Housesitter for dogs--how much?

[katie01]

We've just returned from a lovely vacation to face our poor dogs getting desperately ill two days after their return home from the home in which they boarded. I'll spare you the details (unless you'd like them to help me figure out what we might be dealing with!) but I have no reason to suspect they were mistreated in any way there, and the sitter seemed very caring and followed the guidelines we'd given her to keep them from eating anything outside or inside that might upset their stomachs (we provided our own dog food as well). They are headed to the vet in a couple of hours (first appointment we could get) but it's been awful to seem them so sick and try to keep up with all the mess that's coming out of them to keep them clean and comfortable. My one dog had some gastointestinal issues as a puppy but once we figured out the sorts of things she'd get into or that would make her sick, she was totally fine and hasn't had an episode like this in years. Our other dog has been totally healthy and never had an illness as far as we know (we adopted her from a rescue group).

Anyway, maybe this is a fluke and could have even happened from the excitement of coming home rather than anything they "caught" or got into at the sitter's home, but I'm feeling like it's going to be stressful to even think about leaving them in another person's house for boarding again (we boarded them at this same house one other time for a shorter trip, and the one dog was totally fine, the other one ended up having some sort of allergy/sneezing problem that cleared right up with Benedryl, so I didn't necessarily attribute any problems directly to that sitter the first time). I never wanted to use a commercial kennel because I figured the one dog would associate it with being in the shelter and be very stressed. Maybe hiring a housesitter is the best way to go, but I am a bit leery of that as well because then I have to worry about my dogs AND my home when we are away. I've heard some horror stories about housesitters too, leaving the dogs alone all day, or things like that. Wondering if anyone else has had experience with their dogs getting ill in certain boarding situations, and what worked best for the more highly strung dogs. I'll certainly not be using this same sitter again, wondering if I should at least give another one a try. Also wondering what the going rate is for housesitters so if I do go that route, I know what to offer (paying someone to check on them only 2 or 3 times a day would not work for us for various reasons, it would have to be someone staying there at least most of the day)

 

[Poohforyou]

We had a similar thing happen the one and only time we boarded our dog. Now we have someone stay in our house with him. It's usually a tech from our vet's office. She's wonderful with him. She charges $65 per night, which is cheaper than boarding around us. It's well worth it. I actually give her a little more because she is just so good.

It was a little weird at first having a stranger stay but I got over that quickly.

I hope your dogs are better soon.

 

[katie01]

We had a similar thing happen the one and only time we boarded our dog. Now we have someone stay in our house with him. It's usually a tech from our vet's office. She's wonderful with him. She charges $65 per night, which is cheaper than boarding around us. It's well worth it. I actually give her a little more because she is just so good.

It was a little weird at first having a stranger stay but I got over that quickly.

I hope your dogs are better soon.

Yes, that does sound reasonable, especially when factoring in the cost of missed work and vet appointments after an experience of illness like this from normal boarding! That's a great idea to get a vet tech too, I will ask when we go see the vet today if they have anyone who does this.

I'm glad it worked out for your pup too

 

[Hercules10]

I've done pet-sitter for years. Make sure to have a contract with them. Also make sure they are insured and bonded. Avoid the "Corporate" sitters and find a good independent. Ask your vet. That's how we found three good ones.

 

[camreesmom]

Our dog/house sitter is wonderful. As soon as we know we want to plan a vacation, I give her a call to see if she's available. Granted, she has been a friend of mine forever so we trust her enough that she now has a key to our house all the time. Boarding around here is a lot cheaper than $65 so we usually give her $250- $300.

 

[longboard55]

We have been using pet sitter for years. Dogs always seem fine when we get back. Takes a lot of work to find the right person. There are a lot of flakey 20s who decide to do this when their parents push them to get a job, but when the next big thing comes up they are gone. So find someone with experience. You can check rover.com for local prices, but we have not had good lock with the internet based , super flakey types. Check with local pet stores and vets.

I am always telling my wife that it seems like a great job for the right person.

 

[gillep]

After paying an obscene amount of money in February because my dog came down with a horrible illness at his boarding facility and needed to be hospitalized for 4 days we switched to an in house pet sitter. They are more expensive than boarding for us (which still wasn't cheap) but he just had his first pet sitting experience and he seemed so much better afterwards than when he gets home from boarding. For an overnight (6pm to 8am) plus one mid day walk we pay $75 per day. Our sitters are bonded and insured, and have a few backups that we have met in case of an issue where the primary pet sitter can't make it. They also use an app called time to pet so after each service we get an alert that shows us what happened during the visit (pee, poop, play time, water bowl filled, meds given, etc.) and they can send us messages and pictures through the app. It took us a while to find someone, our vet wasn't helpful because they are located in a different area of the large city than we are in, so they didn't have any recommendations of people that would service our specific area. I found ours on Pet Sitters International and so far I am very pleased. Good luck and I hope your dogs get well very soon!!!!

 

[mamamary]

My sisters dog always seemed to come home with something from her kennel. My dog never had trouble at his kennel but we stopped taking him there last year. He is getting old and has arthritis so we keep him at home. Either a family member or neighbor watches him.

 

[sam_rogers]

Just as another view on it, my dog had a few gastrointestinal problems (nothing too severe) when we came back from honeymoon and my mum and friend had been looking after her for 2 weeks. I'm a veterinary nurse (tech) in the UK and went down the route of treating for additional gastrointestinal parasites on top of her usual wormer as a neighbours dog had been treated for them and stuck her on a GI diet to sort it and things improved but as soon as she went back to her normal food we went back to square one. Turns out while we were away my mum started a new bag of food and the company had very slightly changed the recipe and added soya to it without advertising the change and my little doglet was obviously sensitive to it so its not always the obvious answer of bugs being picked up. Luckily due to my profession and the perk of staff discount I was able to avoid a big vet bill when it was just a food issue from the start! If your dog has sensitive guts could it be a dietary issue that a slight change has caused? Hope your pups feel better soon!

 

[katie01]

Just as another view on it, my dog had a few gastrointestinal problems (nothing too severe) when we came back from honeymoon and my mum and friend had been looking after her for 2 weeks. I'm a veterinary nurse (tech) in the UK and went down the route of treating for additional gastrointestinal parasites on top of her usual wormer as a neighbours dog had been treated for them and stuck her on a GI diet to sort it and things improved but as soon as she went back to her normal food we went back to square one. Turns out while we were away my mum started a new bag of food and the company had very slightly changed the recipe and added soya to it without advertising the change and my little doglet was obviously sensitive to it so its not always the obvious answer of bugs being picked up. Luckily due to my profession and the perk of staff discount I was able to avoid a big vet bill when it was just a food issue from the start! If your dog has sensitive guts could it be a dietary issue that a slight change has caused? Hope your pups feel better soon!

Oh wow, that is interesting! I did send the dogs with a brand new bag of unopened dog food. Their regular brand, but I wouldn't have even thought of them possibly changing the recipe! I should check with the company.

There are so many possible variables here that we may just never figure out what it was. I had also given the dogs their flea and tick preventative the week before. It was a chewable they've had before, but a different brand than what we'd been using in the months just prior to this. And I'm sure there is always some degree of stress with being away from home. And new plants in a different yard. I even wondered if the water could have thrown them off, it's the suburb next to ours so they are on a different water system.

 

[elphaba91]

We have used a website called Trusted House Sitters. You pay a membership fee but generally there are plenty of people who are happy to house sit for free. We had a young couple from the UK look after our cats for 3 weeks; they were travelling around the state and preferred house sitting to paying for an Air BnB. We were worried about getting someone (as we felt we’d advertised quite late) so went with the first applicants, but you can see that some house sits get hundreds of applications. We’d definitely use the site again though!

 

[disney junky]

I use my niece. I have over the years used older students who I knew well (friends of family). We do the whole, pay me what you want/is this enough song and dance, but it's money well spent. I still fret while away. But knowing they are at home is comforting.

Just an aside, I had a friend who after retiring from teaching started a pet sitting/walking/check in during the day company, small scale, and he had to get out because he felt in many cases, he cared more about the animals than the owners...

 

[sam_rogers]

Oh wow, that is interesting! I did send the dogs with a brand new bag of unopened dog food. Their regular brand, but I wouldn't have even thought of them possibly changing the recipe! I should check with the company.

There are so many possible variables here that we may just never figure out what it was. I had also given the dogs their flea and tick preventative the week before. It was a chewable they've had before, but a different brand than what we'd been using in the months just prior to this. And I'm sure there is always some degree of stress with being away from home. And new plants in a different yard. I even wondered if the water could have thrown them off, it's the suburb next to ours so they are on a different water system.

I noticed the packaging had changed on mine but that was the only clear difference. I was about to start sending off samples to the lab to try and find the problem but decided to contact the food company first. I swapped her kibble after that to something without the usual allergens and that did the trick!

 

[aprilgail]

I watch a friends dog when they are away and go over 3 times a day- do not stay overnight- and get 50 bucks a day.

 

[Sleepy425]

I used to work at a kennel, but never boarded my dogs. A coworker would stay at my house when I went away. Then he got older and got a life and his own house and pets, so I had to find someone else. Thankfully the day care workers that we love also love animals, so they started watching the animals for us. I now book them out over a year ahead of time to make sure they can do it ( our kids are past day care age but we still go to all the special events at the day care because the staff and families are so nice). I dread the day that they, too, get their own homes and pets and can't take care of mine anymore. We pay about $40 a day, leave gift cards for food, and don't care if they have people over. I trust them completely (they babysit my kids whenever we need a sitter and a relative isn't around). I say "they" because while we technically hire one girl, she hates to sleep alone so another one comes, too.