First time having a pet sitter, advice?

[krbshappy71]

In the past I've had my mom watch the dogs for maybe a couple days if that. I didn't have this many pets at the time and she's not comfortable with the crew.

I've landed a lady who's the daughter of a co-worker, she's a vet student, and she's owned all the animals I own. I'M THRILLED!

But since this is my first time leaving my babies with someone else I'm wondering what I'm forgetting. Anyone use them on a regular basis? I'm going to be gone for 5 full days, the longest ever leaving my pets.

I have 5 dogs, 1 turtle, 2 hedgies.

I created a dog room and put name tags on their crate doors that specify the food amounts for each dog. Dog food and all their supplies are in the room.

I have the small animals in laundry room and have all their supplies in one tote.

I have the vet emergency info on the fridge, she has my cell number and address.

I bought extra food for all animals.

What am I forgetting? I'm startin' to stress!!

[wanderlusting]

I used to when DH and I travelled a lot. Before we used her, we talked for about half an hour and I told her about my pets' personalities- so she'd know what to expect.

Sounds like you have everything set. Do you have her number? The first time we left our furbabies with a pet sitter, I called her to see if everything was getting on ok.

[stinkbug]

You might also contact your Vet and give permission to treat if brought in by someone else. This indicates you will be responsible for charges if your pet needs emergency care.

[krbshappy71]

Oop right off the bat two things I missed. Thank you!

I had her number in an email but hadn't put it in my cell phone yet and the vet suggestion never crossed my mind. Thank you.

[OOwl]

I dog sat a friend's 8 dogs while she went to a big dog show out of state, and she had their crates color coded with colored index cards on who could go out/be out with who (some dogs don't get along well, especially when the pack leader isn't there to supervise). The last thing you want is a dog fight in your own pack when you're gone, so that might be something you'd want to use, as well. When you're dog sitting, it's sometimes difficult to recall the names/quirks of five different dogs. The labels helped me a lot: green tags, went with green tag dogs; red tags, went out alone.

[Contrary Housewife]

I leave a sheet of written instructions with feeding and vet info. Make sure the sitter has a key that works. (My friend once left me the wrong key and her cat went a week with no food or water). Write down the alarm info if it is needed. (A friend once forgot to give me the alarm code and I had to explain to the police what I was doing in the house...). Might let the neighbors know a stranger will be there, if they're the kind who keeps watch for unusual activity on your street.

[savvy_sniper]

Has she been to your house and been introduced to your pets?

[krbshappy71]

Has she been to your house and been introduced to your pets?

We have an appointment scheduled for this with an optional additional day if we feel we need it.

Hm, maybe I will start making a care sheet for the fridge as well.

I'll do a house key and a garage door opener so she'll have two options.

Thanks!

[stinkbug]

Is she staying at your house, or just coming in to check on them? I always leave my pet sitter a GC for coffee or fast food :-)

[shoiji]

Tell her where the supplies are if she needs to clean anything up. Any quirks, say if a dog likes to eat anything on the ground.

Let her know that it is alright to stay at the house for about an hour to be with the animals and watch tv. You can also set boundaries as far as only she will be entering the house, no friends allowed, not drinking, etc. Put any private information in a safe secure place. Sorry but you never know.

Also let your neighbors know that you will be having someone coming in to take care of the animals.

[krbshappy71]

Hi there, I forgot to update this! The pet sitter was great!

A few things that happened:

I accidently left out my jugs of vitamins, they got a hold of them. She called me immediately, COUNTED all the vitamins (what a dear!) and it turns out they hadn't eaten any, they just wanted the jug which was very chewed up. I am pretty sure I left it out last minute while filling my suitcase pill-bottle. oops!

One of the dogs shredded my pillow in the bedroom. I thought this was a stress-sign of destruction so from that night on I had the pet sitter crate the two dogs that usually sleep in my room without a problem. Turns out, when I got home, it was Daisy "making a nest", she hadn't actually chewed it. I caught her with a pillow the same night I got home, trying to claw it and bundle it underneath her. That explains why the pillow was torn but the pillowcase wasn't damaged, I was so confused! ha!

A very positive thing that happened, when I arrived home my dogs were CALM!!! CALM! I could not believe it!! They greeted me as if I had been gone for ONE day instead of 5! I was so thrilled, it was obvious they had been well-cared for. Toys were strewn all over the house, I liked that, that's how it usually looks.

Thank you for all the tips, I now feel I could leave them again with a pet sitter if I have to. Funny all the years owning dogs, I just hadn't traveled enough to need one or had my mom watch the few that I had at the time.

[Debbie-cat]

I am so glad all went well!

[Spirit Deer]

Glad the critters were happy and well taken care of! It's hard to leave them.

We always set out cleaning supplies right where they might be needed, so no one has to search for them.

We show the pet sitter how to shut off our water to the whole house if need be. We let her know the water heater is off, and anything else that is out of the ordinary so she doesn't have to wonder if something is wrong.

We provide a detailed itinerary including all our stops, what highways we will be traveling on, names and phone numbers of places where we will be staying, when we'll be at each place, etc. Our pet sitter isn't technically a house sitter, but if there was an emergency she would want to be able to contact us immediately.

We also include detailed descriptions of our truck and trailer, including a description of the window graphic in the back window and info such as the trailer having an AC unit on the roof, colors of the truck and trailer, makes and models of both, license numbers for both, etc. That way, if law enforcement needed to find us out there on the interstates, they would have more to look for than the tiny license plate on the back of the trailer and we'd be easier to spot. This is also a safety issue, in case something should ever happen to us. Not likely, but you just never know. With an itinerary, it would give anyone looking for us a starting point. Since we always Mapquest our longer trips, it's easy enough to just print out an extra copy of our route to give our pet sitter.

We leave a big stack of clean food dishes so our sitter doesn't have to clean them, and also leave out a pile of utensils if they're needed, such as butter knives for feeding canned cat food. And we leave out a stack of canned cat food, too, along with clean lids so she doesn't have to go searching. We fill the hopper feeder with dry food and make sure extra food is right by the feeder so she can find it. We put a clean trash can on the porch right outside our door, so getting rid of used litter is convenient for her. Extra cat litter is next to the litter boxes, with the appropriate bags and scoops and everything she will need. We make VERY sure we have way more than she could possibly need, just to make sure nothing runs out. Pet sitters may do things a bit differently than we do, and it doesn't hurt to have extra. Our pet sitter feeds much more canned cat food than we do, so we're especially careful to leave a lot of extra.

We provide a list with descriptions of each kitty and their names, so she knows who is who. None of ours require any special care, but if they did, we would leave detailed instructions and any meds, etc that they need.

We leave an emergency number for my mom, so in case of an emergency, there is a local family member who could step in and help manage it. My mom also gets all our itinerary info so there is more than one person who knows how to get in touch with us.

Cell phones are not always reliable, so that's why we include phone numbers for all the places we'll be staying. In an emergency, someone would be able to call a campground and have a ranger give us a message, if need be.

Just some ideas.