When you’re going on vacation, your first priority should be to find someone to care for your pets. Trusting someone to care for your fur-babies can be difficult. You’re putting the wellbeing of your pet in a stranger’s hands, which is why you’ll need to ensure that you pick the right pet sitter. In this article, we’ll be going over what you should look for when hiring a pet sitter. 

Experience

The most important trait to look for when considering a pet sitter is their experience. An experienced pet sitter will know how to react in emergency situations, and will be able to handle more difficult pets. For dogs, they’ll need to know how to walk them responsibly, and read your dog’s body language. They should also know how to handle your feline friends, especially for finicky cats. 

Trustworthy & Responsible

The pet sitter you hire should be both trustworthy and responsible, considering the fact that your pet’s wellbeing is dependent on them. You should be able to trust that they will care for your pet, and provide them with love and attention while you’re away. If you’re planning for your pet sitter to stay in your home, you’ll also need to place a lot of trust in them to look after your house as well. 

Your pet sitter should also be very responsible when it comes to feeding your pet, and ensuring they get the right amount of walk or play times for exercise. They should ensure that your pet’s water bowl is always full, and that your pet isn’t closed up anywhere inside or outside the house, especially during summer seasons. 

Caring

Naturally, your pet sitter of choice should be very caring. Your fur-babies will require a lot of attention while you’re away to help them feel more at ease. Whomever you hire to look after your fur-babies will need to give them as much attention as possible while staying with them. 

Do your pets like them?

Of course one of the most important things to consider when hiring a pet sitter, is if your pets like them! Consider meeting beforehand with your candidate so that they can introduce themselves to yourself and your-fur babies. You can get a better idea of how well they’ll get along with one another and see how your cats or dogs respond to them. 

Are they familiar with local vets?

Ideally, your pet sitter of choice should at least have some familiarity with local vets and how to reach them in the event of an emergency. You could also refer them to your vet of choice and provide them with their details as well should they need it. In any event, they should be aware of what to do in an emergency situation and preferably have a mode of transport to reach the vet just in case. 

This also applies to older or pets in need of frequent medical care, your pet sitter will also be responsible for taking your pets for check ups if they’re required frequently. In this event, you’ll also need to inform your local vet of your travel arrangements, and provide them with the contact details of your sitter.