What type of questions do you ask when you're looking for a pet sitter?

What I'm hoping to find is someone to build a long term relationship with - I have a sick cat and am about to adopt an older cat, plus the two "kids" (young, healthy cats). They all eat wet food, but until getting the older cat we could leave dry food out and have my parents check on them every other day. With the older cat, we need someone to come and feed him wet food 2x a day (so might as well have the other cats fed, too). I'd like to have a steady person, you know?

Denise

What type of questions do you ask when you're looking for a pet sitter?

What I'm hoping to find is someone to build a long term relationship with - I have a sick cat and am about to adopt an older cat, plus the two "kids" (young, healthy cats). They all eat wet food, but until getting the older cat we could leave dry food out and have my parents check on them every other day. With the older cat, we need someone to come and feed him wet food 2x a day (so might as well have the other cats fed, too). I'd like to have a steady person, you know?

Denise

I'd be happy to help if you were closer, but I don't drive so I'll just throw some questions/topics out there for potential sitters:

1) Have you had cats?
2) Experience with special needs cats?
3) Willing to research and fully understand sick cat's problem indicators
4) CELL PHONE FOR EMERGENCIES
5) Transportation
6) Reliability
7) Flexible work/school schedule so that cats can be fed, given fresh water, and medicated in a timely fashion

Thank you! That's exactly the sort of conversation starter things I'm looking for!

With #4, do you mean give the sitter my cell phone NUMBER in case an emergency comes up? Just not sure what that one means.

Thanks again!

And where would you suggest that I look? I was thinking of asking my family vet for suggestions.

Denise


I'd be happy to help if you were closer, but I don't drive so I'll just throw some questions/topics out there for potential sitters:

1) Have you had cats?
2) Experience with special needs cats?
3) Willing to research and fully understand sick cat's problem indicators
4) CELL PHONE FOR EMERGENCIES
5) Transportation
6) Reliability
7) Flexible work/school schedule so that cats can be fed, given fresh water, and medicated in a timely fashion


-----------------------
Edited to add the bold word because I'm a doofus and apparently my brain is thinking faster than I'm typing today.

What type of questions do you ask when you're looking for a pet sitter?

What I'm hoping to find is someone to build a long term relationship with - I have a sick cat and am about to adopt an older cat, plus the two "kids" (young, healthy cats). They all eat wet food, but until getting the older cat we could leave dry food out and have my parents check on them every other day. With the older cat, we need someone to come and feed him wet food 2x a day (so might as well have the other cats fed, too). I'd like to have a steady person, you know?

Denise

I highly recommend Dee and George of Pawfessional Pet Care - Pawfessional Pet Care (http://www.inhomepetcare.com). We've been using Dee for about 10 years and she has always taken great care of my cats and dogs. Dependable, bonded, friendly and knowledgeable. She comes daily for my dogs and watches the cats when I have to travel. :yay:

Thank you! That's exactly the sort of conversation starter things I'm looking for!

With #4, do you mean give the sitter my cell phone in case an emergency comes up? Just not sure what that one means.

Thanks again!

And where would you suggest that I look? I was thinking of asking my family vet for suggestions.

Denise

No, I wouldn't give a sitter my cell phone, just make sure that he or she has one and you have the number. You'd want to be able to be contacted should one have to go to the vet for anything (god forbid).

I suppose you could post an ad in the classifieds on here. Professional would be a good way to go too if your interviewing results from the ad doesn't go well, like Tes' post.

Good luck! If I think of anything else to bring up I'll come back :)

No, I wouldn't give a sitter my cell phone, just make sure that he or she has one and you have the number. You'd want to be able to be contacted should one have to go to the vet for anything (god forbid).

Then wouldn't you need to give the sitter your cell phone number also? What good does it do if they don't know your number and they have to take the pet to the vet?

What type of questions do you ask when you're looking for a pet sitter?

What I'm hoping to find is someone to build a long term relationship with - I have a sick cat and am about to adopt an older cat, plus the two "kids" (young, healthy cats). They all eat wet food, but until getting the older cat we could leave dry food out and have my parents check on them every other day. With the older cat, we need someone to come and feed him wet food 2x a day (so might as well have the other cats fed, too). I'd like to have a steady person, you know?

Denise

Buddy Lee is an excellent pet sitter, that is, if hes not too busy with all his jobs.

No, I wouldn't give a sitter my cell phone, just make sure that he or she has one and you have the number. You'd want to be able to be contacted should one have to go to the vet for anything (god forbid).

I suppose you could post an ad in the classifieds on here. Professional would be a good way to go too if your interviewing results from the ad doesn't go well, like Tes' post.

Good luck! If I think of anything else to bring up I'll come back :)

Wow, I'm dropping words all over the place today. I didn't mean give the sitter my cell phone, I meant give the sitter my cell phone number. Make more sense now?

I think I should go home.

Denise

Wow, I'm dropping words all over the place today. I didn't mean give the sitter my cell phone, I meant give the sitter my cell phone number. Make more sense now?

I think I should go home.

Denise

My sitter has all of my numbers, home, cell and work. There have been several times when she's had to call because of a situation at the house when she has come by. I also give her all of my travel plans and numbers of the hotels so she can reach me. I board my dogs when I travel but give her cell number to the kennel as the local number to reach if something comes up with one of my dogs while I'm out of town. She was great when one of my dogs had a seizure and the kennel called her. She also takes in the mail, waters my plants, etc at the house while I'm away and she gives the cats company and play time as well as tending to their basic needs of food and water. Great peace of mind!

Just letting you know I'm here if you need me. I serve the Charles County area. :-) I'm a veterinary technician and am trained to handle emergencies.

We also do pet sitting for Charles County and lower Prince Georges (Upper Marlboro, Brandywine, and Aquasco) and we use the money to support the Rescue.

Not as qualified as the prior poster (not a vet tech), but have handled everything from small mammals to reptiles, and cats/dogs, and our rates are probably lower. We currently have in residence ... guinea pigs, cats, dogs, horses, and chickens as an example of what we care for daily.

Can provide references from happy clients.

Lisa

We also do pet sitting for Charles County and lower Prince Georges (Upper Marlboro, Brandywine, and Aquasco) and we use the money to support the Rescue.

Not as qualified as the prior poster (not a vet tech), but have handled everything from small mammals to reptiles, and cats/dogs, and our rates are probably lower. We currently have in residence ... guinea pigs, cats, dogs, horses, and chickens as an example of what we care for daily.

Can provide references from happy clients.

Lisa

This annoys the piss out of me. Why do you bump a year old thread to advertise? Why not take out an ad? :rolleyes:

Someone else posted saying they did pet sitting so I replied to that post so I didn't do it purposely. Excuse me.

Someone else posted saying they did pet sitting so I replied to that post so I didn't do it purposely. Excuse me.

You're correct. She bumped the thread in March which was 5 months after the OP was looking for a pet sitter.

This annoys the piss out of me. Why do you bump a year old thread to advertise? Why not take out an ad? :rolleyes:
i think its nice knowledge to have. if i lived in the charles or pg area and had animals i might need care for at sometime. its ok socki :huggy:

TrailsEndPetSitting.com <http://www.trailsendpetsitting.com/>

it depends on where they live if trails end does it or not. but be prepared to pay a hefty price if you have them stay overnight and go over a few times to let your (dog ) if you have one that is. I would try others by calling your vet and asking them for people in your area who they know of that are good as some aren't there to rape you of your money especially if you are on a fixed income.

For 1 family we have as regulars, we charge them $25 a visit, and they have 3 dogs. That includes feeding the dogs, and 30 to 45 minutes of exercise time too - so we're pretty low on price, but we don't go more than 20 miles or so usually (lower PG and Northern Charles).

it depends on where they live if trails end does it or not. but be prepared to pay a hefty price if you have them stay overnight and go over a few times to let your (dog ) if you have one that is. I would try others by calling your vet and asking them for people in your area who they know of that are good as some aren't there to rape you of your money especially if you are on a fixed income.

there are a few that don't charge 75 to stay overnight which I think is outrageous plus an additional 20 or per each visit who in gods mind has over 100.00 a day to spend. NOT me. that would be over 1,000.00 if you are gone for 2 weeks. Guess the only people they will get are the high dollar money makers. that is why i recommended they call there vets and ask them for references of who they have on there list as there are some that aren't as expensive and will spend quality time with your pet not just take them out let them pee and poop then shove them back in there crate til they come again.

Arkrescue I am not saying you do this but I bet alot of them do because the owner isn't there to see how they really treat the owners animals.

lucky for me i live over top of a store so people will see what is going on especially in the night time hours and they will say hey i saw someone take your dog out a few times and boy did she look happy or they will say what they heard come out of the persons mouth and if they were being mean toward the dog they will definately let me know that as there are a few animal lovers in the store.

That's part of the time we spend there when we go to feed someone's dog, we stay and let the dog out - exercise them in the yard (throw a ball or whatever they like) or walk them - whatever the owner's do usually is what we do. Generally we're there at the home for 45 min to an hour - so that's a lot for $25 for 3 dogs you know? Especially if it took me 20-30 minutes to get there. I'm sure we are under-charging, but hey most people don't have a lot of $$ to spend either usually. So they need affordable alternatives to the higher priced licensed/bonded pet sitting services.

Certainly it's better if people can find someone in their immediate neighborhood/area that is close enough that there is no substantial travel time to get there, so the price could be lower.

there are a few that don't charge 75 to stay overnight which I think is outrageous plus an additional 20 or per each visit who in gods mind has over 100.00 a day to spend. NOT me. that would be over 1,000.00 if you are gone for 2 weeks. Guess the only people they will get are the high dollar money makers. that is why i recommended they call there vets and ask them for references of who they have on there list as there are some that aren't as expensive and will spend quality time with your pet not just take them out let them pee and poop then shove them back in there crate til they come again.

Arkrescue I am not saying you do this but I bet alot of them do because the owner isn't there to see how they really treat the owners animals.

lucky for me i live over top of a store so people will see what is going on especially in the night time hours and they will say hey i saw someone take your dog out a few times and boy did she look happy or they will say what they heard come out of the persons mouth and if they were being mean toward the dog they will definately let me know that as there are a few animal lovers in the store.

there are a few that don't charge 75 to stay overnight which I think is outrageous plus an additional 20 or per each visit who in gods mind has over 100.00 a day to spend. NOT me. that would be over 1,000.00 if you are gone for 2 weeks. Guess the only people they will get are the high dollar money makers. that is why i recommended they call there vets and ask them for references of who they have on there list as there are some that aren't as expensive and will spend quality time with your pet not just take them out let them pee and poop then shove them back in there crate til they come again.
Arkrescue I am not saying you do this but I bet alot of them do because the owner isn't there to see how they really treat the owners animals.
lucky for me i live over top of a store so people will see what is going on especially in the night time hours and they will say hey i saw someone take your dog out a few times and boy did she look happy or they will say what they heard come out of the persons mouth and if they were being mean toward the dog they will definately let me know that as there are a few animal lovers in the store.

You do a great disservice by saying things like this as there are a lot of reputable and professional pet sitters that have been in business for many years. I completely trust the person that takes care of my pets in my absence and I KNOW that she spends the time with my animals that I pay her for.
Arkrescue undercharges as they are volunteers doing it to make money for their rescue. A professional petsitter is trying to make a living and believe me-they earn their money!

yah the only thing is who can afford 105.00 dollars a day if you go away for 2 weeks when you are on a fixed income frequentflier?

I agree - obviously we don't do it for a living - we are merely trying to get extra money for the rescue to cover pet food and vet expenses - when you do it for a living it gets pretty costly when you consider the gas to get there and back (easily $8 in my case) then the time spent there also is worth money. The professionals are paying overhead for insurance and other related business expenses which they need to cover in their fees.

It's important to note that not everyone is going to TRUST calling US to come pet sit when they don't know us. They can however have more initial trust in a company that is bonded who they can file a claim against if they need to.

You do a great disservice by saying things like this as there are a lot of reputable and professional pet sitters that have been in business for many years. I completely trust the person that takes care of my pets in my absence and I KNOW that she spends the time with my animals that I pay her for.
Arkrescue undercharges as they are volunteers doing it to make money for their rescue. A professional petsitter is trying to make a living and believe me-they earn their money!

yah the only thing is who can afford 105.00 dollars a day if you go away for 2 weeks when you are on a fixed income frequentflier?

If you can afford to go away for 2 weeks, I would hope you can afford to pay to have your dog taken care of by a kennel or petsitter. I don't know what the going prices are for either for that length of time.
BTW, I am a small business owner-would love to be on a "fixed" income or have an income of any kind!

It's rough for many people and it's affected how many critters we can help. I know of many critters that have been put down at the shelters that were not rescued or adopted in time. It's so sad. We can only do so much, and it's difficult to accept that we can't save them all.

We used to be self-funded but ran out of money to keep paying for it all ourselves, so we turned to fundraising. We have a fundraiser on our website now that we hope does well to give us money for the Winter rescues we will be doing.

Speaking of Winter, I hear we're in for a bad one this year - many sources are saying the same thing so you gotta wonder? We have not been slammed with a lot of snow in the past 7 years so it's almost like .. look out we're due for some serious snow?

If you can afford to go away for 2 weeks, I would hope you can afford to pay to have your dog taken care of by a kennel or petsitter. I don't know what the going prices are for either for that length of time.
BTW, I am a small business owner-would love to be on a "fixed" income or have an income of any kind!

it depends on where they live if trails end does it or not. but be prepared to pay a hefty price if you have them stay overnight and go over a few times to let your (dog ) if you have one that is. I would try others by calling your vet and asking them for people in your area who they know of that are good as some aren't there to rape you of your money especially if you are on a fixed income.

JP, Trails End Pet Sitting is accredited by Pet Sitters International. All of our Pet Sitters are bonded and insured. We have been in business over six years now with an excellent reputation and receive referrals from many of the Veterinarians in the county. So, obviously, we do have many clients who care about their pets and are willing and able to pay for quality care. Bonding, insurance, and training are all things that cost money. Our clients understand that the fee they pay ensures they are receiving reliable, reputable care for their furbabies versus an indiviual who may be pet sitting privately. Should that individual become sick or have an emergency, who will back them up? If they book services with us, they can rely on the fact that our Pet Sitters will be there to provide quality care according to our contract.


One thing that you stated is truth and that is that we do have a limited service area. However, as a member of the Southern Maryland Association of Professional Pet Sitters, we can definitely refer pet owners to a service which does cover their area.

Another excellent resource or those who wish to learn more about Professional Pet Sitting is Home (http://www.petsit.com) .