5.0

Born into a family of animal lovers, I have had dogs of all breeds and sizes throughout my life, from little bitty rat terriers to big labs, huskies, and shepherds- including puppies and seniors. I have dogsat for my mother's black lab and my mother-in-law's boxers many times over the years, and for ten months as part of my role as caregiver for my mother-in-law's elderly parents, I cared for her three boxers and their Chihuahua for 8-10 hours every day. Now, as I care for my sister's three children for up to 14 hours a day while she's at work, I also tend to her two cats, one-year-old puppy, parrot, snake, gecko, and multiple tanks of fish. I'm happy to care for other pets as well; I currently have five cats and I have had rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, and both aquatic and terrestrial turtles before and cared for friends' ferrets, chinchillas, chickens, and various reptiles. I even have a client who has a brood of ducks and I spent time around cows and horses as a young child! I also helped to manage a colony of feral cats in Yorktown for the better part of a year and am co-founder of a hermit crab rescue and education organization. With my many years of experience with all sorts of critters, I have the patience to calmly win over shy or aloof kitties as well as the quiet firmness to work with large or territorial doggos. I love to play tug-of-war and fetch, run around the backyard, snuggle, and I give fantastic scratchies and belly rubs! I'm happy to feed both simple and complicated meals (I am a huge proponent of raw feeding!); give oral, topical, and subcutaneous medications; clean up accidents; etc. as needed, and I enjoy making natural treats and toys from scratch, too. As a natural night owl, I would be more than willing to take a client who needs their baby checked on overnight or is used to staying up late. As my many repeat clients and their five-star reviews would attest, I am the definition of "above and beyond" and take pride in going the extra mile to make my furry clients and their people as happy as possible; I also take care of your home while you're away: taking out the trash, bringing in the mail, watering houseplants, filling birdfeeders, etc, and will at least have your bedding in the dryer before I leave (if not dried and back on the bed!) because I know how crummy it feels to come home to an overflowing trash can and dirty dishes and a dirty bed after a long day of traveling! While spending my days and nights with cats and dogs is fun (and the best way on Earth to make a living!), this is my job and my business, not a side gig or just a fun way to make pocket money or fill spare time. I take it seriously and I do things by the book. With that said, please take a moment to read over the following. Forgive my thoroughness, but I find it best for everyone for me to be forthright and detailed ahead of time, answering some common questions before they're asked and preventing any confusion or conflicts later on. (*putting on my Grown-Up Business Lady voice*): Important Policy Statements - Rover's policies require EACH pet in the house to have its own profile on your account, whether you believe it requires much care from me or not, even for drop-ins. Accidents or injuries that occur with an animal without a profile during a stay will not be covered by the Rover Guarantee or their insurance and, at this time, I do not have separate pet-sitting insurance of my own. I do discount fees for each additional animal; I am willing to consider further discounts for multiple cats or small animals on a case-by-case basis, but even pets with automated feeders need checking on (machines fail!) and loving on (kitties need affection!) and are under my responsibility while you are away. I will always change fees for animals not being tended to on a walk, such as a pup's feline sibling, to free. I just have to have them covered on the service! - House-sitting for just cats will be booked at the same rate as for dogs, *not* at the drop-in cat rate. (Yes, people have asked me to stay in their house overnight with their cat for $10 a night!) - All booking and payment for services go through Rover. Taking service arrangements and payment off of Rover can get both you and I banned from Rover (thus killing my only source of income) and no accidents that might occur during service would be covered by the Rover Guarantee or their insurance and, as previously stated, I do not have separate pet-sitting insurance of my own at this time. Reimbursement or funds for supplies needed during your service, such as kibble or litter, can be sent through other popular services and social media networks we all know and love (and shall not be named here, for Reasons. *wink-wink*,*nudge-nudge*) - I require a Meet & Greet for all clients before confirming a service request, preferably at a public, dog-friendly park near your home. This is so 1) your dog can meet me in neutral territory before I show up at their home while their people are gone, 2) you are comfortable with me before you invite me into your home, and 3) so I can get all the information I need to care for your animals and your home before you leave and can confirm that you, your dogs, and I are all a good fit for each other. I generally prefer to follow you to your home after our initial meeting so you can show me around, we both can ask any further questions that arise during my tour, and your puppers see me in their home with you there before I show up while you're gone, by which time they already know and love me! For stately clients of either the human or furry kind who have mobility issues or for those booking services for cat care, I am happy to arrange a phone or video call first before coming to your home for our official Meet & Greet. - I can not and will not perform any service until and unless the booking is confirmed by you through Rover! I'd love to just go ahead and take care of Fido and Mr. Whiskers anyway and trust you'll pay me when you get back, but Rover simply does not work that way and therefore I cannot, either. - Rest assured, I will send you at LEAST one cute/sweet photo of your baby each day, if not more. If you DON'T want me to send you pictures and messages while you're away, please let me know and I will send just one pic at the beginning to make Rover happy and then I will leave you alone! If you want pictures and I go a day without sending you one or a message of some sort, please rest assured that I AM there with them- it just completely slipped my mind to actually stop petting them for a moment and send something!!! - Rover considers "house-sitting" to cover roughly eight hours of overnight care. That aside, for house-sitting services, I will make your home my base of operations for the duration of the service and spend my time there whenever I do not have something else scheduled (a drop-in or walk for another client, appointments, errands I need to run, etc). I also spend the morning of my departure cleaning up after myself (linens, dishes, trash, sweeping, and the like). I give this time freely, both for your furbabies' contentment and yours, and because I love being with them and couldn't fathom leaving a mess for you to deal with! However, if I am *required* to stay in the home all day without leaving as well as overnight, additional charges for Doggy Day Care may be incurred (negotiable on a case-by-case basis), and being required to stay until late afternoon or evening on the day of your return will be counted as an additional night of house-sitting and must be booked accordingly. Obviously, emergencies and traffic and canceled flights happen and I'm more than happy to stay later or run back for another potty/dinner as a courtesy in those cases- my clients, both furry, feathered, scaled, and human, are my family! Point being, please consider your expected return timing when making your booking request and during our communications about my stay with your furkid. I frequently am leaving one house-sitting service and going directly to another and need to know ahead of time what's needed of me and when to avoid conflicts or poor service on my part, and another day of care is another day of my time and effort. - I may also give additional time on a walk or drop-in if we're having a really nice snuggle or play session or your four-legged child has made a proper mess I need to clean, at no additional expense to you. As with house-sitting, though, extra time requested by you must be booked accordingly or discussed in advance before we confirm the service. Both thirty- and sixty-minute drop-ins and walks are available, and I'm happy to discuss arrangements for making more than one visit in a day to give your baby the care and companionship they need. - If you live in an apartment complex or other community which requires visitors to acquire and display a parking pass or park only in specific spaces, or has some other specific vehicle policy I must follow while visiting your home, I need you to arrange for this pass/share this information with me before I arrive so that I may adhere to their policies correctly, including when I follow you home after our Meet & Greet to see the house. Failure to inform me of such policies and/or provide me the required permission or instructions which results in my vehicle being towed will require you to reimburse me the cost to retrieve my vehicle. (I know I sound crazy right now, but it has happened before and the tow cost me more than I made to watch the dog that weekend! So for both of our sakes and wallets, let's just make sure this doesn't happen again!) - Booking with me indicates that you have read, understand, and agree to these policies. I am happy to provide you with a printed copy at our Meet & Greet upon request. (Last updated 05/03/21) Now, with all that serious business concluded (and if you've actually stuck with me this far and read this entire novel, you're definitely my kind of people!), welcome to the Kristi's Critter Care family! Don't forget to join us and follow the whole family on Facebook and Instagram. I look forward to working with you and your furbabies! ^_^