Avoid a ruined trip: hire a bonded petsitter. Our turtle was accidentally killed!

[PrincessBride010103]

That lady is a moron! Who just leaves water running and leaves? How did this make sense at all to her? You should not pay her & you should give them your water bill when it comes! And how could she not at least apologize????????? Some people are real class acts...

 

[SandrainNC]

I am so sorry for your loss!!! How sad. I don't understand anybody turning on a tub and leaving it for any reason whatsoever.

Excuse my ignorance, but I thought turtles could swim?

My guess would be that even if the turtle could swim, eventually it would tire out because it could not get out of the water. Like a dog falling in the pool. They can swim but if it cannot get out, eventually it cannot swim anymore. Unless there are certain turtles that cannot swim?? I looked and saw that tortoises cannot swim.

Sandra

 

[jacobsmom00]

I am so sorry for your familys loss. We also have a pet turtle. (((hugs)))

 

[missj1975]

Excuse my ignorance, but I thought turtles could swim?

There are water turtles that live in water but there are also land turtles that require very little water. It sounds like the op had a land turtle.

 

[emh1129]

I'm so sorry about your loss. I'm shocked at the stupidity of the petsitters. Leaving the water on? What on earth were they thinking?
I'm shocked that they didn't even apologize.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your turtle. Some people are so stupid, especially when it comes to animals.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I'm so sorry this happened to you and your family. If I were your neighbor I would have had PLENTY to say because I would feel horrible. I just don't understand her response at all. Some people lack common sense and decency.

 

[ahecht]

The loss of a pet is terrible, especially one that has been in your family that long. I can understand the mistake of them thinking that turtles are like fish (stupid, but understandable), but I cannot understand them leaving the bath running when they left. Frankly I would be much more upset about that. What if one of the lettuce leaves had clogged the overflow drain? Your whole house could've been flooded, and there could've literally been hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage. I hope you didn't pay them!

 

[lntsmom]

Thank you all for your kindness!

Yes, Bud was a tortoise, not a terrapin. In addition to not being able to swim for long periods, the water also needed to be regulated to his body temp. It was running cold when I got home...he could have easily died of hypothermia.

My boys are still beside themselves.

Sadly, I paid the sitter in advance. I thought it would make her feel obligated to do a wonderful job. And, yes, I thought about how easily this could have turned into a major lawsuit had she flooded the neighbor's condo.

I'm still trying to convince myself that I did all I could. I should have put the "don't mess with the mail or turtle" in writing, since they seemed to forget about that. I keep telling myself that there has to be some lesson here for somebody... I really do appreciate all the kindness I've found from all of you!

 

[BridetobeDisney]

I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss. Try to think of the 20 years of happiness you had with him. I lost my yorkie who was only a year and a half to seizures when my DS was 4 months old. I didn't lose her during vacation but I completely understand your love and feeling of loss. My husband got her for me a month before he proposed. She meant alot. The pain will eventually subside and you will be able to remember the good times. God Bless.

 

[tyandbash]

OMG I'm so sorry for your loss. That is just horrible. How were you even able to go back to work and see this person?? I'm not sure I could do that. It was not your fault in any way. I can't imagine ANYONE leaving water running....but also leaving an animal in a bathtub?? That was not anything you could have thought to tell her not to do. Do not blame yourself.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I am so sorry to hear about your turtle! What a sad thing to come home to! I think the fact that it was so preventable makes it worse.

We have a pet sitter for our cats, and even though she is a professional I get nervous. DS12 has the world's most ancient goldfish, and we are always concerned that he will die when we are gone. The pet sitter is always AMAZED that each time she comes to look after the cats that the SAME fish is still alive. She asked me if I want her to go get a new fish if ours dies while we are gone. Unfortunately, our fish only has one eye so DS would know it wasn't the same fish. I am dreading the demise of that fish, whether we are home or away.

 

[pixiefairy]

So sorry to hear about your loss. It's not easy to lose a member of the family, especially not to something that could have been avoided. My SIL and BIL had their 12 or 13 year old pekinese pass at the boarders while they were at Disney years back. My other SIL was the emergency contact and had to make the decision on what to do while they were gone, and then tell her when they got back. Not easy at all. We have someone coming to check on our cat 3-4 times the week we are gone, and I know I can trust him, but I still worry. Hugs to you and your family!

 

[PlutoGirl1117]

I am very sorry for your loss!

I am a pet sitter, and yes, accidents can/do happen, but! I can't believe they left the water running!!

When hiring a pet sitter though, you want to make sure they are INSURED and bonded, not just bonded, that's just for theft. Of course you still have to check them out throughly as not all pet sitters hold the same standards either! A good pet sitter though pays attention to everything. I have had to call the fire department for gas leaks, I've had to put out a fire in fireplaces (that the owners thought were out!), I've noticed coffee pots left on, etc etc. Of course the animals are the #1 thing there, but you have to go around and make sure the house is safe for them! People are rushing to get out the door usually and hey, you know what sometimes "just happens"! And I would have NEVER left water running!!

Sorry, didn't mean to hi-jack the thread! I am very sorry for your loss!


Fran

 

[PlutoGirl1117]

We have a pet sitter for our cats, and even though she is a professional I get nervous. DS12 has the world's most ancient goldfish, and we are always concerned that he will die when we are gone. The pet sitter is always AMAZED that each time she comes to look after the cats that the SAME fish is still alive. She asked me if I want her to go get a new fish if ours dies while we are gone. Unfortunately, our fish only has one eye so DS would know it wasn't the same fish. I am dreading the demise of that fish, whether we are home or away.

I have a house that I have pet sat for almost ten years now, and up until a couple of months ago, they had THREE HUGE goldfish! They now have one left, but I've always been amazed at how OLD they are!!! I'm there often as I also dog walk their dog during the week and I am just always amazed! The fish have out lived three out of five cats too! (yes they have a LOT of animals! )

Fran

 

[DisneyAprilFool]

We received a call on our honeymoon when we were at Animal Kingdom that one of our Sugar Gliders had died... She was in a cage with her mate (huge cage and Gliders are supposed to be good with their family members) and he turned aggressive and killed her... Definitely not news you want connected to WDW!

I am so so sorry about Bud- moreso because it was plain ignorance and idiocy that killed him. If he had died due to natural reasons, that's at least a part of life- but this is just horrible I am so sorry for your loss!

 

[Mocharilla]

I'm so sorry about your Bud! That's horrible!

We had something bad pet-related happen to us too. We went to Israel for 2 weeks, and every time we called our pet sitter to check on our dog, they never answered. When we got home, my mom's best friend picked us up at the airport and explained that she'd run away 4 days after we'd left. No one told us, because they didn't want us to worry. So, we're like "It's okay. We'll just look for her, and she has her collar." Nope, they'd TAKEN IT OFF HER! They never explained why. Just that they had. She'd run out the back gate of their house because they forgot to shut it. Then, they told us she'd run away the 21st. We got a call from two people talking about a black and white dog in the area that she'd run away in, but saying they were sure it was the 20th. Then, after 2 months of looking for her, the pet sitters go "Oh, yeah, it was the 20th! Our bad."

They never apologized either. Just said "Well, it's her fault she ran out the gate!"

 

[alicebluebonnet]

Hugs to you and your boys! The loss of a family pet is a hard hard thing.

 

[terri01p]

I am so sick for your loss ! Nothing will help this !

This is exactly why I no longer keep my dog at home when we travel he goes with us. I paid a " friend " 25.00 a day to come over and play with my dog while we were in WDW for 10 days, all he had to do was come over and play with him, and sit his food down off of the counter, he has a doggie door to run in and out of the house and enough water to hold him. The " Friend " didn't come over but the last two days of our trip " he forgot ", and then had the nerve to ask if we wanted some money back. The poor dog was so shaken when we got home.