Pet sitter?

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I am in need of a cat sitter for a couple weeks. I am looking at Craigslist as well; does anyone here have a service they'd recommend? Very interested in professionality/references as the cat would remain in our home.

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

My soon-to-be-ex-roommate's fiancée has extensive experience as a house and pet sitter and she will be living in Davis Square starting next week.

(Soon to be ex roommate because he and his fiancée are moving in together.)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

modpixie is a professional animal sitter, and she's in this community. She'll chime in as soon as she sees this, most likely.

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

I second the modpixie recommendation.

[modlin.livejournal.com]

I've been using Stinky's Kittens (http://www.stinkyskittens-doggiestoo.com/) in Ball Square for two years. The same person comes to our house every time, and she really likes the cats and takes good care of them. No complaints.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Second for Stinky's....they're awesome and they'll give your cats meds if needed.

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

we used Pawsitive Pleasures, out of medford. They were willing to clean up after our cats who think outside the box. For $13/day they'll feed, water, clean up after and play with your pets.

[lissie930.livejournal.com]

Do not use Creature Comforts.

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I ask why not? That's who my roommate always used before I moved in (now we generally are not out of town at the same time; the one time we were, we did use this company). Since I'll be moving and may need to use a service in the future, it would be helpful info

[lissie930.livejournal.com]

Well, in many ways I've had good experiences with them. They return phone calls, unlike Saint Meows, and they do a good job of cleaning the cat box (unlike another pet sitter I had who didn't actually scoop out the box). I think they took good care of my girls while they're here.

However, last September, we had contracted for them to come Friday through Monday, and they didn't show up until Monday (miscommunication between the scheduling person and the pet sitter). We have two elderly cats, one of whom requires medication twice a day, so this was a HUGE error. They handled it appropriately, and I gave them a second chance. They were supposed to do two visits for me over the weekend, and confirmed with me ON FRIDAY, and didn't show up for the Saturday visit. I just feel like I can no longer count on them to actually show up when I need them to, and because we have the medication issue, I really must have someone reliable. My vet's office had someone raving about Happy Tails Pet Care in Medford, so I'm going to give them a try.

I do understand that errors happen, but since they missed visits on two separate occasions in less than a year, that's just too unreliable for me. Other than those incidents, I would actually be raving about them, because I was really happy with the care my girls received, so I'm really, really bummed.

[rainbowbride617.livejournal.com]

I have to back-up Lissie about St. Meow's as well. We hired them to care for our cats when we went overseas at Christmas time. We took great care to leave a detailed set of instructions about how the cats were to be cared for and where to find what they needed.

We paid for 3 visits and are certain they only came once. They changed the litter box, leaving only half an inch of litter in the pan (we have 2 cats). They left the bag of dirty litter in the apartment and the cats were totally out of food when we arrived home. Many of the care instructions were also ignored.

Thankfully, we didn't have any medication requirements or this would have been much worse. They also kept our house keys, despite explicit instructions not to do so and it took us over a week to reach them by phone. When we finally did, they actually wanted us to meet the volunteer at home to retrieve the keys that he'd made the mistake of keeping. He finally returned them by leaving them in a public area when we were not at home.

I too have heard great reviews of Stinky's and Happy Tails! Best of luck finding care for your dear ones. :)