Adventures In Pet Sitting: My Craziest Week Ever!

  Posted on March 2, 2021  by Joy of Living  No comments

While pet sitting the last twelve years, I’ve had challenges occasionally.  Water turned off in middle of summer, doors locked with no key for entry to name a couple.  Never, though, have so many crazy problems occurred in the same week!

Pet Sitting Adventure #1

The week began as any other, until I received a text from a long time client.  I was scheduled to do overnight stays with her dogs beginning on Thursday………turns out she’d gotten the date wrong, overnight was actually to begin on Wednesday!  An adjustment, definitely, but not insurmountable.

Pet Sitting Adventure #2

I was also cat sitting for long time feline friend, Max.  Max is a cool kitty, we usually have a good time together.  There was a hitch this time, though, the house was being remodeled.  Strange sounds, smells and people had Max very stressed.

To keep him safe, I decided to close him off in a space downstairs in the basement.  Being a cat, he wasn’t happy with the closed doors, but he was safe.  The arrangement worked fine, until Wednesday night.

Weather was bad that day.  It rained the entire day and through the night.  Upon arriving at Max’s house Thursday morning, the remodeling crew told me the basement was flooded.  Panic set in, my first thought, is Max ok??

I extracted Max from the situation, and got him to a safer spot upstairs.  He was steadily meowing, but otherwise fine.  To read Max’s entire story, click here.

Pet Sitting Adventure #3

At this point, I hoped the rest of the week would go smoothly.  No, fate had a little more in store for me!  I was cat sitting for Oliver.  He’s a great little guy, and our visits are always fun……and calm.

I arrived for his visit, keyed in the garage door code…..and the door did not open. Oliver was a fairly new client, and his people hadn’t gotten a key made for me yet.  I called Oliver’s people, and thankfully their friend and neighbor came over to help.

The neighbor was very familiar with the house and knew there was a doggy door.  He found the door and was able to crawl through it to provide access to the house.

Turns out Oliver’s people had keys made a few days ago, but hadn’t gotten one to me.  Needless to say, I got one of the copies to leave via the front door and lock it behind me!

Conclusion

Normally, I dread Mondays. After that week, though, I was hoping for Monday to be the start of a calm, normal week.  Don’t know if I could’ve handled another week like the one I wrote of above!

When I tell people what I do for a living, the response is often: “that sounds like so much fun!”  Yes, there is fun, but you must also be prepared for anything.  Quick thinking and problem solving comes into the mix much more often than many people realize.

I’ve been a pet sitter for twelve years and never had a week like the one I wrote about here.  I look back on it now and wonder if there’s a lesson for me in all this.  It hasn’t become clear, until it does, I’ve got dogs to walk and kitties to visit, so away I go!