Larry is a friendly person, which makes writing this review difficult. Unfortunately, our experience was extremely disappointing, especially given the extensive instructions and preparation we provided before leaving our pets in his care. We were initially very excited to meet Larry. After posting our ad, which clearly outlined our pets’ medical needs, he accepted the booking and came to our home two days before our trip to meet the animals and carefully review all care instructions in detail. We gave Larry detailed verbal instructions in person, followed by text messages, emailed copies, printed instructions on the refrigerator, and another printed copy on the dining room table. We also checked in multiple times during our trip. He responded by text initially, but during the final 2.5 days he stopped responding altogether, which became increasingly concerning. On the morning we returned home, I called and texted at 5:30 a.m. — the scheduled time our pets were supposed to receive their morning medications and food. Larry did not respond until 6:32 a.m., after I finally woke him up by phone. When questioned, he claimed he had already administered the medications an hour earlier, yet he had ignored all calls and texts during that time. He then gave an implausible explanation that his phone “connected to passing cars” and prevented him from hearing notifications. When we arrived home an hour later, we found multiple urine stains on the carpet and vomit on the bed that had not been cleaned up. This was extremely alarming because neither our dog nor cat has ever had issues with urinating indoors, and vomiting is also highly unusual for them. It strongly suggested our senior dog was not being taken outside often enough and that medications may not have been administered properly or at the correct times. Despite specifically showing Larry where cleaning supplies, dog towels, and rags were located, he used our guest bathroom hand towels to clean pet messes and left them stained and unwashed. The towels are permanently damaged and now need to be replaced. Our dog’s prepared food had been left sitting out uncovered until it became hard and dried out. When asked why it had not been refrigerated, Larry claimed he “couldn’t find the plastic wrap,” even though it was sitting directly beside the written instructions on the dining room table. We ultimately had to throw the food away and have no idea how often this occurred while caring for our 17.5-year-old dog. Our cat appeared deeply distressed when we returned. He immediately ran into my arms and stayed there for over an hour, then slept most of the day — behavior we have never seen before. He also had liquid gabapentin dried and matted into the fur around his head, neck, and shoulders, indicating it had not been cleaned off after administration. Larry claimed our cat hissed and fought him, which was shocking to hear because we have had four previous pet sitters and none have ever had any issues with him. In fact, everyone who meets him comments on how affectionate and social he is. Additionally, our cat’s food bowls were empty, with dried, crusted food remaining from earlier feedings, indicating he had not been fed his morning meal. Once Larry finally left, we immediately provided fresh food and both pets ate ravenously. The litter boxes also had clearly not been cleaned for the entire week, despite explicit instructions that they needed to be scooped at least every two days. We had even left bags and the scoop directly beside the litter area and reviewed this with him beforehand. We also discovered evidence that he was caring for other clients during our booking, despite repeatedly assuring us that our pets would be his sole priority while staying in our home. We found torn medication envelopes for other pets left on the kitchen counter, including dosage times that conflicted with our pets’ medication schedule. We had already told him we were fine with him leaving for other jobs as long as it did not interfere with medication timing — but clearly it did. There is more I could say, but I will leave it here. Larry may be suitable for simple drop-in visits, dog walking, or very low-maintenance pets. However, for senior animals or pets requiring careful medication management and attentive care throughout the day, we cannot recommend him.

Kanan loved him!