If you carefully read the listing, Kitsilano Heritage House is accurately described as a family friendly home - with cats - in a great neighborhood. The location is fantastic, and was all we had hoped for as a base to explore Vancouver. The house is cheerfully cluttered and clearly the home of a well-read and active family. Two of the bedrooms are definitely for kids - single beds and stuffed with toys. For two adult couples traveling together, this was not optimal, but our kind and responsive host Abi had clarified this with us. We knew someone would have to sleep in a bunk bed. Now, for the cats. As per the listing option, we requested that the cats be relocated during our stay as two of us are allergic to cats. Abi tried her best, but was unable to do so. She notified us a couple of days prior to our arrival that the cats would indeed be there. What ensued was a pet sitting nightmare. The cats needed to be fed canned food twice a day and kept inside at night - "or they will be eaten". EATEN??! That's a huge responsibility to give strangers paying to stay in your place. Have you ever tried to herd cats? These two would come in for food, eat, then try to get outdoors again. The aptly named "Treetop" escaped by jumping out a second story window the first night, and off a third story balcony the second night. Both nights I was awake until 1 AM trying to get Treetop inside. Meanwhile, affectionate Moonie was all over kitchen counters and dining room table or desperately trying to get into rooms with beds. This is definitely a pet-sitting situation with significant responsibility for the welfare of two perfectly nice cats
just being cats, but not what I had bargained for. I can only recommend this listing to highly responsible cat lovers willing to spend their evening hours in Vancouver herding cats.