Friday, February 27, 2015

Factors To Consider Before Hiring Any Pet Sitters

By Earlene McGee


Pet caregivers do much more than just provide your beloved pet with food and water. A good sitter will also spend some quality time with your animal, give him exercise and also know how to tell whether they need veterinary attention. Furthermore, dog sitters typically provide additional services like bringing newspapers, watering plants, turning on lights and providing homes with lived like look to scare away thieves. However, just because someone calls himself a dog/cat sitter does not make them good at it. By reading this article, you will be equipped with useful tips for choosing the best pet sitters in Houston TX.

For a start, you can ask for referrals from friends, colleagues, your vet or even the employees at your local animal shelter. Word of mouth tend to be trustworthy since you can always ask the referrers for specifics why they are recommending a particular sitter. You can also expect a good sitter to be recommended by a majority of his/her past clients and vice versa for one who is not all that reputable.

Obviously, a sitter with experience will put you more at ease compared to a novice. However, it is also important to look for someone with relevant experience. What this means is that he/she should have worked with your specific type of pet before. For example, if you have a big pit bull with a habit of breaking out of its leash, you should look for a sitter who has dealt with such in the past.

When meeting the sitter, it would also be good be good to find out if he/she has commercial liability insurance to cater for accidents with your pets or negligence in your home. For instance, should the caregiver accidentally break your kitchen window playing with the dog, his/her insurer should always cater for the damage. Apart from the commercial liability cover, the sitter will also need to have a personal injury cover.

Unless you are very rich, you will also want to compare quotes from a number of caregivers before making a choice. This will help you save some cash even if just a few dollars. However, you need to be very skeptical with caregivers whose rates are suspiciously low. This might be a sign that their services are not all that up to standards.

You should also take some time to go through the sitters papers before giving him the contract. He/she ought to have undergone some training in animal care. Being in possession of a certificate from recognized organization is proof enough that you are dealing with someone who knows what he/she is doing.

Before you let any sitter start working for you, you should also ask him for a binding contract. This will ensure that everybody know his/her roles and what to expect from the other party. However, before you append your signature on the said contract, you should be sure that you understand its contents.

With the above tips in mind, finding a good dog sitter will not be such a big problem. You however ought to start the search early enough. This is meant to avoid last minute rush.




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