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Vacation time and pet sitting: Revisiting an earlier episode of The Hissing Feline with pet sitter Crystal Jolly · The Hissing Feline

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Hissing Feline Podcast, a weekly program that is about everything cats.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Hissing Feline features experts and other cat aficionados who share their knowledge and perspectives about dealing with felines, from strays and ferals to adoption, health, and cat psychology.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We hope the topics give you helpful and interesting insight into the world of cats.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here is the host of the Hissing Feline, Clark Greer.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: This week on the Hissing Feline, we're revisiting an earlier episode of the podcast featuring an interview with longtime pet sitter Crystal Jolly.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: With summer vacation months upon us, this visit will be a helpful reminder about how to select and prepare for a sitter for your four-footed family members while you're away.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Hissing Feline Podcast.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining me for this episode.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: With me today is Crystal Jolly.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: She is a longtime pet sitter and spent about 15 years full-time in that role, plus 25 years part-time.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for full disclosure, Crystal babysits are cats, our Tabby and our Calico when my wife and I are away.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I think they're happiest when their nannies in the house.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: So when you came in to do this podcast today, usually they would be rubbing against your legs and those types of things.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: They would be.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: The cats love to have Aunt Crystal visit with them.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, how did you become interested in pet sitting?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um always loved animals.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you're going to do this, you better love animals.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I've always loved, especially cats and dogs, and thought that maybe I wanted to be my own boss for a while.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'd had some bosses that weren't that great.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so you can be your own boss to a degree if you do this.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so we started out and actually did a little bit of house cleaning until I got enough pet visits to make it work financially.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: But that didn't take long because word of mouth is great.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: And one person tells another person back in those days we had the yellow pages, and I had an ad there where I also got some clients from.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: But um just loved animals and thought this is a great way for me to make a living.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Did it take some special uh, I was gonna say training, uh a special type of background?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: If if somebody's thinking about that, what what type of people do you think really should be involved in this?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's different types of personalities of people like there are animals, but are is there special training or background people should have?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: I would say not really.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, pets of your own, um, having cats and dogs or or who what whatever you want to take care of in your own house and knowing a little bit about them, not just going in cold.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but otherwise, not really.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just be realistic that it's gonna take a while to build up your client base, have enough pets, because some people only go somewhere once a year, and you can't depend on them, you know, to support you.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: So you want to be realistic about it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you also want to be very responsible.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: You need to be somebody who can be your own boss and get up and get out of bed and get to the houses to take care of them because you're gonna have several in a row when you start out in the morning.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're doing dogs, it's a time thing.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you uh have to get up early because dogs need to be let outside.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, cats, not so bad.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: You can go a little bit later, but you have to be very responsible and a self-starter, you know, so that you're not just laying around thinking, I should go do this work.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: But um you're not you've you've got to just get up and do it.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then know that you're kind of gonna be working alone.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um it can be a little bit lonely because you're once you have enough client base, you're driving from one pet house to another, to another.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it can, you know, you can get a good podcast on or good music on, but you're usually by yourself.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not like the camaraderie you might have when you go into an office to work.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it's it's you know, you talk to people on the phone, but you don't have anybody right beside you.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: So you need to be a little bit aware that this is something you're just gonna do on your own.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um and know that you're gonna work every weekend and every holiday.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: So you're you're into it for the long haul, basically, when you do something like that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: You are.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: And Thanksgiving's were always the biggest holiday, more than Christmas, more than any other.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um we were full.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there were Christmases that were busy, but Thanksgiving was always more, and we would have 60 visits.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so it got to the point where I had people working with me and for me.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was the boss, but I felt like they were my partners in this, and I would pay them to do it with me.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I liked that, but I also knew that I had to pick responsible people that would actually show up and do the job.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, if you want to get into it that far that you want to make a little more money, um, if you're gonna take on 60 visits, that is a lot in one day.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really, really lot.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: One of the gals that worked with me, she's afterwards she said, We're not doing this next year.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: We are not doing this anymore because it's just too many um to do in one day.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: But some of my long-term clients would just get a hold of me, you know, two days before they were leaving.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we need you for fluffy this weekend.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I'd be like, I already have too many to do now, you know.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't want to walk away from my long-term clients either.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: So you just have to know you want to be responsible and that you're gonna have to show up kind of when you're sick and kind of when the weather is bad.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna have to show up.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's whatever people need you to do the the cat or dog setting for them.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Typically, would you go twice a day if you're gonna walk dogs versus cats?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: How do those types of things work for you?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: I let everybody, the owner, decide how many times they want me.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um often cats are once a day, but sometimes have some people have me come twice a day for cats even.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um dogs, it's some people had me twice, but it's more likely three times a day for dogs, um, just because they need to go outside.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's a whole different thing taking care of dogs because they've got to go outside.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so often three, but I did have some where I went four times a day.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: So you're going back and forth and back and forth very early in the morning, very early before dawn, and very late at night.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would think uh wintertime would be really challenging.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not as much fun.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, probably not.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we have cats, actually.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: We have to go in the snow.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh how different are dogs and cats for sitters?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, they're different animals.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: What do you encounter as far as personality, cooperativeness?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Dogs, definitely more uh responsive.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they are always, almost always, wagging their tail and happy, happy, happy dogs.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Most of them are very happy to see you.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: And cats might be just sitting over on the chair.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, she's here.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Now, some cats will come to me because I'm I just came in, like your cats, um, because I'm I know where the food and the treats are.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what they know me, they associate me with, oh, good, the food and the treats.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yay, she knows where they are, she she'll gonna feed us.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: So some cats will definitely come at me, but um, dogs are very very excited to see you because you know that's kind of the nature of a dog.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I had one to tell the difference between personalities in one story.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um for some it was a Sunday morning that I was to go and let the dogs out and feed the cats and do all of their um stuff as well.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And for some reason I woke up really, really early before dawn, maybe 4:30 or 5.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Couldn't get back to sleep.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: And often, if it's a sunny morning and I'm going to church, I will just do the pets on my way to church.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: But it doesn't always work out very well to do that, depending on where I'm going.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: And this one, I could have done that, but I just couldn't get back to sleep.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, you know, I'm just gonna go.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna get up.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just, it was summer.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna throw on some clothes and run over and take care of them, even though it's really early, and then I can come home and get ready for church.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I you park on one side of the house and walk around the house, and as I went around the house, and it's pitch black out, I can see flames in the kitchen.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: And this is scary to begin with.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I could see that it was probably the stove.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I thought, well, I'm just gonna maybe one of the dogs flipped the switch on the stove and turned the stove on, and now it's caught fire.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so I actually went in, looked at the stove.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's very hot, the flames are near the ceiling.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I can't get it to turn off.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: There's they all look fine to me.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, okay, I'm gonna have to call the fire department.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so I did.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I and the woman said to me that answered, she said, so what's the address?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, I don't live here.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's one thing you're at when you're at home, you can rattle off your own address.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: But so I had to go outside to look at the address, and uh, one of the dogs followed me.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh out, right out the door, wanted out.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so I picked him up and you know, because he was a little dog, and uh read the address.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: And uh she said, Did you say you're the pet sitter?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Yeah, and she said, get him out, get him out now.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that just kind of gave me goosebumps, you know, like I gotta go back in there.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I went back in.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: The other two dogs would not come out the front door because they were taught not to.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they went out the back door, which meant we needed to walk through the kitchen to get out into the yard.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: But we did that.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: The dogs walked right by the fire and went out for me just perfectly.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the cats are hiding under the bed, and they will not come out, and there wasn't anything I could do about it.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of an example of the difference of dogs will do what I want them to do, usually.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Cats are like, yep, nope, we're coming out.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I just had to shut the door and pray that they would be safe and that the firemen and they did come and the fire came and and it was a gas leak behind the uh stove.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and the fireman said, if you had come five minutes later, the house would have blown up, probably would have gone to the neighbors and the pets would all be dead.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just thank God that he woke me up and sent me over early.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: But that's kind of a difference between the dogs and the cats, because normally, you know, I can just go in and everything's fine.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: But in this case, the cats were not about to come out.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that that story also is an example of when you're a pet server, you really don't know what's happening.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: You never do.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Walk into a house.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's something different all the time.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: Some times, many, many times, you come and everything is just normal.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the same as it was yesterday and the day before.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: But sometimes it's very different and very can be very scary.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's probably the scariest one that I've encountered.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um but you never know.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Often it's routine, and that's a good day.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when it comes to uh somebody who's going to be gone and they've got to make a decision between having a pet sitter come in and boarding, does that relate at all to personalities of the animals?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they're used to doing those types of things.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are there some considerations maybe people should think about before making that decision?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm a pet sitter, so I would always say it's better to just leave the cats and dogs at home because they're surrounded by everything they know and love.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: The food is the same, their beds are the same.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the owners are gone and I'm coming.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'd say I'd err on that side.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: However, I did have one uh at least one case, and probably others, um, that I think should have been boarded because the people were gone too long.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the the woman said, We're I'm going to California, and she was leaving her two cats, and she was gonna be gone for like three months.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a long time.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, oh, how's this gonna work?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: But she and she only wanted me to come like three times a week.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I wasn't even going every day.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: And eventually the cats went feral.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, they did.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna ask what would what would happen if an owner wasn't there all the time to see the cats?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's too long.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: A a week to two weeks, you can get away with that, and the cats are fine, you know, and the and the dogs are fine.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, maybe the pet sitter needs to stay a little longer some of those days.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, sit on the couch with them, talk to them a little bit longer, um, because it two weeks is a long time.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: But um not if you're gonna be gone for a long time, then I would suggest maybe getting more into boarding, and you're gonna pay a little bit more to board them uh for that long.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: But um I would not want my cats to go feral, and these did.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: They were peeing and pooping everywhere, all over the house, and I couldn't catch them if I wanted to.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: And when the lady came home, she was very disappointed in me, and I felt like, yeah, kind of not my fault.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're the one that left them for this long, and it wasn't.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that so they need to have some type of human contact.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: They do in order for them not to just be on their own that long.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's just too long.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do do cats have different types of personalities based on the breed of the cat that that you've encountered?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't noticed it as much.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um I not really.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there certainly could be, but in my experience, you know, every breed is just depends on what the animal has been through in their life, you know, and their personalities.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's breed specific, but some people might think that.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're listening to the hissing feline, and I'll be back with today's guest, longtime pet sitter Crystal Jolly after this.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: The young couple were dyed in the wool dog people who dreamed of someday having a faithful mutt.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Cats were not even on their list.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: That was until they adopted a timid gray tabby they named Sadie.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: The cuteness quickly turned into reality when Sadie took charge of the house.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: The good news was that on her best days, the cat was only slightly difficult.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, over two decades, Sadie became a beloved part of the family.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Striped Tornado, Life and Times of a Rotten Cat, is Sadie's story, a memoir that will inspire readers to rise above their challenges, to find companionship and love in the most unlikely places.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Striped Tornado, available on Amazon.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the second half of today's episode of The Hissing Feline, a podcast that's about all things cats.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Clark Rear.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: With me today is longtime pet sitter Crystal Jolly.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to have you with us today.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: I got to tell you about our cat, Sadie.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: We got her when she was a kitten.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: She was feral, at least semi-feral.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't like anything, she barely liked us.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: But um we decided uh that we were gonna be gone for a week and we thought we'd leave her at the vet.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: They had uh what they called cat condos.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we thought they'd be nice, she'll be around other cats.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so we did that.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: We got back and they told us your cat doesn't like other cats.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really hard to they had to retrieve her, and it was it was a big thing.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: We that's how we ended our nice vacation that late.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So after that, we decided to leave Sadie at home when we were on vacation, have a sitter come to our house to provide feed and water and clean the litter box.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: One of our friends who cared for her a few times said he never saw her.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: He actually used to recall her the invisible cat.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Is that something that you've encountered where you you go to to deal with cats and you rarely see the cats?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And hopefully, usually the owners will tell me that that you may not see the cats, you don't need to stay very long, just food and water and litter and bring in the mail and things like that.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you won't see them.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of rare, but it did happen to me a few times, and then you know, that's a pretty easy job because you know, you don't have to spend very much time.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Sadie was much happier being at home because she had the familiarity, she didn't have to deal with other animals.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was just her personality.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say someone is looking for a sitter and maybe they have never dealt with that type of decision before.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what should the person consider when they're looking for the person to come in the house and take care of, let's say, their cat?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think the best way to find somebody would be word of mouth from one of your friends or somebody that you work with, finding that person so that you know somebody else already trusts them with not just their pets, but with their house and their home, and know that they've had some experience.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: So to me, that you'd want someone responsible enough to, you know, be able to come and do that and show up.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh let's say a listener is considering a career, and I know we talked a little bit about that uh a few minutes ago, maybe even a side business, sitting pets.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh are there things they need to know ahead of time?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's versus I'm gonna go babysit my friend's fluffy and everything will be fine.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you talked about commitment.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: What what are things that kind of people need to have a mindset that here's what I need to be prepared to do?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: You just it's it's nice if the people will leave you a list of things that they expect or want or where things are located.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh where's the extra food located and show you around the house and that kind of thing.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: But um just want to be really, it's has a lot to do with just finding responsible life that you know you can live up with.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh from the standpoint of pet parents, I guess that would take us to the next thing here.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: How can they best prepare for a sitter?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Again, um making a list, writing down where extra things are.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um if you, you know, animals can gag something up on the carpet, and would you like me to clean up after them?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: And how would you like me to do that?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, where does the litter box um contents go?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: Do you take that out to the garage?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, when you're dealing with the litter box, um what do you expect in general?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um do you want lights turned off and on?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Do you want um me to bring in the mail or bring in the garbage, you know, or water plants?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: And it's nice if there's a good expectation of what you want me to do when I'm coming in.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: So it's nice to have a list, um, and that might change, you know, and then a list that I can keep and um I would make notes when I'm there so that I have my notes as well.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's nice to just have that comparison so you that you know exactly what's expected.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now, another another thing that's probably really important is to have emergency numbers, contact numbers.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Should they also put down the number of their vet?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Those types of things.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, everything.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's nice to have a contact that's here in the city.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if it's a neighbor or an adult child or any, you know, just a friend that could be backup if something happens, that you could contact them and say, I need help.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's really nice, especially like sometimes a neighbor that might be able to just come over and kind of talk you through things if there's something that needed to be done.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um something that's unforeseen that you just you have no idea is gonna happen because things like that happen, and it's nice to have contact numbers, the vet number.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's rare that I've had to call a vet.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um I had a German shepherd that had a UTI and was bleeding every time she peed.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so I went and got her medicine and we fixed that.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, that doesn't happen a lot, but occasionally an animal gets.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: sick on my watch and I would try to call the person first, the owners first.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um but maybe they're in Europe or they're on a boat and they don't have access to their you know phone.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I need the vet so I can call a vet and say, this is what I got going.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the pet sitter.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think I should do about this?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Do do people who are hiring a sitter do they often sign off permission ahead of time for a a vet or emergencies?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some do.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Some will call their vet and say, we're going to be out of town and um here's who's looking after you know our animals while we're gone and she has permission to do that.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think a lot of people think ahead but it's not a bad idea.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah thinking about all the things that could actually might actually happen in the house.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Needs uh foresee things like a vet, those type those types of things would probably be really helpful on a person like you who's sitting right it is.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then making me a key ahead of time.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Some people I will say now, how do you want me to get in?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Did you want to give me a key today and there'll be blank look they had not thought about giving me a spare key, you know, one of their keys to get in.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_02: So thinking ahead how is she going to get in?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Do you she do you want her to use the um code on the garage?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: And if that's the case, make sure it works because I've had that happen where the code didn't work and I had to call them and say I can't get in.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we have found an alternative way to get in the checklist and maybe some things like the electronics make sure because I've got on the checklist actually everything performs as it should.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah that the battery is not what happens during the visit I know you've shot some interesting pictures of the cats sometimes with AI putting sweaters on them.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: We really enjoyed that.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: What what what do you do?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: Let's say you're going to maybe sit some cats are there some things that the owners like to have uh when you're doing that I think most of them don't have a a lot of expectations at the beginning but uh in back in the day I you know we didn't have cell phones it didn't everybody didn't have a cell phone or be able to text but to now it's now it's so easy because you can just text uh people and say everything's going well today and I had it they ate well and everything's fine and take pictures.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think everybody likes to see pictures of their pets when they're on vacation and know that um I'm actually there and that I'm I'm taking good care of them and they're not you know stuck in the basement hiding somewhere yeah we'll we'll take those pictures we'll actually show them to people who are the cat people oh they're such a cute cat you know so we can we can show them our family yeah my guest today on the hissing feline has been longtime pet sitter crystal jolly thank you for spending some time visiting with me about this topic today it's really really great and hopefully helpful for people who are listening to the show when they think about pet sitting pet sitters and what to expect today's the Hissing Feline podcast revisited an earlier episode of the show featuring longtime pet sitter Crystal Jolly join me next week for a new episode of the Hissing Feline and remember to keep on purring content on the Hissing Feline podcast is for information and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to provide medical, veterinary or legal advice.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Please consult your veterinarian and local and state authorities before dealing with feral and stray cats.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and not necessarily those of Duracio Cat Media LLC references to products or services do not imply an endorsement.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Hissing Feline podcast is a production of Duracho Cat Media LLC and has been blessed by our rescue cats, Bridget and Maddie.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: All content is used with permission or under fair use