Amy (and co) of Oh My Dog (https://ohmydogsitters.com/) is happy to fill in for me when I’m not available. (Auntie Suze has retired.) Despite the business name, Amy & her employees are all very good & have lots of experience with shy cats.
If I’m not available for a day or two of your trip, no sweat; we can easily plug in someone else to fill the gap. You decide what you want to do about cat care when I’m not available & we’ll make it work.
Amy’s abbreviated biography
Amy grew up in a family of humans as well as furry & feathered domestic & farm animals. She’s loving & gentle with all animals & has experience with young, old, well, & not-so-well. As an adult, she’s managed her own furry family members with allergies, auto-immune disorders, Addison’s disease, Cushings, arthritis, hip dysplasia, cancer(s), kidney disease, UTIs, surgeries, physical therapy, alternative therapies, the list goes on. Amy understands the level of care & attention to detail required to care for animals with special needs.
Why did I ask Amy to work with me? Because she’s a warm, affectionate, tender, smart, funny, responsible, attentive, conscientious, dependable, easy-going, honest, perceptive, trustworthy, mature, patient, joyful, gal who is a natural when understanding kitty body language. She’s especially gifted at befriending shy cats.
Amy has a couple of thoroughly vetted employees. They, too, are gifted with shy cats & understand what it takes to work with cats who have special needs. Amy is exceedingly picky about who she hires & their onboarding is mor extensive than any other sitter I’ve heard of. I wouldn’t hesitate to have Amy or her employees take care of my own cats.
How does it work to have Amy fill in?
I always ask clients how they want to handle cat care on days when I’m not available. I can make all the arrangements with Amy behind the scenes so the only difference they’ll notice is that the daily updates come from a different auntie. Some people like to meet Amy before she fills in for me, so I get them in contact with Amy to work out those details. Others prefer to have me take care of the details behind-the-scenes so they don’t have anything extra on their To Do list before their trips.
Amy has the same pet sitting insurance & bonding as me, so clients have the same peace of mind when she fills in for me. I’m usually available to Amy when she is on-duty, so she can contact me if questions arise. Our plan is that if she ever notices anything not-quite-right, she’d contact me so I’m informed & I’m calling the shots. In emergencies, of course she’d contact the client immediately & get a kitty to a vet. I’d meet her at the emergency vet so I could take over and be the person in charge during the emergency. That seems to make the most sense given that I have a long relationship with my extended feline family members. (knock on wood) So far we haven’t had any emergencies.
I feel extremely lucky to have gotten Amy on-board. I asked her several years ago, but at that time she wasn’t able to take on the extra work. I’m so glad that by the time I asked again, she was happy to help.
