Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here .

Dear Care and Feeding,

My husband and our two kids took a six week long vacation to Italy and had his parents housesit for us to avoid having to board our three dogs while we were away. When we came back, there was a terrible surprise waiting for us in the living room.

We came home to discover our leather family room couch set was gone and replaced by a cheap, tacky fabric one that looked like it came from Wal-Mart! I was furious and demanded to know what the hell had happened to our original one. My mother-in-law said that she and my father-in-law had found them “hot and uncomfortable.” They needed something more plush to sit on —and the replacement was “more pet-f

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