in-house petsitting / last minute pet-sitting?

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I'm expecting my first baby next month. My husband and I have a dog and a cat at home and no family in town. We have some friends willing to take our dog to their home to watch during my labor and delivery, but we'd prefer to find an in-house petsitting service where a service would be "on call" for the next 2-4 weeks in case we need them to come to our house and watch the animals. The reason for this, and also why we do not want to board the animals, is that we don't want to bring a new baby home to stressed out animals. Has anyone used a service like this they can recommend? We like to use Sit-A-Pet to care for our cat, but I don't know that they do overnight or in-home pet care. We're going to check, but in the meantime I am hoping that someone may have a lead for us since we've already procrastinated on this. We are in Michigan Park, which is in NE DC, (close to Brookland).

Thank you for any help!

[Anonymous]

Could you hire a dog-walker for once a day for then next couple of weeks? And then just supplement that with friends stopping by? Plus, for the animals to adjust to the new baby, it really helps for your DH to come home a few times with clothes, blanket, etc that smells like the baby.

Otherwise, call a few service and see if they are willing to be on call. I think the main problem is that you are in prime vacation time, so they may not have availability.

Or maybe you have a neighbor that does pet-sitting who is more flexible?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, yes, the plan is to have my DH come home with blankets and things like this; that's part but not all of the reason we prefer him at home. But having a dogwalker stop by plus an extra visit or two is just not enough. Our dog cannot be left alone for long stretches unfortunately. He gets upset and would work himself up into a tizzy for that long. We would not want to do that to him at any time but especially not when we are about to bring home a new baby. It would be better for him to be boarded than to be alone for long periods, but best of all would be to have a service on call. I was hoping that somebody might have specific ideas about petsitters who do this. Sure do wish we had neighbors who would pitch in, but we've just recently moved to the neighborhood and don't know anyone nearby. My two best girlfriends are nurses, who work at the crack of dawn and would have a very hard time being at my house...so we really do want to find a professional in house service.

Hope someone knows of something, and thanks for the tips! I don't really care how expensive it is, for this one time, it's worth it to feel reassured that the animals are in good hands and we don't have to worry...

[Anonymous]

Can't help with the sitters.

As much as I would have hated this - are you planning on calling grandparents when you go into labor and will they come right away? If so, you could have them stay at your house (my DH hated this idea). It takes care of the dog and cat issue. Of course, it raises others.

[Anonymous]

I would try to find an intern/college student willing to stay there for the couple days and pay them a handsome sum. I know someone in my office who would love to do that, and I have to think that it wouldn't be that uncommon. Could you post on a local college jobs forum?

[Anonymous]

love www.allfriendspetcare.com -- we used them on short notice last week -- like a day or two -- but i bet you could set something up with them and have a person on-call for you...

[Anonymous]

ww.sittercity.com Does child care, home care senior care, pet care, etc.

[Anonymous]

www.petpeopledc.com

[Anonymous]

Post an ad on the American University jobs board. There are tons of students with flexible summer schedules, cars, and references.

Good luck with your baby!

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for the replies. I am going to begin working my way through the recommendations for professional sitters. Calling grandparents is not an option. We love them but treasure our privacy and want time and space with our new family. In any case, they live over a thousand miles away and wouldn't be there in time even if we were to change our minds about this. I knew that there were sitting services out there, but just wanted some recommendations. These recommendations should give us a good place to start!