In July I introduced this FAQ series by?explaining how I became a traveling house- and pet-sitter. Earlier this month I identified?how I find my gigs. Now I’d like to share some of the best and occasionally challenging parts of pet-sitting.
I could go on endlessly about the awesomeness of getting to hang out with animals all the time. I mean, seriously: people pay me to hang out with their pets, how lucky am I?!
- Although I miss having a pet of my own, it’s fabulous to get to constantly make new furry friends. I appreciate the chance to help them feel comfortable and happy while their people are away and find it especially gratifying when I win over the anxious or standoffish ones, who often wind up being some of my most adoring four-legged fans – such a warm and fuzzy feeling!
- Seeing people light up around animals gives me hope for humankind. With so much bad news out there about violence and greed, it’s easy to sometimes forget that there is also goodness inherent to humanity. Seeing uninhibited smiles arrive on faces of folks I pass out on dog walks serves as a reminder, as does the apparent delight and love of the pet parents I work with.
- It’s fun to see the ways that pet parents spoil their fur kids and get the chance to dote on them myself. In some houses, this may look like an outlandish number of toys – one dog dad I worked with discovered that his senior dog liked one toy in his collection better than the others so he wound up buying several duplicates of it. Sometimes it entails specific rituals, like instructions offered to engage the cat with a particular toy in a specific way that they like best or brushing it while it eats dinner, otherwise it won’t finish the meal. Other folks have special treats like a Kong filled with peanut butter anytime the dogs were left home alone, a serving of green beans given as a midday snack, or a small saucer of milk at bedtime. It brings me joy every time a client explains their particular manner of pampering.
- The calm and relaxation associated with playing and caring for cats and dogs are?backed up by science, which has documented that we experience a boost in both serotonin and dopamine levels.
- Research has shown?that close relationships with dogs, in particular, may result in the release of oxytocin in our brains by way of a similar positive feedback loop as that experienced between mothers and infants. Referred to as the “love hormone,” increased oxytocin in the brain has?several anti-stress benefits, including reduced blood pressure, reduced cortisol levels, (the hormone associated with stress), reduced anxiety, increased pain thresholds, and promotion of growth and healing.
It’s Not Always Sunshine and Roses
Although I looooove animals, I have to be honest: they’re not all well-behaved angels who are easy to care for!
- I’ve watched ones who will turn anything they can get their paws on into a chew toy, resulting in mangled orthotic inserts for my shoes, ruined Invisalign trays, water bottle lids that barely screw on, and more.
- Sometimes pet-sitters experience a sort of “substitute teacher effect” and the animals will test their limits to see what they can get away with. On some occasions when I’ve asked about an unruly activity or reported on the breaking of what I was told was a well-established rule, it’s met with surprise because the lil’ stinkers “haven’t done that in years” or “know better.”
- Nothing surpasses the anxiety experienced when an animal in my care goes missing. Recently I had a chicken escape its coop and after spending several hours looking for it in the neighborhood, I eventually gave up the search and located it the following morning under the back porch. And once a mama kitty somehow broke out of a bedroom only to be discovered in another area of the home several days later, having apparently needed a vacation from her maternal duties. So stressful!
- Reactive dogs may seem especially unpredictable when you don’t know them well. I’ve been warned by a few pet parents that it’s best to cross the street when encountering other dogs on walks and given other helpful heads-ups about ways the animal may respond in different types of situations. But there are still often surprises and triggers encountered that I’ve had to navigate.
- Although travel pet-sitting makes a lot of travel and adventures possible, the tradeoff is that it restricts my freedom. Whether it’s a feeding or medicine schedule to adhere to or the bathroom breaks of a doggo to plan around, I am accustomed to living with schedule restrictions when meeting up with friends, going on hikes and bike rides, or planning work shifts out of the house.
- Sleep disruptions are a recurring issue because every household is on its own schedule and I often have to conform to whatever that is regardless of my routine, preferences, or circadian rhythms. Although some pets are flexible about their feeding schedule and daily routine, most rely on the predictability of their normal schedule and will insist on me sticking to it by way of early morning barks, head bunts, pawing at doors, kneading on me, and so on. There have also been several puppies and senior dogs who required multiple middle-of-the-night bathroom breaks. ?
- Although most of the pets I sit are affectionate and at ease while in my care, there have now been four notable bite incidents. One of these was so traumatic that it nearly merited an emergency room visit, and the client and I agreed to cancel the sit before they even got a chance to leave the house; I still bear two mouth-shaped scars on my foot from that episode. Having been a pet parent to an occasionally vicious feline a la Lucy Fur, I’m no stranger to my share of bites and scratch marks. But it’s a much scarier situation with pets you don’t know well and don’t have experience managing once they’re triggered.
- Although it’s obviously not as tough as saying farewell to my own pets, it’s always sad to learn that an animal friend crossed the rainbow bridge. I do, however, appreciate the clients who recognized how deeply I cared about their pets and understood that I’d want to know they were no longer with us here on the earthly plane. (RIP to Marley and Molech.)
