Cat Sitting in Brauers

Rachael

Sofia and Nicole were excellent sitters to our 2 playful cats (an adult tabby and a BIG Maine coon kitten). They gave us a couple updates daily with pictures, as we requested. They were easy to communicate with before and throughout the entire sit. When we came home, our apartment was tidy (probably neater than we left it!) and our cats were relaxed and happy. They were also kind enough to leave us with some sweet bandanas for our boys. We were super pleased with the quality of care, and would happily recommend Sofia and Nicole to anyone in need of a pet or house sitter!

Mike

Cung was a wonderful cat sitter and housesitter and we would happily invite him back again. He was excellent with our cats and sent plenty of photos, and also left the house impeccably clean. We had to come back a day early and so we got to spend some time with him which we enjoyed as well. 10 out of 10 recommend! 

Steven

Our review is written by Steven (house owner, host + my father) + also by Kim (the daughter).

Written by Kim: This was our first house sit since the passing of my mother in late Dec 2023.  I was helping my father Steven (whose profile it is) manage all the emails + try + find a great house sitter + came along Gretchen’s profile! Not only is she a cool cat + someone you might want to get to know, I found myself quickly talking to her. I shortly found out her profile is just a glimpse of how interesting she is but talking to her was so much better!  She is a world traveler with many experiences + stories to share. We quickly became conversationalists who could talk forever + probably will continue to do so! Thank you TH! 

She is easy to communicate with + continued the consistent communication all along our journey of having her as our *first* guest after my mom’s passing. It was clearly a time filled with anxiety + sensitivity so there were some sensitive topics to go over + Gretchen got it right away.  A few of our rooms in the house were off-limits (as they housed my mom’s things) but we reassured her the house has ample space for her to enjoy + there are many lovely outdoor spaces to boot!  When she arrived she felt she was in paradise + really relished in the outdoor beauty + the indoor coziness. We were happy to share it with someone who appreciated it so much! 

She also was very understanding with the fact that both my dad + I would both be involved as we both handled different parts of the stay. Me, writing + setting up the Welcome Guide + would go over the situation but then upon her arrival my dad would take over + answer any questions mostly during her sit. The good part of having 2 people is she had accessibility to us both, in the case she needed it + sometimes it came up! She juggled all the communication oh so well.  My mom usually handled most of the logistics so this being our first time we were nervous something would come up we might not know but it didn’t!  It was new territory for us + we wanted to make sure she had everything. 

Gretchen handled it all with such ease, seamlessly, really respecting our wishes/desires + taking all the information into her hands + making it seem easy on her end to do so. 

She was easy to coordinate schedules with!  There was a gap in her 1st + 2nd sit but everything went seamlessly even when my flight had a day long delay. She was able to coordinate schedules with me arriving in between, then leaving, my dad arriving different days + us extending the trip too. It all worked out! We were all a good team!

She absolutely loved our older cat, Benny + he fast + furiously fell in love with her oh so easily. When I saw him, he looked oh so loved + after saying hi to me went over to ‘her’ bed + slept there waiting for her to come back. She sent many pictures, videos + even cute creations + toys she made for our Benny + it was obvious the house + our Benny were her first priority. 

She even asked us if she could help prune our flowers/shrubs, something my mom used to do + honestly it was an honor to hear her ask that. She was welcome to set up her art studio + play away. She was very communicative when our house cleaner, landscape gardener + house manager showered up for different reasons. When I arrived back for a short stint before she came back the 2nd time our mail was so well organized it was an assembly line! She also offered to take down our xmas tree (as we were a bit behind in taking down our xmas decorations) + she was sensitive to the fact that we were adjusting to a new normal. 
Thank you so much Gretchen! You made our first sit in a long time so seamless + such a relief that we are ready now to host again. We only wish we could have more Gretchen’s! (She’s also a super talented artist!)

Written by Steven: Overall, Gretchen has been an absolute treasure.  She has fulfilled our goals for a house sitter perfectly - she took good care of the house, great care of our treasured pet, Mr. Benny + took care of the grounds such as watering a few plants + trees.  She excelled in all the above + is welcome back anytime I will be out of town in the future.

Bill & Kathy

We were so pleased to meet John and Trisha! We had them come in a day before we left and enjoyed a nice meal with them and they got to meet Delilah (even if she didn’t seem interested) but she soon warmed up to them - except for the Cat Videos - she wasn’t very interested 🤣 When we returned our home was so clean (probably cleaner than we left it)! We got frequent pics and updates on our Princess! They also left us with a Progress Report with Delilah’s activities and what they did at the house before they left.
We would highly recommend John & Trisha if you are lucky enough to have them apply for a House Sitters job!

Bill, Kathy & Delilah 🐈‍⬛❤️

Tonya

Brian is a very professional sitter that does a good job, pays attention to details and is easy to work with. I have a lot of plants. A lot. He suggested me do a video for the plant care so he could be sure of which ones needed what. Brilliant! I’d never thought of that. They were in great shape when I returned. 
I explained that I needed some flexibility with travel dates, he agreed and rolled with the punches like a champ when my dates did indeed change. Unfortunately, he was a bit allergic to my cat but made it work anyway. He was really awesome about everything including a tree that fell next door in a storm and blocked the road for three days. I appreciate that he appreciated how funny and how much personality Boo has. They got along well and I received some great videos. I returned home to a happy cat and a house well taken care of 😊. I would definitely recommend Brian.

Nancy

Kathy and Ron arrived at our home with a most fantastical toy for our cats and a giant apple pie. Need I say more? They are very experienced sitters and brought personal items that they prefer. We knew we were leaving out cats in good hands. 

A large part of their 'job' was hand watering our garden and Ron took that in stride. Everything is thriving. 

Our cats are usually distant with new people but we received photos of them keeping Kathy and Ron company in various situations which was reassuring. They clearly won our cats over. 

Although Ron and Kathy had a ferry to catch on their last day, they took time to wash  their linens and hang them on the clothesline. They also left us a gorgeous plant for our garden. 

We would very much like to have them back for a longer sit if possible.

MARILYN

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Kathryn!  I needed to extend dates for the sit after we had set it up and she was able to accommodate this so was actually here from 10/4-20.  She was timely and communicative throughout - and she is a very nice person.   She kept the house really tidy and followed all instructions well.  My cats took to her quickly.  When I returned, they had been very well cared for and seemed fully content even though I'd never left them for long before.  While away, I reached out to Kathryn by text several times regarding deliveries, etc.  She was very prompt in responding and adept at handling issues as they arose.  I highly recommend Kathryn as a house sitter - and would happily work with her again!

Steven

Greetings Pet People, 
I am a bit late leaving my review for Kristine who is local to us and has taken care of our kitties Max and Luis a few times this year. 
After COVID-19 was announced in March, our travel plans came to an abrupt halt. We had to cancel a lot of trips we had planned but decided that it was safe to go camping a couple of times this summer.
We called on Kristine as one of our favorite sitters on this site. We discussed safety protocols and agreed to cleaning that we would do to leave the house safe for her to enter. She shared protocols that she had taken with other homeowners and had sound processes to make us feel safe leaving our cats and our home in her care. 
She even purchased batteries for our automatic cat feeder when it failed to let one of our confused kitties to eat. 
Kristine is a smart, humorous and a thoughtful person. I would not hesitate to recommend her for your sit.  She truly loves animals and taking care of your home. Highly recommended! Thanks Kristine!

Heather

Jose was a wonderful pet/house sitter for us recently. We highly recommend him. He was wonderfully reliable and responsible and took such good care of our two pets.  

On short notice Jose drove down from Grass Valley to the East Bay for a bit of a quiet get-away while working a really hard job teaching online.  We know how hard that is firsthand and partly why we needed our own get-away for a last-minute backpacking trip.

We have a recently rescued pit bull and a rescued cat that we're still introducing to each other to make sure the dog doesn't eat the cat (as he seems to want to), and the cat doesn't blind the dog (as she would if he tried to eat her). That might be more background than is needed in a review but Jose made us feel comfortable about everything because of how conscientious and responsible he clearly is. We could tell when we talked to him that he was genuinely kind and eminently trustworthy.

We are very grateful and hope Jose was happy with everything too because we know what a value his care was to us. Jose truly deserves any and all house-sitting gigs that strike his interest. Ours was not the easiest and he was amazing.  Get him if you can.

Steven

Kristine was wonderful again as our local sitter from just down the street. 
The boys take to her like she is their best friend whenever she comes to sit with them. She sent us photos of them playing, relaxing, drinking water and eating so we knew they were well taken care of. 
The house and the cats were in excellent shape and excellent hands while we were away. It is wonderful that she enjoys the house and the cats so much and tells us so.
Kristine comes with our highest recommendation!
Thank you Kristine!