Any pet sitter in Montreal, Quebec?

[Manouk & Billy]

Hi everyone,

I have three furkids at home, one of them being Billy, my OTJ sugarcat. He used to be on Lantus, but thanks to the incredible help I received from this board, now he's fine and doesn't need shots. I feed him wet food twice per day. I am really scared of dry food as I know it can get a cat's numbers soar in no time... One of our cats eats dry food (we tried to switch her, but she's a stubborn Siamese!), but she's the only one that can access her bowl easily.

Do any of you know about pet sitters in Montreal, Quebec? I would love to be able to leave the house for more than 12 hours at a time, especially during my vacations, but with a cat that has to eat wet food and wet food only, that's just not possible. I am not too keen on leaving him in a kennel of some sorts, as I'm afraid he would be stressed out or just plain sad... Are there any services where someone can come to your house and feed the cats? How can I make sure I am giving away my keys to someone who will do the job right?

Are there any other solutions? Do automatic feeders for wet food even exist?

Thanks, I hope you all have a great day!

 

[squeem3]

Re: Pet sitters?

? Do automatic feeders for wet food even exist?

They actually do :smile: Many people here use programmable timed feeders to give their cats mini meals throughout the day. Here is one popular feeder: PetSafe 5 compartment feeder Catmate is another popular brand.

What some people do when they go away for vacation or whatever is to hire a vet tech. Many vet techs do pet sitting on the side. Ask the vet techs at your vet's office.

Asking a friend or neighbor to check in on the cats and refill the bowls is another option. Be sure to leave written explicit instructions on how much to feed, keep the diabetic cat away from the dry food, etc.

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

Re: Pet sitters?

If you ask friends or neighbors, make sure it's someone you believe will do what you ask.
Some just say they will and do nothing.

I have a horror story of someone who asked their neighbor to feed their cat whle they vacationed.
The family had closed all the bedroom doors to keep the cat from getting into a bedroom . One of the daughters ran back in to grab something
and didn't notice the cat followed her.
Of course it got locked in . The neighbor who was to feed the cat didn't wonder why the food bowl level never dropped.

The poor kitty survved. It ate the stuffing out of a teddy bear and it's own waste.
The family was gone for over a week.

There are also people who hire out as petsitters and house sitters. Make sure you get someone who is bonded.
They don't want any bad references so they make sure to do what is requested.

You could also ask your vet to post a sign advertising swapping. There is probably someone else in a similar situation .
I used to trade off with other kitty families in my church.

 

[miso00]

Re: Pet sitters?

There is a timed feeder that has room for an ice pak. I forget the name but I ordered it on amazon.

Also some of us freeze the wet food in ice cube trays and then take them out right before you leave. they will defrost in a few hours so the kitties can eat later.

 

[Lisa & Mary]

Re: Pet sitters?

Try asking at your vets if any of the vet techs do pet sitting. Many do it as a side job and are reliable. They are also great if you have senior cats of anyone with health issues as they can keep an eye on your pets and spot any issues

 

[Blue]

Re: Pet sitters?

Hi everyone,

I have three furkids at home, one of them being Billy, my OTJ sugarcat. He used to be on Lantus, but thanks to the incredible help I received from this board, now he's fine and doesn't need shots. I feed him wet food twice per day. I am really scared of dry food as I know it can get a cat's numbers soar in no time... One of our cats eats dry food (we tried to switch her, but she's a stubborn Siamese!), but she's the only one that can access her bowl easily.

Do any of you know about pet sitters in Montreal, Quebec? I would love to be able to leave the house for more than 12 hours at a time, especially during my vacations, but with a cat that has to eat wet food and wet food only, that's just not possible. I am not too keen on leaving him in a kennel of some sorts, as I'm afraid he would be stressed out or just plain sad... Are there any services where someone can come to your house and feed the cats? How can I make sure I am giving away my keys to someone who will do the job right?

Are there any other solutions? Do automatic feeders for wet food even exist?

Thanks, I hope you all have a great day!

First thing you can do is change the Subject of your post to Want Pet sitter in Montreal, QC

Then you can see who is in your area. Many people look at just the subject of many general posts, so the city could catch someone's eye.

I have been doing some live-in pet sitting in different cities, based from Winnipeg. You may want to mention in your post if you want a person to stay in your home to care for the pets, or if you want someone to just stop in a couple times a day or even once a day to leave food/water, and handle litter boxes.

Finally, you may want to throw out some dates because people would need to know when you wanted a sitter; I know what I have scheduled for most of this year, to the end of Nov, approx, so now is not too early to mention some date in months advanced.

 

[doombuggy]

Re: Pet sitters?

http://www.petmountain.com/product/elec ... eeder.html

This is the automatic feeder that I use. I actually have 2 of these, one for each cat. I put a cold portion around a small ice cube on one side and a frozen portion ont he other side. I time the to open (pop-up) in two different time ranges. The timer isn't perfect, as it is a dial and I usually set them to open about 4 hours and 8 hours after setting them at about 7am each day. It helps me give them 4 small meals a day.

Since I "aquired" the neighborhood stay last year, I have not taken a vacation. I have planned to go home for the holidays this year, and I have hired one of my vet's techs to come over during that period. My sister is coming down for a visit in September and we will be staying over at disney for a couple of nights and she will be coming then. It is a little more expensive than a regular pet sitter or me actually kenneling them (Cedric has been kenelled quite a bit, but Dallas has not, and I would be afraid he'd have a panic attack, as he is afraid of people), but this is someone who I know and I know if there is a problem, she will know what to do (take him to work with her I hope!). She does this as a side business, and is bonded.

You might want to consider a suto feeder if you know you are going to be gone longer on any given day, or if you want to give small meals like I do. I work 7 days, and when I am working an 8 hour shift at Disney, I am gone usually 10 1/2-11 hours: 1 hour driving each way, 8 hours of work plus a 1/2 unpaid break (the other one is paid, but you are there 8 1/2 hours). the boys love the feeders, and munch through out the day.

 

[max&emmasmommie]

Re: Pet sitters?

Hi. I hired a regular pet sitter who was very highly recommended, and I taught her how to test. She all ready knew how to give shots. If you need my documents that I composed and printed out for her, just let me know.

Make sure you print out the "How to Treat Hypos," for the sitter. I leave the hypo kit on the bar with an oral syringe in the bag, and I put the whole thing right on top of the print out. Also, I go to the emergency vet nearest to me, give them my credit card and sign a sheet identifying the pet sitter as the person who can authorize treatment. Then, I get text messages from the sitter each testing time.

Hope you get to take a vacation!

 

[knolet]

Re: Pet sitters?

If you need my documents that I composed and printed out for her, just let me know.

Hi, I'm sorry to highjack this post, but I was wondering if you could share with me the docs that you composed for your pet sitter. I had posted a week ago looking for a pet sitter as I need to go out of town for work, but I didn't get any response. Luckily (I hope), I found a local pet sitter business and will be meeting with the owner & her daughter next week - their website says they're licensed bonded and insured, so I hope that they work out for me. In the meantime, I need to come up with questions to ask during the interview as well as creating documents about our daily routine - testing, feeding, shots etc.. If you don't mind sharing with me, that will give me a headstart, and I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks so much,
Kathie

 

[RuthV]

Re: Pet sitters?

Hi. I hired a regular pet sitter who was very highly recommended, and I taught her how to test. She all ready knew how to give shots. If you need my documents that I composed and printed out for her, just let me know.

Make sure you print out the "How to Treat Hypos," for the sitter. I leave the hypo kit on the bar with an oral syringe in the bag, and I put the whole thing right on top of the print out. Also, I go to the emergency vet nearest to me, give them my credit card and sign a sheet identifying the pet sitter as the person who can authorize treatment. Then, I get text messages from the sitter each testing time.

Hope you get to take a vacation!

____________
Wow - what good ideas, esp. abt the vet and the credit card.

 

[Manouk & Billy]

Re: Pet sitters?

First of all, thanks to everyone for the replies!

We actually do have automatic feeders, we bought 2 models like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Ani-Mate-Inc-C20- ... cat+feeder. It's helpful and works well, but the problem is that it isn't refrigerated. Any wet food that goes in there turns bad pretty fast, and like I said, I don't want to risk bad numbers for Billy again, so I'm not going near dry food. He's been off the juice for a while now and I hope we can continue this way! :mrgreen:

I just bought 4 ice paks for the feeders (we used to tape ice packs in the second half of the machine and put ice cubes in the food), hopefully that will help. I never though of making ice cubes out of the food itself, that is a genius idea! Would some of you happen to know how long in advance the iced food can be out of the freezer?

Let's say I use the first half of the feeder for wet food, put some regular ice cubes in it and an ice pak underneath, and then use the second half for iced wet food with another ice pak underneath, how much time do you think I could be away without having to worry? Anyone tried that?
If not, I guess I'll do some tests whenever I receive the ice paks!

Rhiannon, that horror story gave me shivers. Poor kitty.

Also, the printed document for shots & hypos is a wonderful idea. Billy doesn't need shots, though, so it would only make the hypothetical sitter's job a bit easier! The cats only need to be fed wet food. Now, if I could just show them how to open the cans, everything would be just great... :lol: