How to Choose a Pet Sitter
It is National Pet Sitters week and to celebrate I thought I would sure my thoughts on how to choose a qualified pro to provide care for your furry ones in your absence! Spring is just around the corner and warmer weather always encourages travel. Especially as the COVID vaccine becomes readily available and restrictions are slowly lifted, many of us are jonesing even more for a trip to the beach or mountains. But what happens if we can't take our pets with us? Choosing a qualified pet sitting professional can be very difficult, but I've put together a few points to keep in mind so that your beloved Fluffy and Bella receive the best care possible. Other than yours of course!
Tips for Choosing a Pet Sitter
Set up a meet and greet. And do it ahead of time.
This is such a simple step but a lot of people put it off until last minute or don’t do at all. I recommend setting up an in person meet and greet at least a month in advance of your trip. Honestly, with this step it is never too early, because if you find out that this sitter is not going to be the best person to fulfill you and your pets’ needs, you will have time to find an appropriate alternative.
Make sure you AND your pets like whoever you plan to hire.
I hope that this one is obvious, but you aren’t the only one who needs to be comfortable with the person you hire. If your dog is aggressive to the potential pet sitter, or if your cat is terrified of them, it might be best to move on to another candidate.
Find out about your pet sitter’s schedule and be up front about your pet’s needs and your expectations.
Does the person you intend to hire have a day job as well? Will they have a commute? There is absolutely nothing wrong with hiring a pet sitter who has a regular full time or someone who doesn’t live in your city, but it needs to be addressed because it may rule out certain candidates in some situations. If your cat has a severe medical condition and needs to be monitored every few hours, you need to make sure that you hire someone who is ABLE to provide this type of care.
Ask for a list of references and contact them.
Now this is important. Many people will ask for a list of references, but then don’t contact them. It is so important to follow through here! Call or email each reference contact and ask them questions about the candidate in question. Make sure to ask if the reference has used the pet sitter personally. You’d be surprised how many people will provide a reference list, but the contacts aren’t actually clients.
Book a practice session before your actual vacation as a test run.
It can be a recipe for disaster to hire a new pet professional for their maiden voyage when you go to the beach for 2 weeks. Before you leave for an extended time, book your new pet sitter for a test run. I recommend doing this a few weeks prior to your actual scheduled trip. Book them for drop in visits for the day while you go shopping in a neighboring city like Charlotte or Raleigh. If your pet sitter will be doing overnight stays in your home in your absence, I recommend planning a one night trip to the mountains or Asheville. Doing a trial run will reduce the anxiety for everyone involved, including your pet! You will feel more confident in your decision and your pet and the sitter will have had a chance to bond in a low pressure scenario. When it comes to building relationships with animals, we don’t want to force it or have them just “work it out”.
Traveling is exciting and I hope that you all are able to enjoy some fun this year! I hope that this helps take some of the stress and worry out of planning for your well earned vacation! After all, peace of mind is so worth a little bit of effort!