Hiring a pet sitter for our vacation....have a few questions

[WeRblam]

I have a professional sitter coming today actually. First time I am using her, but I have a new puppy and don't want to burden my neighbors (who watching my other dog) just yet.

She is charging me $25.00 for 2 visits each 30 minutes. She will feed her, play and walk her. I am leaving her $30.00. I also told her if she wanted to use the pool and bring the puppy in the pool with her, she could do that. She is in her late 20's and manages a doggie day care during the week. We clicked right away and so did the puppy with her! If this works out, I will use her for our trip in August to the World. My son will be home, but I think on the days/nights he works, I will also use her as well!

 

[eeyorethegreat]

Finding a pet sitter can be a nightmare. I had a "great " pet sitter a neighbor for years pets loved her she would spend time with them etc. She and her son got picked up on drug charges. I think hers were dropped but the son is still a hoodlum and I couldn't risk him running his business in my home while I was gone. Then got a teen good friend of my son;s since they were 4 and she decided that she had ohter things to do this summer (we are going for an extended stay so I can understand that she might feel tied down after thinking about it), then I hired a lady from church out of a job husband disabled well she winds up having emotional issues and needed to be hospitalized (I am not minimizing it it just was becoming an unbelievable fiasco to get someone to watch my cats) so now I am on to a friend of the family who I would not have chosen at first but was willing to help out... Going to call every fiew days to make sure everthing is ok and do have another lady at church who will step in if for some reason I have more issues. But seroiusly we have come pretty close to cancelling this trip due to pet sitting issues.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

You can find a professional pet sitter (someone who is experienced, insured, bonded and can offer references) at www.petsit.com

Hiring the neighborhood kid or someone who does this "on the side" can often be fine, but as someone who does this for a living, I hear the horror stories when it doesn't work out.

Like....the neighborhood kid forgot to show up and the cat ended up dehydrated and needed to be hospitalized......or the friend of a friend had a party at your house, or the acquaintance from work stole a piece of jewelry. Trust me...I've heard it all.

I thought to bookmark that link in case I need to find a pet sitter in the future givven the issues I have recently had. plugged in my zip nada, plugged in another zip of a nearby town nada. too bad I would really prefer to pay more for a pro but know I can depend on the service.

 

[MKCP5]

Just and FYI as a frequent petsitter/housesitter, the gift back from your trip is a lovely thought, but a T hsirt from somewhere that someone else has been and not me is going to go directly to the salvation army. Save your $$ or get a gift that is more generic like salt water taffy from the beach, etc. T shirts, mugs, keychanins from somewhere you haven't been are not a great idea unless you know the person really wants one from there

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We have a professional pet sitter come in every day when we are on vacation. We have 3 cats and a goldfish. She charges $25 per visit. We used to do every other day, but when we got the 3rd cat we bumped up to daily. Last year he was still a kitten, so we thought it would be good to have her check on him. This year he is a big old whomping cat, so we figured she should come in daily to refill the food and water and scoop the litter boxes.

We were at WDW for 2 weeks in June. We owed her $350, I paid her $400. I always add a little extra to her check because we really like her and she has been taking care of our cats for several years. She does a good job and I want her to know we appreciate her!