House smells can build up or become stale in the absence of people, so it depends on how much the actions of the cat sitter and cat affected the air when they were away.
Their house probably smells a little like what it does after their trip away, but not exactly.
Anecdotally, I remember coming home to a smell when we’d get back from holidays as a kid and it wasn’t the same smell as when I’d get home from school, even if I arrived to no-one else there.
Pets have odors, but it isn’t nearly as overwhelming if you are around it all the time. Sometimes houses have faint smells like a musty basement that are enough to ignore when around them all the time. Even residual smells from cooking can impact how a house smells!
Absence makes things the brain normally filters out noticeable again. Also going elsewhere with different smells can make home smells more noticeable. Heck, when I get back from trips sometimes the house smells wonderful because it smells like home!
When I was a kid and we got back after a week vacation the house definitely smelled weird. As an adult visiting my parents when they’re home it doesn’t have that smell. But if my parents are away and I visit the house, the smell is back. Weird, but I get it that the air can get stale, especially since it’s an old wooden house
House smells can build up or become stale in the absence of people, so it depends on how much the actions of the cat sitter and cat affected the air when they were away.
Their house probably smells a little like what it does after their trip away, but not exactly.
Anecdotally, I remember coming home to a smell when we’d get back from holidays as a kid and it wasn’t the same smell as when I’d get home from school, even if I arrived to no-one else there.
Pets have odors, but it isn’t nearly as overwhelming if you are around it all the time. Sometimes houses have faint smells like a musty basement that are enough to ignore when around them all the time. Even residual smells from cooking can impact how a house smells!
Absence makes things the brain normally filters out noticeable again. Also going elsewhere with different smells can make home smells more noticeable. Heck, when I get back from trips sometimes the house smells wonderful because it smells like home!
It’s known as olfactory fatigue.
When I was a kid and we got back after a week vacation the house definitely smelled weird. As an adult visiting my parents when they’re home it doesn’t have that smell. But if my parents are away and I visit the house, the smell is back. Weird, but I get it that the air can get stale, especially since it’s an old wooden house