We had a wonderful week in Orlando. However, there is now a pall cast over our trip because we came home to find Bud, our turtle that I'd had for 20 years, dead.
I never thought to leave the petsitter a list of things not to do.
We moved here 10 months ago and don't know the neighbors well, so I paid a coworkers 16 year old daughter almost $20 a day to feed our cats.
I had her and her mom come to our house a couple of weeks ago so I could give them a walk-through and introduce them to the cats. I had 2 written pages of information for them. I included everything I could think of: our resort; the name we were booked under; our reservation #; the resort number; my cell # and a note that since it is Tracphone they might not be able to get me on it, so they should try the resort first; a letter to the vet authorizing them to seek care for our pets and information about how to contact me so I could pay via phone if needed; my insurance agent's #; our itinerary; and a phone number of a relative who lives about an hour from us.
I showed them where everything was in the house, told them that they didn't need to worry about bringing in the mail, and letting them know that Bud was free roaming but that he would just do his own thing while we were gone.
I also told them I'd leave a copy of the resort info on my kitchen counter- which I did.
We got home around 10:45 pm last night. I opened the front door and heard water running. I checked the kitchen, then headed to the bathroom. My tub was completely full...the overflow valve kept it from flooding my condo and the one below mine. It was full of lettuce...and there was Bud, floating in it, dead.
My kids were hysterical. Immediately my older son began saying that our going on vacation cost Bud his life.
I called the petsitter's mom. She said they had first seen Bud Friday. They left a message on my cell phone, but never called the resort, my relatives, or the vet. Yesterday afternoon they decided Bud had to have water. For some reason they put the plug in the tub, put him in, turned the water on, and left!!! WHY would they have left the water running? If they'd have just put a little water in he would have been fine. As it is, he drowned before we got home.
I really called just to ask what had happened. I didn't make any accusations and thought I was calm. What upset me most was that they didn't even apologize. My coworker said, "Well, I don't know what to say."
The first thing my younger son did today was write a letter to a friend back in MO to tell her about his turtle being killed.
This has tainted all our good memories of Orlando. I might as well have taken $3000 and burned it in the fireplace.
A strong warning to all pet owners: Don't think that the neighbor girl will be a good choice to watch your pets. I thought they'd get better care, have someone to spend time with them, etc. Instead, poor Bud paid for our fun with his life. For the same price I could have hired a bonded petsitter. I will never make this mistake again!
I never thought to leave the petsitter a list of things not to do.
We moved here 10 months ago and don't know the neighbors well, so I paid a coworkers 16 year old daughter almost $20 a day to feed our cats.
I had her and her mom come to our house a couple of weeks ago so I could give them a walk-through and introduce them to the cats. I had 2 written pages of information for them. I included everything I could think of: our resort; the name we were booked under; our reservation #; the resort number; my cell # and a note that since it is Tracphone they might not be able to get me on it, so they should try the resort first; a letter to the vet authorizing them to seek care for our pets and information about how to contact me so I could pay via phone if needed; my insurance agent's #; our itinerary; and a phone number of a relative who lives about an hour from us.
I showed them where everything was in the house, told them that they didn't need to worry about bringing in the mail, and letting them know that Bud was free roaming but that he would just do his own thing while we were gone.
I also told them I'd leave a copy of the resort info on my kitchen counter- which I did.
We got home around 10:45 pm last night. I opened the front door and heard water running. I checked the kitchen, then headed to the bathroom. My tub was completely full...the overflow valve kept it from flooding my condo and the one below mine. It was full of lettuce...and there was Bud, floating in it, dead.
My kids were hysterical. Immediately my older son began saying that our going on vacation cost Bud his life.
I called the petsitter's mom. She said they had first seen Bud Friday. They left a message on my cell phone, but never called the resort, my relatives, or the vet. Yesterday afternoon they decided Bud had to have water. For some reason they put the plug in the tub, put him in, turned the water on, and left!!! WHY would they have left the water running? If they'd have just put a little water in he would have been fine. As it is, he drowned before we got home.
I really called just to ask what had happened. I didn't make any accusations and thought I was calm. What upset me most was that they didn't even apologize. My coworker said, "Well, I don't know what to say."
The first thing my younger son did today was write a letter to a friend back in MO to tell her about his turtle being killed.
This has tainted all our good memories of Orlando. I might as well have taken $3000 and burned it in the fireplace.
A strong warning to all pet owners: Don't think that the neighbor girl will be a good choice to watch your pets. I thought they'd get better care, have someone to spend time with them, etc. Instead, poor Bud paid for our fun with his life. For the same price I could have hired a bonded petsitter. I will never make this mistake again!
Add in the fact that they put the turtle in there?!?!? Double the 
