House/Animal Sitting Recommendations

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Looking for some help from the CP brain trust.

I have some friends who normally do this for me but sometimes it doesn’t line up right with their availability, especially around the holidays. With how often I travel I wouldn’t mind having a solid backup from an actual house/pet sitter.

I only have a cat so all they really need to do is make sure she’s alive, feed/water her and make sure my place hasn’t burnt down or been broken into or flooded or whatever.

The house sitting part is a little bit of a worry to me because of the trust factor and not wanting to get robbed or have some crazy squatter take over my place.

Any recommendations? I’m in the beltline of that matters.

[RichieRich]

Generally word of mouth amoungst family friends and work colleagues reveals a few trusted and competent people some of which like formal payment and others who prefer cash.
We have sometimes had friends teenage kid(s) earn a few extra $$$ by doing doing house checks, watering, etc.

[Fuzz]

I haven't used them yet, but there are a couple services to help you find someone:

https://www.rover.com/ca/calgary--ab--pet-sitting/

https://en.pawshake.ca/search?servic...LOCATION_BASED

[CroFlames]

CP could use it to host house parties and we can pretend we're in highschool again.

[Barnes]

This is who we've used in the past. Always very happy with them. Have had at least 4 different people sit our dog.

https://assuredhomeandpetcare.com/

[Bigtime]

While we haven't used her yet (neighbours usually do the trick for us too) I would most likely go with Cat Mom Calgary if needed. Married to a good YYCBike friend, located in East Village and travels to site via bike.

https://catmomcalgary.com/

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Barnes

This is who we've used in the past. Always very happy with them. Have had at least 4 different people sit our dog.

https://assuredhomeandpetcare.com/

We used them as well and have 1 cat. They feed, do litter, get the mail, check the house and hang out with the cat for 20-30 minutes each day. Ours texted me photos of the cat each day as well.

They can do twice a day (or stay at your house) but it's a cat and ours isn't overly needy so once a day was fine.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

I've used 2:

pet-pals.ca (there is a website)
pawsnpetalsyyc (she just has facebook for now)

Both were absolutely amazing.
They will visit 1 or 2 times a day (depending on how much you want to pay) and will feed, clean litter, and play with the cats for about 15 minutes.
They even had to give one of our cats pills twice a day and they were able/willing to do that.
They send a daily message with an update and pics.

Really can't recommend highly enough.

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I haven't used them yet, but there are a couple services to help you find someone:

https://www.rover.com/ca/calgary--ab--pet-sitting/

https://en.pawshake.ca/search?servic...LOCATION_BASED

We've used Rover once, everything went smoothly. The sitter even visited ahead of time to make sure our somewhat reactive pups were ok with her.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I haven't used them yet, but there are a couple services to help you find someone:

https://www.rover.com/ca/calgary--ab--pet-sitting/

https://en.pawshake.ca/search?servic...LOCATION_BASED

I have used Rover and was satisfied. The first week, Rover takes quite a cut on what the sitter actually gets. If you want more than that first week, make a deal with the sitter and don't go through Rover for subsequent time needed.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Thanks all. As usual CP delivers. That should be more than enough to get me started.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Thanks all. As usual CP delivers. That should be more than enough to get me started.

But we haven't had enough time to derail this thread!

You should demand to know the political leanings of all of these recommendations.

[topfiverecords]

You should ask your new friend from across the street.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Generally word of mouth amoungst family friends and work colleagues reveals a few trusted and competent people some of which like formal payment and others who prefer cash.
We have sometimes had friends teenage kid(s) earn a few extra $$$ by doing doing house checks, watering, etc.

Ha, wait. We're supposed to get paid for looking after our neighbour's house every winter??

[surferguy]

So I have a friend coming to stay at our place for 10 days while we are on vacation. She will be looking after my cat while here. We haven’t talked about compensation, I have no idea what is fair? Any suggestions?

[Lumby Lager]

Originally Posted by surferguy

So I have a friend coming to stay at our place for 10 days while we are on vacation. She will be looking after my cat while here. We haven’t talked about compensation, I have no idea what is fair? Any suggestions?

We pay our cat sitter $20 a day for hanging out and feeding the cats twice a day without staying at our place. I have a colleague that house sits while she pet sits and she only charges $25 a day.

Most people that are willing to stay at your home and house sit is because staying in your home is usually better then their current living conditions, whether it be for privacy for a while from roommates or they live alone anyway. I think having free run of a nice home at no cost to them is generally enough compensation.

[Coach]

I found if you out out a social media story that you need a pet sitter you get a flood of people looking to help out.

People who don't have pets like pets for the most part. Having one for a few hours/days can be nice. As pet owners you can forget that a bit.