Obsessing

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I arrived in South Carolina last night.

I called my house sitter from Chicago, then again from SC.

I texted her last night, then again this morning.

I paid her VERY well for taking care of my home while I am away (way more than I spent I on my plane tickets).

How much do you obsess and call when someone is watching your bird while you're away?

I feel so nuts right now, I am sitting here with my phone waiting for her to call me when she finishes morning chores. I left 3 vet numbers, my breeder friends numbers, a note by every cage with specific details and quirks regarding those specific birds, I left 3 pages of instructions on the front door, and a checklist to look at before she leaves. I gave another one of my friends a key to my house so that she can go check every other day to make sure stuff has gotten done. The reason I pay so well (it works out to about 75 dollars an hour) is because I am so obsessive and distrusting....I hear stories about people who have left their pets in the care of a friend only to come back and find they'd been lied to and the animal is either sick or dead. Now I trust the woman who is house sitting for me, and I still have a second person check up every other day.... I know it's insulting, but why risk it?

Ok rant over... lol . I'll be fine, I just don't want ANYTHING bad to happen to my babies.

 

[merlinsmom13]

I hope everything is good. Consider yourself lucky because you can find someone to take care of everybody. I haven't been anywhere since we got Merlin, noone to take care of him. It was like that w/our horses too. I would leave & spend the whole time stressing that everyone was taken care of instead of enjoying my time away.

 

[antoinette]

Sounds like you have covered everything possible.......

Only one question, you mentioned
I am so obsessive and distrusting....I hear stories about people who have left their pets in the care of a friend only to come back and find they'd been lied to and the animal is either sick or dead. Now I trust the woman who is house sitting for me, and I still have a second person check up every other day.

How well do you know the woman looking after your house, has she been around for a long time, has she got birds, or looked after birds before?

Just curious to know

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I've known her (and her mom, dad, and two sisters) for about 5 years. (Which is as long as I've been in Nebraska. She's watched my pets before. I had her come over on 3 different days before I left... day one I showed her how, day two I helped her a little, and day three I watched her do it. I train pet sitters far in advance... I always have at least 2 people who have keys and that know the basics... one of my pet sitters just moved away, so that second girl that is checking behind my current pet sitter is going to be an alternate (I showed her the basics, but I'll spend the next several months introducing her to my birds... (I never let the birds be taken care of by someone they don't know.)

She doesn't own any birds, but has interacted with mine (and she got Moe's stamp of approval )

I do my best never to take any chances with the animals. (She's watching my 35 birds, 4 horses, 4 dogs, 6 cats, 11 chickens, a 3 ducks). She is experienced with horses (and I'd prefer to train tomeone to do the birds and have them already know how to deal with horses.

Some bird owners would disregard my wishes and do what they think's best... (I've had a problem with that once). Something as simple as caring for them in the wrong order (there is a rigid routine and I expect someone I'm paying to respect my rules. Angie (the girl watching the birds) is very loyal and very patient (never want a hot tempered person in my aviary trying to care for my birds while being screamed at, they'd go nuts).

As a courtesy I dropped the babies I was handfeeding off at my breeder friends house, along with Miko (who would probably have eaten Angie alive since he does poorly with people he can boss around).

I wish I'd known her longer, (but I've only been in Nebraska for 6 years.)

I use to work for her mother, her sister is the watching my son, and her other sister dropped me off at the airport. For me they're like a second family

 

[antoinette]

I've known her (and her mom, dad, and two sisters) for about 5 years. (Which is as long as I've been in Nebraska. She's watched my pets before. I had her come over on 3 different days before I left... day one I showed her how, day two I helped her a little, and day three I watched her do it. I train pet sitters far in advance... I always have at least 2 people who have keys and that know the basics... one of my pet sitters just moved away, so that second girl that is checking behind my current pet sitter is going to be an alternate (I showed her the basics, but I'll spend the next several months introducing her to my birds... (I never let the birds be taken care of by someone they don't know.)



She doesn't own any birds, but has interacted with mine (and she got Moe's stamp of approval )

I do my best never to take any chances with the animals. (She's watching my 35 birds, 4 horses, 4 dogs, 6 cats, 11 chickens, a 3 ducks). She is experienced with horses (and I'd prefer to train tomeone to do the birds and have them already know how to deal with horses.

Some bird owners would disregard my wishes and do what they think's best... (I've had a problem with that once). Something as simple as caring for them in the wrong order (there is a rigid routine and I expect someone I'm paying to respect my rules. Angie (the girl watching the birds) is very loyal and very patient (never want a hot tempered person in my aviary trying to care for my birds while being screamed at, they'd go nuts).

As a courtesy I dropped the babies I was handfeeding off at my breeder friends house, along with Miko (who would probably have eaten Angie alive since he does poorly with people he can boss around).

I wish I'd known her longer, (but I've only been in Nebraska for 6 years.)

I use to work for her mother, her sister is the watching my son, and her other sister dropped me off at the airport. For me they're like a second family

Works for me, you have done a wonderful job, training the house sitter. Better still you know them like a second family, no problem.
I hope many members learn a thing or two from your posting, so many points to cover, and one can never be to careful.

NOW GO RELAX AND ENJOY YOURSELF.........

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I have pet sitters because in the event (God forbid) something happened to me and I was in the hospital or had a family emergency, I need to know that there are at least two people who could shoulder the respoonsibility while I' away.

Merlinsmom, if I were you I'd start by finding someone who Merlin likes... I make sure that my pet sitters are well received by my birds and that the pet sitter is comfortable dealing with the birds....

Miko was the only exception this time, and for a bird like him I trusted leaving him at my friends (he was pretty pleased when he met my friend and she likes him a lot.... so he may be upset with me for a few days after I get back to my home, but he's a tough minded bird, and honestly he needs some 't know... he was a rescue and I'm still sizing up how we will fare with someone else... so I'm eager to see how he does for her.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

She called... things are great, so now I'll be okay for a while...lol

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

It may seem overly paranoid, but I use to moderate an animal rescue forums and sooooo many stories of starved animals and owners saying "so and so was supposed to be feeding him while I was away". Not gonna be me if I can help it! If something happens I want to know that it was essentially unavoidable. (Hence pet sitter, cause what if the power goes out and the aviary gets too hot), I'd rather pay really well and have the person do all the things I would do.... it's for that reason that I don't leave home very often.... We went to Italy and Egypt this past spring and I was gone for 2 weeks.... not sure why I'm having so much trouble now, same sitter same animals. I think this time it's the extreme temp that worries me.... spring is so mild I didn't worry too much

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

But there is nothing like that sense of peace and joy I get when I get home after a trip away

The first day away is always the hardest. (Sorry for venting my stress here...lol. I am feeling better now though... thanks for your patience with my endless posts!

I'll enjoy my trip, and then I'll enjoy being home

 

[Rio Mom]

You can't help but stress out about your pets being cared for. One of my sisters is getting married September of next year, and I've already been stressing out about somebody taking care of my animals. I have River, two dogs, two cats, and a few fish. One of the cats gets insulin injections, so that's what worries me the most, that they will do it right. My vet will board diabetic patients, but I really don't want to do that, because when he's in the vet hospital he gets stressed out, and I worry that he wouldn't eat. River gets out of cage time with us everyday, but I don't think I will have the sitter do that, I would worry too much about what could happen. Then I worry about if he's stressed that I'm not home (we will be gone three days), he will decide to pluck feathers. I completely understand your worry, my dad doesn't call me his "worrier" for nothing! lol

 

[dirtpoor]

Awe! You did good Doll! I have worked with horses, dogs and birds all my life and it's amazing how similar and dissimilar they are and how that effects their care and WHO cares for them! You did good!

 

[Anna]

I understand completely. I went away for three days a few weeks ago and left my menagerie in the care of my brother. Normally my mum does it cause she helps me with the morning and afternoon routines anyway so I don't have to leave her too many instructions. This time however mum was away visiting family and my brother and his girlfriend were my only options. They live with us too right now so at least the birds knew him and he is the one that taught Shrek to speak all the nonsense noise words that he knows so he has Shrek's stamp of approval (If you can be boss cocky over Shrek, the rest fall in line).

Despite all this, I left printed instructions stuck to his bedroom door and the fridge, took him through it all several times before I left and texted him while I was away to make sure everyone was ok. And this was my brother, and I was only away for three days and he lives with us! They are my babies, I would lose it if anything happened to them.