Questions and answers

The things people ask me before they book.

Everything people ask me before they book, answered properly. If what you need isn’t here, ask me directly and I’ll answer it.

Before you book

Do you cover my area?

Drop-in visits run within about five miles of York: York, Acomb, Clifton, Fulford, Heslington, Bishopthorpe, Huntington, Rawcliffe, Poppleton, Haxby, Wigginton, Copmanthorpe, Dunnington. Overnight stays reach further, up to about fifteen miles, which brings in Strensall, Stamford Bridge, Tadcaster, Easingwold, Pocklington, Wetherby. If you’re outside that, ask anyway. There is no travel surcharge. Whether I can take it depends on what else is in the diary that week, and I’ll tell you straight away. The full list is here.

How far ahead should I book, and do you take short notice?

As early as you can for school holidays, Christmas and bank holidays, because once a date is held it’s gone. Short notice is always worth asking about. The one thing short notice can’t skip is the introductory visit, so a same-day booking for a house I’ve never been in isn’t something I’ll agree to.

Do we meet before I book, and does it cost anything?

Yes, and it’s free. Before your first booking I come round for an introductory visit, meet you and your animals on their own floor, look at doors, stairs and the garden, and we write the care down together, including how I get in. Nothing is booked at the end of it. The longer version is on my about page.

In my home

How do you handle keys, and will anyone else be in my house?

How I get in, and how that access comes back to you afterwards, is agreed before the booking and written into the care notes. Your keys and your home are treated securely while I have them. Nobody else comes in with me. If I’m at your house, it is me and your animals.

Are you at the house all night?

Yes. An overnight stay means I stay at your house through the night, and I am there in the morning. My arrival and departure are agreed with you before the booking and written into your care notes, so you know exactly when the house is occupied and when it isn’t. More about overnight stays.

Do I need to tell you about cameras?

Tell me where they are and roughly what they see, and I’ll write it into the care notes. It’s your house and your security, and I’d far rather know than find out. I don’t ask anyone to switch anything off.

My pet

Can you give medication?

Tablets, liquids, and ear or eye drops, given as prescribed and at the times written in your care notes. I can also give injections such as insulin, where you give me clear written instructions and we go through them together before the booking. I am not a vet, so if a routine is beyond what I can take on I will say so before you book. I don’t change a dose, skip one or double one up without speaking to you first, and if an animal spits a tablet out I tell you. Have the packaging out when I come round and we’ll go through it properly.

Does your own dog come with you?

No, Skye normally stays at home. Your animals are looked after on their own routine, in their own house, without another dog being brought into it.

I have more than one animal. Is that a problem?

Usually not, because most houses I sit in have more than one. Tell me about every animal in the house when you send your dates, including the ones who aren’t the reason you’re booking, and anything that changes when they’re together: separate feeding, a cat who needs the spare room, a dog who guards a bowl.

On an overnight stay the £50 rate covers one pet and each additional pet is £25 a night, so two pets are £75 a night and three are £100. For drop-in visits there is no fixed surcharge, and I quote the visit before anything is booked.

My dog is nervous with new people. Will you still take them?

Very likely, and the introductory visit is how we find out. Tell me what sets your dog off, what they do when it happens, and what you already do about it, because I like to follow the cues they already know. In the house I sit down, stop looking at them and let them come to me in their own time. Most dogs do, once nothing frightening has happened for a few minutes, and some take until the second visit. I have plenty of patience for a worried dog. If after meeting them I don’t think I can settle them on my own overnight I’ll say so, and we can talk about whether a daytime visit would suit them better. More about dog sitting.

What if my cat hides the entire time?

Plenty do, and it isn’t a failure. Food, water, litter tray and medication all happen anyway, and I check what has been eaten and used between visits, which tells me more than a sighting does. If I haven’t seen them, I say so, and I tell you what the bowl and the tray say about how they are doing. More about cat sitting.

The harder questions, answered the same way.

Most of what follows gets decided at the introductory visit, in writing, while everybody is calm and in the same room. That is the point of doing it then, with the house and the animals in front of us.

What we agree at the first visit

If something needs attention

My animal becomes ill while I’m away. Who decides about the vet?

Before the booking starts we agree in writing whose vet to use, who your emergency contact is, who authorises treatment and up to what cost I can go without reaching you. In the unlikely event that something needs attention I follow those arrangements and get hold of you or your nominated contact, so the decision is already made before it is needed. Vomiting, refusing food, limping or anything out of character gets a message from me straight away, not at the end of the day.

Who pays the vet bill?

Treatment for your own animal is your cost, the same as it would be if you were standing in the room. How the bill is settled, and the ceiling I can authorise up to, is written down before I have your keys. Nothing about money gets invented in an emergency.

What happens if my pet dies while I’m away?

It happens, most often to animals who are already old or already ill, and it is the worst call either of us will have. I ring you. If I can’t reach you I ring your vet and follow what we wrote down. Nothing is decided about your animal’s body until I have spoken to you.

What if you’re ill, or your car won’t start?

I’m one person, and this is the fair question to ask me. Here is exactly where it stands. I don’t promise you a guaranteed replacement sitter, because I would have to be certain another sitter was free on your dates and I can’t be. There is sometimes someone I can ask, and if that is possible I will offer it to you and you can decide.

What is firm is this. You would hear from me straight away, not from an empty house. We go through it when I come round, and it goes into your care notes alongside your own emergency contact and whoever locally could step in at short notice, so the plan exists before it is needed. And if I have to cancel a booking, everything you have paid comes back to you in full.

Money

How do I pay, and when?

After the introductory visit the payment is set up on your own booking page, and you are emailed when something falls due. A deposit holds your dates and the dates aren’t yours until it’s paid. Every figure is on that page in writing before you pay anything, and there is no online booking button to press by accident. All prices are on one page.

What happens if I have to cancel?

Cancel more than two days before the booking starts and there is nothing to pay. If you have already paid a deposit, you get it back. Cancel inside those two days and the deposit is what you lose; I don’t charge the rest of the booking on top of it. If I have to cancel, everything you have paid comes back to you in full. The deposit figure for your booking is on your booking page before you pay.

Do bank holidays cost more?

Overnight stays do. Bank-holiday rates apply on official bank holidays in England. A normal night is £50 and bank holiday nights start at £60. The £25 per additional pet per night is the same on a bank holiday. Drop-in visits are £15 for 30 minutes and £22 for an hour, the same price whatever day of the week it is. I tell you which of your nights count as bank holiday nights before you agree to anything, so the price holds no surprises.

Paperwork

Is anything written down, or is it all messages?

Written down. You get written terms and a written set of care notes before your first night: feeding, walks, medication and doses, your vet, your emergency contact, who I ring first, and what I’m authorised to spend if your animal needs treatment. Nothing important about your booking lives only in a text thread.

What do you need from me before the first night?

Your vet’s practice and phone number, an emergency contact who is not on the same flight as you, the feeding and medication routine in your own words, and where things live: food, lead, litter, spare bedding, stopcock, bin day. We sort out keys then as well.

Not answered here?

Send me the question with your dates. If it’s something I can’t answer yet, I’ll tell you that straight. Ask about your dates.

Still deciding? Send me the question.

Your dates, your postcode and what animals you have, along with whatever you didn’t find above. I usually reply the same day.