £28. That’s a 60% increase.

With the merge, they have failed to acknowledge that cats and dogs are very different and don’t require the same level of care. Selecting timed visits, and not allowing sitters to discount a second visit for cats is ridiculous.

I’ll be doing everything I can to find a family member/friend or neighbour to drop by to feed our cats instead.

Seriously, do better, how on earth can you state on your website “Your Cat in a Flat experience just got better!” when it’s gotten significantly worse, terrible app UI and far more expensive.

It was a great app, but has now transitioned with Rover. I can no longer access my account, and I have upcoming bookings for my pets on there. I have emailed them twice for support to gain access to my account with no response still so far.. Absolute Shambles! I also use Rover and it has very high booking fees, which Cat in the Flat didn't used to have. I used to recommend Cat in the Flat to everyone, but will no longer be using it or recommending it. Very disappointed.

Was good until it transferred to Rover and the site is horrendous

I have first joined CIAF in 2017. Met many great local sitters and I feel heart broken that I will have to leave the platform as can't justify the hike in costs since merger with Rover. To give an example booked a lovely cat sitter for a week over Easter half term at a cost of £221, to repeat the booking with same cat sitter for same amount of days and visits would cost over £400! Absolute disgrace and pure greed! Needless to say I will not be using CIAF ever again!
Shame on you CAIF! I hope the management can sleep well at night knowing they destroyed a community that provided valuable service to pet owners and most importantly the furry clients.

I have been a sitter and user of Cat in a Flat for 5 years and used to recommend this to all my friends. It had a pretty simple user experience and was really reliable. Recently CIAF merged with Rover, who are a primarily dog sitting app owned by a private equity firm. If the words private equity don't immediately give you an idea of what the state of this business might be, look it up - it's an interesting and depressing read. After the merge, CIAF users are forced to shift to a different UI - with more options but not including all previous functionality, less suited for catsitting as the defaults are all dog sitter focused, and not intuitive for users at all. On top of that, the fee system is completely different so now making bookings is more complicated for both the sitter and client in comparison to past process, and everyone pays higher fees to Rover. It's not a good experience and I feel awful for anyone who used CIAF as their main/predominant source of income as this will drive loads of cat owners elsewhere

I left, but my 70 year old mom uses it.
I am her IT helpdesk and can say the recent updates are confusing!!!
I cannot make head nor talk of her setup and how to help her use it anymore.
I will be suggesting she consider a different platform because she is already digitally insecure - and now needs to deal with this - feeding cats!!!
Its ridiculous

Vor der Übernahme von Rover war die App mega und ich war vollsten zufrieden. Doch leider sind nun die Stornierungsgebühren und auch Servicegebühren erhöht worden. Sorry, ich werde mich dann anderweitig orientieren. Die Erfinder von Cat in a Flat hatten seit Beginn etwas ganz tolles ins Leben gerufen, nur leider mit Rover nun total kaputt gemacht. Schade, es tut mir auch für die Sitter leid, da vermutlich einige Kunden sich anderweitig orientieren.

Not sure what’s happened to this app recently. I’ve used it for the past year and it was great, but now key features like filtering visit frequency are gone, there’s an extra 15% fee, and prices seem higher overall.

The app is also harder to navigate and no longer user-friendly. Unfortunately, I won’t be using it again.

5 stars for the old version tho

I’m a long time sitter and customer on CIAF. Only a few weeks ago, I would have given a glowing review and five stars.

Following the mess with the merger, I have am now no longer taking new bookings on this site and will be closing my account after honouring existing bookings. As for my greatly valued clients that I have been working with for years, they will be coming with me to my private cat sitting business. :)

I am actually hopeful that this will work out well for me, but I genuinely feel sad when I think about the negative consequences of this merger on cat care. Clients may cut corners as services are now prohibitively expensive.

Lost message notifications, massively hiked fees, a lack of transparency for clients, payment issues, a weird website mostly tailored to dogs, AI responses to reported issues… I can only assume that the service does not care about the living creatures that we look after, the cat sitters or the owners, and was instead focused on removing competition from the new platform.

I can’t wait until I have finished my remaining bookings, so that I will no longer be associated with this app.

Leider ganz schlecht bei uns….
Sitter gebucht und diese auch bestätigt bekommen. Dann eine Woche vor dem Urlaub abgesagt.
(natürlich rechtzeitig um keine Entschädigung zu erhalten).
Zweite Buchung und Anfrage bestätigt.
Der Sitter ist dann zum ausgemachten Kennlern-Termin gar nicht erst erschienen (sicherheitshalber auch Profil gelöscht (und ja, war eines mit durchaus positiven Bewertungen)).
Vielen Dank an die Plattform, das wir jetzt überlegen müssen, unseren Kurzurlaub auszusagen.

As a cat sitter of 8+ years, it's heart breaking to see that greed and rushed implementations have literally destroyed one of the best communities we've built over the years through the Cat in a Flat pool of wonderful people.
The merger is now putting a stop to this as prices are soaring, the structure of fees is insane, the interface is busy, confusing and dog-centric, and yet, a lot of the functionality of previous pricing flexibility has been lost.
Service has gone down and I have had 0 bookings over the bank holiday period.
Phenomenal failure.

Habe mein Konto als langjähriger und sehr gut bewertete Sitterin gelöscht. Das ist nicht mehr Catinaflat

I have been a cat sitter on CIAF for over 3 years and loved it! I have kept it small with 5-7 regular clients and built up a continuous 5* feedback rating. Since the move to Rover, the platform has been plagued with issues - clients are being charged more, I never charged holiday rates before but my profile now states I do and I can't change it. The nonsense about having to do all communications via the app is a pain and visits are expected in 30 min increments. I get that CIAF may want to expand in Europe etc but they have sold their soul to Rover, which is geared up more for dogs. Well that clue is in the title after all. Cats are just an after thought there. Thank you CIAF but this is not for me.

Cela faisait 4 ans qua j'utilisais ce service mais visiblement ils viennent de se faire racheter par un groupe et les tarifs sont devenus horriblement chers.
700 € pour venir nourrir 1 fois par jour 2 chats pendant 2 semaines soit 36€ la demi-heure de visite.
Le taux horaire d'un cadre sup' du CAC 40...

I’ve been with Cat in a Flat for over three years and it’s incredibly disappointing to say that the recent merger with Rover has been such a disaster for all of us!

For a start, the increase in commission from 19% on CIAF to 30% feels excessive and makes it very difficult to justify continuing financially. Not only that, but CIAF would take the 19% off myself, but now both myself AND the cat owner are charged 15% - that is just pure greed. I don believe the owners should have to pay commission on top of the sitting fee.

Secondly, the platform itself also isn’t well suited to cat sitters, it feels overly complex and largely geared towards dog services. Not only that but when looking for sitters for my cat I am shown sitters up to 30 miles away for my top five matches, make that make sense!

I’m also concerned about the payment structure, with owners charged well in advance while sitters are only paid after bookings are completed - what on earth happens to that money? The previous set up where owners payed the day before sittings started made much more sense.

I take no pleasure in leaving this review but it is genuinely disappointing to see such a valued platform change in this way. I hope feedback is taken on board, improvements are made and fees are reconsidered - if so, I would consider returning in the future.

For now I will honour my existing CIAF bookings but I will be leaving once complete which is disappointing for not just myself, but my loyal owners too.