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Home health nurses can be a wonderful asset to make it possible to take care of loved ones in their own home, but just like anyone else, these nurses will all have their own little quirks.

What would you do if one of the nurses who visited your father-in-law was terrified of cats, but he had five of them, so every time she visited, you had to catch them all and lock them in another room, which was difficult.

That is the situation that the family in this story is in, and while they very much appreciate all the nurse does, they find her cat requirements to be very inconvenient, but they don’t know what they can do.

To me, it seems like asking the agency to assign someone else makes sense, as long as it is done properly. Read through the full story below and see what you think.

WIBTA: Home Health Nurse v Cats

Okay it’s not a huge problem, I just want to know if my annoyance is justified.

It is great that she is able to help out like this.

I (31f) take care of my FIL(82), he’s got a lot of health problems, most of which I can handle myself. However, he doesn’t want me to see him in the nude, and that’s fine, he’s still my father in law and he needs that boundary for comfort in our familial relationship.

He has a pressure sore on his butt, and because he doesn’t want me to look at his butt, his provider sends us a home health nurse who comes out to clean the wound (if it’s open) or just give it a look, put some cream and a patch on it. This happens three times a week.

Nurses are incredible.

I am so grateful for this service, it’s helped us in other major medical problems as well. We’ve had a ton of different nurses for different things.

This new nurse we were assigned, however, is so scared of animals. We have five cats. All very well behaved, lazy, friendly.

Accommodating the nurse does take work.

There’s no sure fire time, just windows of about three hours that they arrive in, minimal heads up outside of that. Every time this nurse comes, over I have to chase down all of the cats to make sure they’re not going to spook her.

She’s too scared to walk past them. I can’t leave them locked up in a room for hours if I have to run errands, take my grandparents to an appointment, ect.

The nurse’s fears are understandable.

And my FIL absolutely can’t do it himself, he probably couldn’t catch a single one of them.

I understand that she’s been bitten or chased by other cats in the past, and I feel for her because I know that causes real fear, regardless of the temperament of my cats.

Maybe this nurse is very selective on the assignments she takes on.

But I’m so irritated, no window today I just got a call when I was out of the house that she was going to be there in 15min, so I had to drop everything and head home to gather the cats before she got there.

How does she go to homes where someone might not have a caretaker, but they have a cat or a dog that they can take care of but not necessarily put away on their own?

This does seem like a reasonable request.

I find it super annoying. I want to ask her if she can just suck it up and walk past them or swap with another nurse.

I know they do routes though, like they cover an area so they can hit the most homes possible.

There is nothing wrong with asking the nurse to do this. Just make sure to do it in a polite and respectful way. If she declines, then it may be necessary to work with the agency to address.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Here is a comment from someone who has done home health care.

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It is surprising that they sent this nurse at all.

This commenter says asking for the agency to swap nurses should be no problem.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a kis who cooks and pays rent, so doesn’t think they should have to do the dishes, too.

Asking for another nurse is no big deal.

This is the simplest way to do it.

Asking the nurse to be more accommodating is not unreasonable.

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Author

Michael Levanduski

Senior Contributing Editor, Workplace & Community

Michael Levanduski is a veteran journalist and digital culture specialist with over 15 years of professional writing and research experience. While his background spans emerging technology and complex technical subjects, Michael specializes in analyzing workplace ethics, property disputes, and viral interpersonal dynamics across modern digital forums.

Since joining TwistedSifter in 2024, Michael has authored some of the publication’s most widely read coverage on corporate policy, malicious compliance, and neighborhood relations. Rather than simply aggregating online debates, he brings rigorous research, organizational context, and an empathetic editorial voice to everyday human dilemmas—transforming raw forum discussions into insightful, highly engaging narratives.

When he isn’t covering internet culture, Michael enjoys traveling, keeping up with tech trends, and spending time with his family. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn and Facebook.