Cat Sitting in Van Buren County

Gary and Carol were great, very friendly , enjoyed them staying a couple extra days with us! Did a great job of taking care of pets!

Shirley left eveything as she found it. The cats seemed to do well while we were away.

I would highly recommend Tracey. She is kind, caring and easy to work with. This is the second time Tracey has come to stay with Boz. Like before, she was responsible, dependable, clean, self sufficient, and Boz was a happy girl when I got home. The garden was also well taken care of. Thanks so much Tracey. You are welcome back anytime!

I felt at ease leaving my fur kids with Emerson. I hope to have her back!

Elizabeth was fantastic and we would absolutely have her again. She is a great communicator, checked with us if she wasn't sure, took good care of Lulu, and was overall wonderful.

Lauren and Jeremy were wonderful house sitters. I would ask them back or recommend them without hesitation. They communicated clearly, and took wonderful care my pets, house and garden. They left the place cleaner than it started and generously offered to help in ways that I hadn't asked but that were very kind and thoughtful. I felt very comfortable with my animals and home in their care.

Richard and I are very happy that we chose Dara. We were very comfortable leaving our dogs and our house in her care for three months. As for every home, over this period of time unforeseen issues arose. Dara was very good at communicating with us and following up on our suggestions/solutions to resolutions. Dara is very reliable, calm and easy to speak with. Our dogs were well taken care of and, I’m sure, sorry to see her leave😊. We couldn’t have asked for a better sitter.

I was very happy to have Meredith in our home and watching our cat. She was very responsive and considerate and took good care of everything. Thank you!

(The English version follow) Tout était parfait avec Elise! Dès son entrée dans la maison, j'ai perçu son intérêt et sa douceur envers Anna et Boris. Elle s'est montrée très attentive à mes attentes et a posé de bonnes questions pour s'assurer de bien comprendre le fonctionnement à la maison. J'aurais aimé recevoir plus de nouvelles de Anne et Boris lors de mon absence. Je vais m'assurer que cet aspect soit plus clair lors de mon prochain gardiennage. La maison était super propre... au delà même de mes attentes !. Elise m'a même laissé des fraises fraiches et du chocolat pour mon retour. Quelle douce pensée ! Pour toutes ces raisons, je recommende chaudement Elise ! --------------------------------------- Everything was perfect with Elise! As soon as she entered the house, I felt her interest and gentleness towards Anna and Boris. She was very attentive to my expectations and asked good questions to make sure she understood how the house worked. I would have liked to receive more news from Anne and Boris during my absence. I will make sure that this aspect is clearer during my next house-sitting. The house was super clean... beyond my expectations! Elise even left me fresh strawberries and chocolate for my return. What a sweet thought! For all these reasons, I highly recommend Elise!

When we select a sitter, we read every review in addition to conducting some sort of video interview. We really rely upon the experiences of past hosts, so that’s why I believe it important to be honest in this review. I love giving out 5 star reviews and do quite frequently, but I also need to share any less-than-positive experiences as well for those hosts who rely upon reviews such as we do. As such, I’m a bit ambivalent about writing this review of Katie, as there were some really good things Katie did while here. She is a lovely, energetic woman who responded immediately to the concerns I voiced to her during the time she watched our pets; however, the “negatives” we experienced speak to the heart of the importance of having a dedicated pet sitter. For the most part, our home was left tidy and neat – which is no small feat as ours is a large house and I appreciate the care Katie took in ensuring we walked into a clean home. That said, Katie failed to notice my dogs had urinated in both of their dog beds and on the floor of our downstairs office, which we believed happened in the first part of the sit and resulted in the downstairs smelling of stale urine. Further, because she didn’t notice the urine, my pets, when downstairs, had to either sleep on the bare floor or in wet beds, neither of which is a satisfactory option. Also, my dogs don’t generally urinate in the house as they have access to a doggie door, and this seemed more a sign of their distress or discomfort. I believe this incident was part of a larger problem I experienced with Katie and that was in the manner in which she approached this sit. I advertised dates of July 6 – July 22. We generally ask our sitters to come in a day or two early as to walk them through the schedule for both our animals and our many plants, as well as to give them time to get to know the animals and experience a little of the town we live in. We also provide a very detailed introduction and welcome guide which outlines our expectations. Katie came in late in the day on the 7th, without personal transportation, which necessitated us picking her up and then my neighbor taking her to a rental cart company the next day because we left very early on the morning of the 8th. This abbreviated introductory time didn’t allow us to fully prepare Katie for the sit and allowed for some apparent “misunderstandings.” The “issue” for me was for the first five days of our 13-day trip, Katie was away from the house for up to 13 hours at a time – leaving our two, older rescue dogs, who have some separation anxiety - alone and with an extended time between meals. It was clear Katie was using this opportunity to visit many of the beautiful areas which surround where we live – hence using our home as more of an Airbnb to vacation – than a house sit dedicated to caring for our animals. Our dogs are fine with being alone for up to six hours but even that, for multiple days in a row, is, frankly, distressing to our animals and to us, as owners. To Katie’s credit, when I called and brought her daily, extended time away to her attention and reiterated my wishes the dogs not be left for more than 6 hours, she changed her schedule and while still gone every day, capped her time away at six hours. And, as I said, she is cheerful and responsive; hence, the ambivalence is positing my concerns with this sit. I think if Katie is provided with very clear expectations prior to the sit and understands exactly what is needed and expected, she will absolutely deliver. For whatever reason, from the start, this sit was rushed, there appeared to be too many misunderstandings, and it ended up being frustrating for us in ways other sits have not been.