Initial Contact and Meet-and-Greet Visit
Before we provide you with any paid services, it is very important to us that we have the opportunity to meet you and your pets in person. We’ll make arrangements to come to your home, free of charge, to meet with you, discuss your needs, receive any instructions, and of course, become acquainted with your furry friends! This will give us, and you, the chance to discuss any issues of concern before we come for our first official Friendly Visit or Walk. We’ll also have you complete a Pet Sitting Service Contract that we will bring to the meeting and fill out together.
Reservations and Cancellations
It’s definitely best to make arrangements for pet sitting as far in advance as you are able. This will increase the chances that we’ll be available to care for your pets when you need it. Of course, we understand that, sometimes, pet sitting is needed in a pinch, and we’ll certainly do our best to accommodate you and your pets in a moment’s notice!
If you do need to cancel our services or change the start or end time of our services, we ask that you give us the courtesy of 24 hours notice.
License Tags
For all pets who will spend time outdoors while in our care, we ask that you provide collars with license tags that your cat or dog can wear while they are outdoors. If you prefer animals not wear such collars/tags indoors, put the tagged collars in an easy-to-find location for us.
Keys
Prior to any pet sitting visit, we ask that you provide a key for us to be able to safely enter your home. If possible, we would prefer to have your key, in hand, before you leave town. If it is not possible to hand over a key before you leave town, we ask that you provide us with clear instructions on where to find the key and how to best enter your home.
We can assure you that we will give your key to no one else, unless you have authorized us to do so in writing. We will make use of your house key only for pet sitting, unless you have asked us to enter your home for another reason.
Please be sure to notify us of anyone else who has keys to your home, and if you anticipate those individuals entering your home in your absence.
Providing Pet Care Supplies
You are required to provide us with anything your pets will need as we care for them. This includes plenty of food to last for the duration of your absence (made easily accessible to us), bowls for food and water, leashes and collars, toys, extra litter (for cats), plastic bags to pick up “messes” (for dog walking), access to fresh, running water, toys for play, and anything else that your pet will require. In addition, if we’ll be letting pets outside in fenced-in yards, please make sure that all gates are secure when we arrive.
Aggressive Pet Behavior
If your pets have a history of vicious or aggressive behavior, we ask that you disclose this to us fully. In cases where we feel unsafe, we may decide that sitting for your pets is not a good fit for us. We’ll make this determination before setting final arrangements with you so that you’ll have plenty of time to explore other options if necessary.
Pet Medication
If your pets require medication, we need clear instructions from you prior to our first visit regarding best practices for administering that medication. We will specify the plan for medication administration in the pet sitting contract, which you will initial prior to our first pet sitting visit. You must also provide us with the contact information for the vet who prescribed the medication.
Every-Other-Day Visits
It is generally our policy to provide at least one visit daily, even for pets whom you feel need less frequent care. Pets require daily monitoring to make sure they are safe and healthy, and while in our care, we can best ensure the well-being of your pets by checking in on them at least once a day. Every-Other-Day visits are against our policy and not in line with best pet sitting practices.
Splitting Pet Care
Forest Park Pet Sitters prefers to be the sole caretaker of your pets while you are out of town. This enables us to take full responsibility for the pets, and to more closely monitor their health, safety, and happiness while you’re away.
If you do wish for pet care to be split between Forest Park Pet Sitters and someone else, we ask that you provide us with the contact information for those other individuals, and that you clearly outline, for all parties, who is responsible for what and when.
Additional Travel Costs
An additional travel fee may apply. We will discuss this with you before you hire us for pet sitting or dog walking.
Payment
We currently accept cash and check payments. Make checks payable to Jennifer and David Vose. We will send you, via email, an invoice after each pet sitting service period. Each invoice includes where to send the payment if you wish to send it by mail.
Payments are due within 30 days after each pet sitting service period. For payments not received by Forest Park Pet Sitters within 30 days of a service period, a monthly service charge of no more than 25% may be applied to your balance due. A $35 handling fee will be charged for any returned checks.