Pet Sitters - A Pet Owner's Guide

Once you determine that you have found the right person, and that person has also passed your inspection in your own home with your animals, it is now your turn to make the pet sitter's life easier in caring for your pets.

Prior to leaving town, make sure that you have gathered all the extra feeding and water bowls in one central location in your home. Leave a list of feeding instructions taped to your refrigerator or wall-

Leave out leashes and collars if there is a dog to walk. If it is wintertime, arrange for a neighbor to come and shovel snow, or mow the grass (if you are going to be gone awhile).

Before you leave town, take a ratty old pair of sneakers and slip them on barefoot and wear them as you do your housework. Get them all nice and sweaty, slip them into a Ziploc bag and leave them with a note for the pet sitter to put one shoe down the day after you leave town, and then the other a few days later. (This just reinforces your scent to your cat, and comforts her to let her know that you are near).

Make sure you have an emergency plan in effect - Leave a photo of your cat on the refrigerator - (in case the worse thing happens and the cat gets outside). Leave alternate numbers of people the cat knows who would be able to capture the kitty outside more would be able to capture the kitty outside more so than a stranger would be able to.

Leave all the phone numbers where you can be reached and an itinerary of your trip.

Leave your vet's phone number and name and the hours the clinic keeps, provide an after hours phone number if available.

Shut all extra room doors to other bedrooms and bathrooms. Leave your cat access to the living room, your bedroom and master bathroom. Make sure all closet doors are shut, and if you cat is talented and likes to open cupboards and closets use the childproof safety locks in your absence so the cat doesn't get shut up into a cupboard and become trapped.

Leave enough food and litter to compensate should you have to be gone longer than expected. Make sure your litter pans are cleaned and full of new litter right before you leave town.

You also want to kitten proof your home before you leave. Take off all breakables that are on shelves and dressers, put up any cleaning products etc... When a cat is left to her own devices in an empty home, many things can and do happen. What you want to happen, is for your cat to remain safe, and so kitten-proofing is a good way to maintain the home. When you get back, you can return things back to normal, it only takes a few minutes. In being prepared ahead of time, you can then achieve peace of mind and enjoy your trip.

Mary Anne Miller is a free-lance writer, and member of the Cat Writers' Association. She is a web copy writer, and passionate about feral cats/kittens and bottle babies. You can read more by Mary Anne at her Feral Cat Behavior Blog.