Ken & Yvette of Fur Pals Pet Care have a successful pet sitting business in Washington DC and took time to answer some questions about their business and their experiences.
What prompted you to start a pet sitting business?
Pets have always been Yvette’s passion and she considers them to be family. Because of this, and the fact that she had so many requests from people to watch their animals. It is also common for her to be called by those seeking advice on things from food, hot spots, vets, and so forth. She realized that she could also help people with their animals, so it seemed to make sense to start doing so as a business.
What services do you offer?
We offer in home care for travel or vacations, midday walks, baths and nail clips, massage, reiki, personalized shopping, animal-themed gifts for pets and their people, referrals, errand service, taxi service, animal behaviour consultations, total life cycle assistance – pre-pet, new pet, grief and loss.
What do you enjoy most about being a pet sitter?
We enjoy the animals and the ability to help the owners with them and maybe teach them to be better pet parents. From a purely business aspect, we enjoy the flexibility, the tax advantages, and the ability to have a bit of control in our work and our future. It’s also rewarding to see the happiness on the pet’s faces, helping pet parents feel at ease, and loving what we do so much that it’s not like working.
What are some of the challenges you face in operating a pet sitting business?
Schedules are a hard thing to manage, especially when they are fluid. Hiring good people is tough and keeping them long term is tougher. One challenge is to educate the client on what they need and why they need it. At times, people do not view this service as a real business, so we must teach them the value we offer, such as in recognizing things in their pet that they may miss or overlook.
Have you ever encountered an emergency during a pet sitting assignment, and if so, how did you handle it?
During one pet sitting assignment, the next door home was set afire while I was in client’s home. I contacted the owners, tried to capture pets, called 911, and called animal control. There was a happy ending though, with my two charges being rescued in addition to several animals in other damaged homes (three cats, five dogs, and a parrot). Me being there and being able to tell the rescuers the hiding places and habits assisted them in finding them immediately when premises were safe to enter. We now require owners to leave crates and/or duffel bags in clear view for use in emergency evacuations.
We also discovered a break-in next door to a client’s home and contacted client who contacted neighbor. We stayed on the scene until the owner of building arrived and dealt with the police. We have also had to help with very ill pets, and even tended to one animal around clock with emergency contact until the owner arrived home.
We once had to deal with a serious dog attack and had to rush the dog in our care to the emergency clinic. Thankfully, the dog was not severely hurt, and the other owner was very cooperative and paid for the emergency services (and vowed to never let his dog off leash again).
What advice do you have for pet owners who are using a pet sitter for the first time?
Be realistic and honest about you, your pet and what you expect from the pet sitter. Realize the pet sitter is a service provider like any other service provider and may be able to help you in many different ways. However, they need information, help and so forth from you in order to provide the best care for your pet and the best value to you. Keep in mind too, that both you and your pet should be comfortable.
Anybody can hang out a shingle and say they are a petsitter. Check for certifications in things like animal first aid and animal CPR, insurance, bonding, and business licensure where required. Make sure the company checks the backgrounds of those who they employ or contract to care for your pet. Find out what kinds of pets the pet care providers have as well as the worst experiences they have had with pets and how they handled the situation.
Do you have any expectations of your pet sitting clients?
Again, the client being realistic and providing the information, materials and so forth that we need is important. We expect them to communicate with us about what is going on, such as the pet’s health/behavior or behavioral changes, aggression, the animals’ fears or likes, the travel dates, early or late arrivals/departures, if others are looking in on the pets aside from us, emergency contacts being current. We also like to have an idea as to what we should do should the client meet their demise while away. We encourage our clients to book as far in advance as possible but we try to accommodate emergencies as much as we can.
What do you believe sets you apart from other pet sitting businesses?
We offer very personalized service and we care for more then just the pets. We allow our clients to contact us at about any hour. We actually answer our own phones. Aside from staying abreast with training and so forth, we have our own pets, so we realize many of the things which can happen when people travel. We also realize how much trust is involved in being in homes and caring for pets. We are also lifelong animal owners and very experienced and intuitive.
Thank you Ken & Yvette!
