The PetsitUSA.com Blog

You’re all ready to leave for that long awaited vacation. Your bags are packed, the tickets are in your hand, and you’re waiting for the taxi to pull up and whisk you away. You’ve even arranged for a pet sitter to take care of those sweet four legged friends of yours - Tucker your mischievous little kitten, and your lovable dachshund, Frank. Everything is under control and you’re ready to roll…but…did you think to give your pet sitter a quick call to let her know the trip is going as scheduled?

Most pet sitters ask their clients to give them a confirmation call just before they leave on a trip. While some pet owners may look at it as an unnecessary call, think about it this way. If you have kids (the two-legged type) and you plan for a babysitter to come stay with them while you go out for a night on the town, do you leave before she gets there? Of course not! Instead, you wait until the sitter gets there, give a few last minute instructions, and then go on your way to enjoy the evening. You relax and have fun knowing your kids are safe.

Since pet sitters don’t normally show up until hours, or even a day, after you leave doesn’t it make sense to check in and make sure your schedule and the pet sitters schedule match? It only takes a couple minutes and it benefits you and the pet sitter. Face it…we’re all human. Pet owners and pet sitters have been known to write down a wrong date. Making a quick 5 minute phone call ensures everyone is on the same page. It’s also the perfect time to give last minute instructions or answer any questions your pet sitter might have.

When the time comes for you to drag your tired, but relaxed, self back in through your front door, you and your pets go nuts over each other. The time away is a thing of the past and you’re happily cuddling again. But…again, have you thought to let your pet sitter know you’re home?

You know you’re home and your pets are safe, but your pet sitter doesn’t have ESP. She won’t know you’re home until she hears from you. A short call puts closure on that trip, and lets the pet sitter rest easy knowing she took great care of your pets while you were away. And believe me, pet sitters do worry about the pets they care for. Some will even continue pet sitting until they get a call.

One last thing…although I said most pet sitters require before and after calls, some don’t. Many of the ones who don’t say they will make the agreed upon visits and that’s that. It’s up to the pet owner to give them the correct dates (which is true), and they assume the pet owners will call if there’s a problem and need extra visits. Sometimes though, dates can be wrong, and delays can happen with no phone available to call from.

I’ll ask again…isn’t your pet worth a short call to the pet sitter? I’ll bet Tucker and Frank would think so!

(Thanks to Problogger.com for the blogging tips.)

Technorati Tags: pet sitter, pet sitting, pets

For those of you who remember the pet food recall from last year (and I know there are many!) these two articles may be of interest.

According to USA Today, thousands of pet owners are filing claims against Menu Foods and others because of the tainted pet food that caused the illness or death of their pets.

Almost 6,000 claims have been filed in a class-action settlement stemming from last year’s massive pet-food recall.

Menu Foods, other pet-food makers and retailers in May agreed to set up a $24 million cash fund to compensate pet owners whose cats and dogs became sick or died after eating food that had a contaminated ingredient from China.

The filing period for claims began May 30 and will run until Nov. 24.

“I expect that number (of claims) will go up a lot. There’s quite a bit of time to go,” says attorney Sherrie Savett of plaintiffs’ law firm Berger & Montague.

The Food and Drug Administration never identified how many pets were affected, but it received more than 17,000 complaints.

Read the rest from USA Today.
And if you think the FDA is working on making food saver (for us and our pets) think again. As with many things governmental, they’re using loopholes to avoid dealing with the issue…oh yea, and to avoid making waves in the pet food industry.

You are well aware of the pet food recall of 2007. You are well aware that due to that recall thousands of pets died, and thousands more became ill. You are probably aware that the FDA held a public meeting on May 13, 2008 to seek input from stakeholder groups –- including consumers –- for the future safety of pet food. But you are probably not aware that the FDA seems to be giving the U.S. pet owning public and Congress the same excuse school children often use.

[…]

A little background information first: In September 2007, Congress passed into law the FDA’s Amendments Act (FDAAA). FDAAA was established by Congress to protect all foods, human and pet, but for our purposes here I am just giving you a brief explanation of the pet food section. Section 1002 (a) of FDAAA requires the FDA to establish pet food ingredient standards and definitions, processing standards for pet food, and provide updated standards for the labeling of pet food that includes nutrition and ingredient information. Briefly, FDAAA asks for a total reform of the existing pet food regulations. These new standards and definitions must be established within two years (September 2007-September 2009).

[…]

You would think that Congress’s efforts to pass the Amendments Act would initiate a new effort towards pet food safety regulations from the FDA, especially considering the horrible pet food recall last year. After all, the bill was passed wanting reform — but that’s not what is happening. Instead of working on reform, the FDA is relying on an incomplete five year-old program that is chock full of loopholes and gaps to meet the requirements of FDAAA. In fact, the day before the May 13th pet food safety meeting, the FDA released the latest version of this dated program implying this dusty ill-effective work meets the requirements of FDAAA. The five year-old dated program is called Animal Feed Safety System or AFSS. It’s confusing — just to clarify, FDAAA is the legislation that requires the FDA to reform the pet food ingredient, production, and labeling safety system. AFSS is a five year-old program that is full of loopholes the FDA refers to as ‘gaps’ and is full of more problems for pet owners.

NaturalNews.com has the rest.

Technorati Tags: FDA, food safety, pet food, pet food recall

Years ago my sister and her husband couldn’t figure out what was wrong with their Burnese Mountain Dog, Emma. She was losing hair, breaking out in sores and rashes, and losing weight. After visiting a few different vets, having all sorts of diagnostic tests, and trying various meds, they found a vet that was able to diagnose the problem…allergies. It took a while to find a food Emma could eat but eventually her skin cleared up, her hair started growing again, and she gained the weight back she’d lost. Once they figured out the problem, Emma lived a happy, allergy-free life.

See Christie’s post (at Pet Connection), Hidden allergens in your pet’s food for some info about allergies that you may not know about.

Just for fun…

Visit the For the Love of Dog Blog over at Dogster, and put your creativity to the test with their photo contest.

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If you (or your pets) do the social networking thing, let us know, or simply add us to your contacts!

Technorati Tags: pet allergies, dogs, pet contest

A couple months ago Karen from Keep Doggie Safe sent me one of these leashes to try out with Archie. I never did get to try it out though because a few days after I got it he started having some shoulder problems that turned out to be arthritis. While he was getting over that (he’s not limping now!) Lydia was diagnosed with cancer. So at least for a while, because of Lydia’s immune system being compromised, we’re not going on our long walks. I wanted to do a review on it though, so I had my friend Leslie give it a try, and she loves it!

The Wacky Walker is made of latex that stretches from it’s original 3 feet to over 6 feet in length. It’s designed to relieve stress for the dog and handler. There’s also a small handle, called a traffic stop, that the handler can grab if the dog needs to stay close.

Leslie has a young, active, German Shepherd mix named Maggie, who weighs about 50 lbs. Maggie can pull pretty good on a leash, but Leslie’s been working with her on it and said the Wacky Walker is going to help. It seemed to remind Maggie what her boundaries were and she came back to Leslie’s side pretty quickly after she pulled and felt the tension. And, since there’s some give in the leash, Leslie didn’t feel the pull on her shoulder like she does with a regular leash. Leslie said the Wacky Walker is going to be a regular part of their walks from now on. She and Maggie both are giving it a paws up!

Although I’m not a trainer, I would recommend people teach their dogs how to walk properly on a leash rather than viewing the Wacky Walker as a solution to training issues.

For more information on the Wacky Walker visit Keep Doggie Safe.

Although I think this is a cute picture of Maggie, I was hoping to get a better one before posting the review. My brother took this one through the privacy fence but I’m hoping the fact that I don’t have a better one (yet!) will shame Leslie into sending me one so everybody can see more of Maggie!

Update…it worked…my comments about the lack of a good picture of Maggie, did indeed get a response, and here she is…

Technorati Tags: Wacky Walker, dog, dog leash

The San Marcos, Texas police officer is getting death threats. This is after he stopped a man who was speeding and, after finding out they were rushing their dog to the vet, told him “it’s just a dog. You can get another one.”

A police officer who delayed a couple racing their dying dog to an emergency vet clinic while he wrote them a ticket has received death threats, the mayor said Thursday.

A statement issued by San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz said Officer Paul Stephens was inappropriate and insensitive and that he has been disciplined, but the threats against the officer are “extremely unfortunate.”

Narvaiz’ statement did not elaborate on the threats. She did release some new details of the incident, including that a second officer had tried to help the choking dog, a teacup poodle named Missy.

“Without question, the situation was not handled very well by Officer Stephens. But the characterization of the story has led to death threats against the officer and his family,” Narvaiz said.

Michael Gonzalez and Krystal Hernandez were allegedly driving 95 mph when Stephens pulled them over after midnight Aug. 5 on Interstate 35.

According to Narvaiz, Gonzalez first pulled over on an overpass. Using his patrol car public address system, Stephens asked him to go somewhere safer and Gonzalez drove another two miles at a “high rate of speed,” despite the officer’s lights and siren.

When he finally pulled over, Gonzalez pleaded with Stephens to let them get to the clinic.

The patrol car’s dashboard camera showed Stephens telling Gonzalez: “It’s just a dog. You can buy another one. Relax.”

[…]

Gonzalez said Tuesday he thought an oral reprimand was not sufficient.

“That’s not really a punishment at all,” he said. “I don’t feel a person like that should be working in law enforcement.”

Here’s the rest.

Personally, I don’t see why something like this should have happened in the first place. A little kindness and compassion would have been all it took for this to have a completely different outcome. I know there are many cops who would have handled this differently, it’s a shame this idiot had to be the one to stop these distraught pet owners.

Technorati Tags: animal emergency,   dog,   San Marcos

Another blogger is warning dog owners about a particular type of dog ball that caused her dog, Chai, to lose his tongue. The ball, made by Four Paws, has a hole in it which caused a vacuum effect, pulling Chai’s tongue into the ball. Chai was hospitalized, and although they had hoped to save his tongue, it had to be amputated.

Chai’s owner says they contacted Four Paws but they’re not willing to do anything about it. So, they’re asking people to boycott the company. See the entire story on Chai for more information about the whole ordeal, and to learn about the boycott. Some of the photos are hard to look at though, and if you’re like me, the videos will bring tears to your eyes.

Update, August 22: Four Paws has responded and is taking responsibility for the injuries Chai suffered due to their toy.

Technorati Tags: The Chai Story, dogs, dangerous dog toys

One of my MySpace friends emailed me recently with a snippet of an article about pet owners who don’t give their pet sitters necessary information about their pets. An example in the article was about a dog that required medication every day. On the first day of her pet sitting assignment, when the pet sitter tried giving one of the dogs his medication, he bit her. It was a very bad bite and when she talked to the owners about it they said the dog always bites them too. They hadn’t told her ahead of time that the dog, who is normally very laid back, might bite when being given medication.

And recently, another pet sitter told told me about a pet owner who did not let her know that while she was away, her cat would need medication. The pet sitter found out the cat needed medication when she went for the first visit and found a note, about the medication, on the kitchen table.

The cat has always been one to hide whenever the pet sitter comes over, so it was next to impossible for him to get his meds. It took about 45 minutes in extra time, and a great deal of patience for the pet sitter to give the cat his medicine. And, even though she had put some extra padding in her schedule, having to spend extra time with the cat put her behind schedule…and then there’s the scratches on her arm. They weren’t severe but  she did get scratched. Thankfully, for the cat and the pet sitter, the owner was only gone for two days so the medicine ordeal was not repeated! It was able to wait for the owner to give in the evening when she got home.

So what’s the moral of the story?

Tell your pet sitter everything! Let him or her know anything you can think of that’ll make taking care of your pet a good experience for everyone involved - you, your pet, and the pet sitter. Be honest, and don’t forget anything, no matter how small or inconsequential it may seem.

Even if you think your cat or dog may possibly bite the pet sitter, she needs to know about it. Being honest may mean working with your pet sitter to make the situation work, or possibly even finding a new pet sitter. It could also mean having to board your pet at your veterinarian’s office. And, although it may be terribly inconvenient to deal with the issue, not addressing it is not the answer…for anybody. Ignoring it could lead to even more inconvenience, or worse.

Potential biting isn’t the only thing your pet sitter needs to know about. Some of the other common issues your pet sitter needs to know about are whether or not your pet is an escape artist, if he is known to chew on things he shouldn’t, aggressive behavior (to people or other pets), fears, and of course, health issues.

Technorati Tags: pet sitting, pets, pet sitters, dogs, cats

Congratulations to our winners in our SmartScoop® Odor Control Litter Box Spray contest. Ahh…the sweet smell of victory…and a clean litter box!

Sabra Welles, Connecticut
& Smudge

Susan Paretts, Nevada
& Pumpkin, Sammy, Cougar and TJ

Kristin Rowe, North Carolina
& Nigel, Nacho, Ganga, Macy Gray, Moo Cow, Lucy Liu, Gato, Simba, The Mexican & Sanchez

Tara Miller, Pennsylvania
& Finnegan and Stella

Lisa Roberts, California
& Kaiya

Congrats to our winners, meows to all who entered, and thank you for reading the blog!

Technorati Tags: cats, contest, SmartScoop® Odor Control Litter Box Spray