24/12/2007 by Arielle.

There are a number of christmas dangers to be aware of with your pets. These are ones that I have seen:
1). An owner had left a huge 2kg chocolate slab all neatly wrapped under the tree. Remember how good a dog’s sense of smell is. Her Spaniel ate the entire contents of the present and spent christmas in the hospital. Cocoa powder or very dark chocolate contain a substance called theobromine that can cause a heart attack in dogs. Milk chocolate just gives them a nasty stomach ache due to the over-indulgence of sugar and fat.
2). The thin tinsel strands that look so pretty on a tree can be lethal. I had a kitten once that had chewed one and they can cause the gut loops to twist and can be very dangerous.
3). Poinsettia flowers as shown above are very decorative at Christmas but can cause mouth irritation and mild vomiting if eaten by your cat.
Other than that, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

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01/12/2007 by Arielle.

I just felt so sorry for Inca when she stepped out of her basket today (or rather skulked out as Siamese cats do). Inca has suffered with an allergic skin all her life and is on a permanent dose of steroids to stop her from licking and scratching herself raw.

Her owner felt awful as she had been away and left Inca in the care of her brother. He was cooking a stir fry and had left a bowl of raw prawns on the side ready to fry. Inca spotted them and apparently ate through ¾ of the bowl before he realised what had happened.

She returned a few days later to find that Inca’s skin which is normally kept under control with the steroids, had erupted and she really looked terribly moth-eaten and so sorry for herself. The owner at least now knew what she was severely allergic to and she was determined that not another prawn would pass Inca’s fangs.

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12/11/2007 by Arielle.

Statistically, 2% of a vet’s day will consist of euthanasias. Mine today was a 10 year old and much loved little tabby called Pippa. Her owner brought her in as she was regurgitating all her food and was very obviously losing weight. When I felt her abdomen, I could feel a very obvious large mass which could only be a tumour. She had lost almost half her body weight and her owner agreed that it would be kindest to put her to sleep. He was so brave about it all and she sat quietly on my lap as I gave her an injection into her vein with the help of a very sympathetic nurse.

I am sure that as a pet sitter, you will have come into contact with many pet deaths. I have written various articles about grief and euthanasia. If a pet’s death has affected you, please have a look at a site I set up for a pet cemetery which includes all my articles. See down the left hand side for a link to paws rest.

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07/11/2007 by Arielle.

I am writing this post to warn all you dog and cat lovers out there about the dangers of a household gadget that has become more popular in this day and age and can be lethal to your pet - the ordinary paper shredder. We have one which sits in the kitchen. I thought it was a good idea to place it there and shred any envelopes with our address on before sending the junk mail off to the recycling bin (also in our kitchen).

I have moved it now as I have just read a shocking article about a Jack Russell that licked one and quite literally shredded his tongue (the one organ in the body with a huge blood supply). The vet put him to sleep immediately and both he and the staff sounded quite traumatised by the incident. A warning to us all to safeguard our pets from an apparently harmless new household gadget.

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29/10/2007 by Arielle.

I had to get to work very early this morning as the practice I locum for was very short staffed. It meant getting all the children and me out the house by 7.45 to avoid the traffic on the M1. My friend very kindly offered to take my children to school and nursery for me. She has 3 of her own, a neighbour’s daughter and my 3 to walk to school. She managed it with a double buggy and a buggy board and they were so excited to walk on a beautiful autumnal morning with her children.
I imagined her walking (quite capably) with 7 children to school; and it made me think of all you pet sitters and dog walkers out there. You are only allowed to walk 4 dogs at any one time.
I would imagine just too many tangled leads and stops to poop scoop if you had more than 4!

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25/10/2007 by Arielle.

As it is half term this week, we chose to have a family break in the Peak District (sharing a ‘barn’ with my cousin and her family - it was cold but the Peaks are beautiful). We left Slick our Labrador with Sam nextdoor.

She is a wonderful pet sitter and Slick just loves her ‘holidays’ nextdoor when we are away. Sam is a trained personal fitness instructor and fits in pet sitting in her busy schedule as she loves doing it. She also advertises dog ‘jogging’ which is vital in todays obese world, but that is another story…..

This is where I feel pet sitting is such a versatile choice of career. You are able to continue with other interests and continue working as a pet sitter at the same time’ making it as busy or as quiet as you want.

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01/10/2007 by Arielle.

I am thrilled to have produced my first pet sitting website and blog for a lovely pet sitter called Sally. I hope she enjoys using the blog and that it boosts her already popular business.

I use vital keywords to ensure that each site is found by the large search engines. As I explained to Sally, it will take a few months for them to find her site. To ensure that it is found, I will try to link her site with a website at her local vet and the village website. Including her new website address on all her business cards and a sticker on her car will ensure that her current clients see it too.

To view the site, click on ‘My first pet sitting website’ in the column down on the left of this page. To return to my pet sitting advice website, click on ‘web design Arielle’ at the bottom right of Sally’s site.

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24/09/2007 by Arielle.

A lovely pet sitter came in today with her own pets to be vaccinated. She used to be a veterinary nurse but now runs her own very busy and very profitable pet sitting business.
I asked her how she was getting on. She said that she loves her business but the only downside was having to take her holidays out of season. Her next holiday has been booked to go to Australia in January. She also casually commented on the fact that she was saving to buy her own house next year. For someone in their early 20’s, this made me realise that pet sitting WAS a profitable career!

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19/09/2007 by Arielle.

You are reading my very first entry into the world of blogging! It is quite exciting and I so enjoy doing this. I have just made my site - (petsitting advice) go live and I so hope it will help many petsitters out there. I love nothing more than helping others and if I can do it in the comfort of my own home, so much the better!

I have kept a diary for 23 years so every day of my life has an entry and I will share a little of my world with you (and try not to bore you too much!)

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