Fee comparison

What the CiaF → Rover move actually costs

Real numbers. No rounding up. Sourced from Rover’s UK Help Centre, Trustpilot, and community reports.

On 31 March 2026, Cat in a Flat sitters lost access to their platform. On 8 April 2026, the site merged into Rover — with no mass email, no explanation of fee changes, and no way to carry your reviews across. Owners and sitters found out through Reddit and Facebook groups.

Here is what changed, in plain numbers.

Owner fees

Cat in a Flat

Booking fee	£1.50 flat (£4.90 for Amex)
Fee structure	Fixed flat — no percentage, no per-cat charge
Payment timing	Day before sit begins

Rover (after migration)

Booking fee	15% of booking total, capped at £49
Per-cat charges	Sitter discretion — routinely added, no platform standard
Payment timing	Upfront at booking confirmation — even months in advance

Real-world example

A week of twice-daily visits for 2 cats, sitter rate £150:

Cat in a Flat£151.50£150 + £1.50 flat fee

Rover£172–£350+£150 + 15% fee + per-cat surcharges

The 15% service fee alone adds ~£22 to a £150 booking. The larger figures (£200–£350+) reflect sitters adding per-cat rates and different visit structures that Rover’s pricing model encourages versus Cat in a Flat’s native 1x/2x daily visit pricing.

Sitter earnings

Cat in a Flat

Platform commission	19%
Join fee	Free
Payout timing	Completion of sit
Reviews on new platform	Yours — built on CiaF

Rover (after migration)

Platform commission	15% (5% for recurring)
Join fee	£24 one-time
Payout timing	2–7 business days after completion
Reviews on Rover	Wiped — starts at zero

Combined platform extraction

Cat in a Flat~19.8%of what the owner paid

Rover~26%+of what the owner paid

On a £150 sitter booking: Cat in a Flat took ~£30 total (19% sitter commission + £1.50 owner fee). Rover takes ~£45 (15% sitter + 15% owner), a 50% increase in platform extraction on the same booking.

What happened, and when

February 2024Blackstone completes $2.3B acquisition of Rover Group

October 2024Rover acquires Cat in a Flat — 50,000+ sitters across 9 countries

April 2025Rover acquires Gudog — signals wider European roll-up strategy

31 March 2026Hard deadline: CiaF sitters can no longer manage business via CiaF

8 April 2026CiaF site merges into Rover — no mass communication, no fanfare

8–9 April 2026App unusable 24+ hrs; private messages vanish; active bookings inaccessible

Despite 18 months between acquisition and migration, sitters received no mass email about fee changes, no warning that reviews would not carry over, and no explanation of pricing differences.

What we’re building

Purrtacular’s answer to every pain point

We designed the fee structure around what sitters and owners actually asked for. No percentage owner fee. No per-cat default. No reputation reset.

Item	Purrtacular
Owner booking fee	£2.50 flat — no percentage, no surprises
Sitter commission	12% — single-sided, no owner percentage
Join fee	Free
Payout timing	Within 24hrs of completion
Per-cat fee	Household pricing by default — opt-in, not default
Review history	Purr-Port: bring your CiaF history forward
Payment timing	24–48hrs before sit, not months in advance

Join before the platform opens.

Reserve your sitter profile via Purr-Port and bring your Cat in a Flat history with you. Or join as an owner and be first to access verified cat-only sitters in your area.

Join the waitlist

Sources: Rover UK Help Centre, Trustpilot (catinaflat.com + rover.com UK), Tech.eu, Bloomberg, Blackstone press releases, community reports (Reddit, Facebook groups). Data current as of April 2026.