Why pay for a pet sitter?
Wednesday, 15th August 2012 at 12:56 PM
Following on from last week I thought it would be useful to write a little about why you should pay for a live in pet sitter. I keep seeing flashy websites posting all over social media with a view to recruiting pet sitters for the people signed up to their site. How do they do this? With statements about free accommodation. In my opinion this is totally wrong. I would rather attract sitters who want to spend time with animals, and who see caring for our clients home as a job to be taken seriously, not just a free place to stay! Apart from this there are other reasons why paying for a pet sitter is a sensible thing to do:
- Many people rely on neighbours, friends or family members to care for their home and pets while they are away. However if can be very difficult to 'tell' them what to do or ask for that little extra without things becoming awkward. By paying a professional sitter you can ensure that everything you require is done and done in the way you asked. Dogs will be walked for a little or as much as you like, your home will be cleaned and sitters will only leave your property for three hours each day.
- Paying for a live in service is different to paying for a pop in one. We provide you with a dedicated sitter. Pop in services will have many pets in their daily rota and will only have a certain amount of time to be with your pets whereas with our service your pets receive 24 hour one to one care.
- By using a petting company rather than picking a sitter from a website you can be sure of the peace of mind that if your chosen sitter is taken ill immediately before or during the sit we are able to take action to find a replacement sitter of the same standard who can take over using the documentation and instructions already put in place by ourselves. What happens if you locate a sitter via a website and they email you the week before to say they are ill?
- Any professional pet sitting company should provide sitters who are reference/police checked. We take things a step further and interview all our potential sitters in their home. By getting to know them well we can ensure that we match them with the right clients while giving us the peace of mind of having met them. On top of this we always arrange a prelim visit so that our clients can get to know them prior to the sit. There are may risks involved in handing the care of your home and pets over to a stranger who you have discovered via the internet.
- It is essential to ensure that whoever cares for your property and pets is insured. Accidents happen, however careful or experienced you are! This should be one of the first questions asked of any potential sitter. Many will answer yes but it is also important to check what level of insurance they have; many have a very basic policy that is worth very little in the event of a claim. We choose to pet extra for bespoke insurance to ensure that this is never the case.
