My parents, who live with us, insist we come home from our cottage, 7 hours away, to cat sit while they go on vacation. My husband and I have recently retired and started spending more time at our cottage, 7 hours from home. We are farmers and we move north as soon as the crops are planted and we return for the fall harvest which is determined by the weather. My parents live with us and they also want to take several weeks away in the summer which is perfectly reasonable. The problem is they have a cat and they insist we come home to look after the kitty when they go away. I've asked them to have someone come in or my son has offered to look after the cat at his house but they refuse either option. This year we are cutting our summer short to come home to look after their cat because my parents are going abroad for 3 weeks, same last year. I know it sounds selfish but I have health issues and maximizing my time at the place I love is important to me. My parents think we're being selfish because they "look after" the house while we're gone and they don't think it's asking too much for us to come home and cat sit. In reality, we would have no problem if they left for the whole summer. We've made arrangements for someone to cut the grass while we're gone so all they need to do is take out their own garbage and they are in no way obligated to take care of the house. We also have a cat and she lives happily with my daughter while we're away and our dogs come with us. H
I know these types. The pet is more important than you are. I kept my brother in law's sick old crazy dog for 6 weeks once while he went over seas. I insisted on a crate for him because he would destroy my home when I left. Brother in law didn't want to provide one but I insisted. He was a crazy dog and did a lot of damage, none of which my brother in law wanted to acknowledge.
Some people are nutty when it comes to pets.
BTW, I agree with your husband. Put him first. He probably doesn't ask that very often. You're under no obligation to inconvenience you and your husband in order to convenience them.
If they don't like it? They can ask your son. Or a neighbor. Don't let yourself be guilted into doing this unreasonable favor. THEY are being unreasonable.
You're welcome, Mr. Janner. ;)