08/07/2008 by Arielle.

I have just completed a website for Stephanie - a petsitter in Berkshire. She sent me the flyers that she uses and I was very excited to get going on her site as they were all spotty and colourful!

I wish her every success. See her site at http://www.spotted-wellies.co.uk/

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22/06/2008 by Arielle.

 I have been so lucky to have 2 new pet sitters ask me to do their sites this month.

Jen is very knowledgeable about computers and did not have the time to set up her own site. She wanted a very professional site and gave me some excellent content as well as providing some of her own pictures. She also needed the forms that I provide when you start your business and I was able to design her logo so she can now use it on her flyers. I bought her domain name for her and it took only 1 week to set up. See her site at http://www.tail-blazers.co.uk/

Sherry sent me a great message saying that she was young and healthy and wanted a colourful, lively site where visitors can log in and interact. She already owned her own domain name so it took a few weeks of waiting to get her name transferred to my hosting company. See her site at http://www.mypetz-space.co.uk/

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28/05/2008 by Arielle.

It is half term and we are looking after my friends guinea pigs while they are away (Harry and Cucumber). They belong to her 2 young children. My daughters are thrilled and it has made their half term.

I find it quite stressful as their last guinea pigs were eaten by a fox - thankfully not in our care!

We received a postcard today from the Isle of Wight saying - ‘We hop you are loking after the ginee pigs and they are not ded’ - pressure!!

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19/05/2008 by Arielle.

The little kitten on my consulting room table did look very pretty and stripey. The ‘new parents’ had recently acquired her from a pet shop and given her the pretty name of Lilly.
After careful inspection and a health check, I could confirm that Lilly was in fact a little male kitten.
It happens to us very often and may happen to you as a pet sitter, so I have written an article on how to sex kittens
I wonder what name Lilly will have when she next returns to us.

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01/05/2008 by Arielle.

An owner came in today having used Advocate flea drop treatment on her German Shepherd Harley. He was in for his vaccination but she casually mentioned that she would probably flea him again as she had applied the expensive flea drops; taken him for a walk off lead along the river and he had dived in for a swim.

She asked when she could reapply the next treatment. I then told her off about this as Advocate (like many of the topical flea treatments), contain a substance that is highly poisonous to aquatic animals. It will kill fish.

 She felt very guilty and would not allow her dog to swim again in the river until at least 4 days after applying the flea drops. We all love our environment, including our pets, so let us keep it healthy.

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10/03/2008 by Arielle.

I took my 4 children plus a friend to Crufts today. We were all so excited and joined the throngs of animal lovers at the NEC. The section with dogs from all over the world was our favourite.

What a wonderful selection of loving, happy dogs that were still full of wags for the us all when we must have been the thousandth hands that were stroking them that day! My children were fascinated by all the different breeds and I was so impressed by how healthy and happy all the dogs were.

I lost my 4 year old daughter Emily at one point. My son noticed that she was not with us and when I turned around all I saw were masses of people and my heart skipped a beat. It didn’t take long to find her at the dogs for the disabled stand. She had stopped to pick up a coupon that had fallen out of a Eukanuba booklet (one of the many free booklets we were all handed). When she looked up to hand it to me I had gone. I felt very guilty when she told me this!

We also managed to get very lost on the way home as I took one wrong turning, so it was a long drive home but certainly worth it as we loved our day.

It is a reminder to me how much we all value our pets and again how valuable a career as a pet sitter is.

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20/02/2008 by Arielle.

I had to laugh at our Labrador Slick this morning. We went out for our usual jog first thing in the morning. There is a wonderful open area in front of our house where she can just run off lead which is just ideal for a young active dog. It means that she is able to cover at least 10 times more ground than my 2 lazy legs as she zigzags after every smell.

A lady in our estate was walking her English Bulldog. Being a lazy breed, he trailed behind her reluctantly on the lead. Slick raced off to greet the owner and completely ignored the Bulldog.

She normally races off to sniff the other dog in her area, but this time it was as if she did not even see him as a dog. Even the owner commented on it and we laughed together as I called Slick away. How many  pet sitters and dog walkers have experienced this I wonder?

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28/01/2008 by Arielle.

My neighbour is looking after George - a gorgeous little Cavalier King Charles. She told me about him and explained how she was going to look after a very nervous little Spaniel.

He was scared for the first day and now thinks that he is in heaven. He goes for runs with her Weimeroodle in the huge open park in front of our house, is carried around by her little daughter and has socialised with all the dogs in the block - including our dog Slick. He is a great little character (as most Cavaliers are) and I am sure that he is not really going to want to go home he’s had such a great time here. How many other pet sitters have had this experience where a pet is happier with them than their owner?

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21/01/2008 by Arielle.

I had a dog in today that I admitted for a wart to be removed from its face. I normally never recommend surgery for warts. They are SO common and seen mainly in older dogs (Yorkies, Poodles and Schnauzers seem to worse afflicted than other breeds). They are caused by a virus and can come and go. They are quite harmless unless your dog can scratch the wart. This tends to make them bleed and they bleed a lot and can become a nasty infected mess.

The dog in today has this problem. He needed a dental too so this will be combined with the one anaesthetic.

I have had warts on my own fingers for the last 8 months! I am convinced that I caught them from the local swimming pool, but being a papilloma virus, they can come from anywhere. I hate having them and feel SO self-conscious about my hands and fingers (especially when at work and the clients watch my hands as they touch their pets!). I also hate shaking hands in church with anyone.

I finally went to have them frozen at the doctors last week and amazingly they seem to be going. I tried all the lotions and potions from Boots but nothing helped except neat liquid nitrogen sprayed onto them by our doctor! What a horrible subject to tell you about!

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05/01/2008 by Arielle.

A rabbit called Henry came in to see me this evening. He had recently been to a rabbit boarding kennel for a week whilst his owners were away. They had just collected him and he had a badly infected eye and a mass of faeces around his bottom.

It is natural for rabbits to eat their faeces every morning. They produce a sticky lump first thing in the morning that provides all the bacteria to help digest their very high roughage diet during the day. If the rabbit is too large (we do see a lot of obese bunnies!) or if they suffer with teeth problems due to an imbalanced diet (not enough good quality hay), they may not eat this lump as they cannot reach beyond their large bellies and end up like Henry with a very mucky bottom.

Henry’s owners were very upset that he had not been checked by the kennel owners and asked if I knew of local petsitters for the next time they were away. Our receptionist is a pet sitter, which is great for both her and the clients. My advice to pet sitting rabbits, is to understand their digestive system and always check your boarding bunnies’ bottom before the owners return. If they are unaware of the problem, explain  about rabbit digestion. I have described a bit more in my main website http://www.petsittingadvice.co.uk/feedingrabbit.htm

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