Professional Pet Sitters Week and Suitcase Tips
I did not want Professional Pet Sitters Week to pass by unnoticed! Because if there is a pet sitter coming to your home, it means (usually) that your humans are going away. And it is important to know how long your humans are going to be replaced by a pet sitter! See the suitcase above? That is a small suitcase. When my human packs this one, it means she won’t be gone for more than a weekend, three days at the longest.
This big suitcase is Bad News. It means that someone is going missing for several weeks! Fortunately for me, it is always my human’s boyfriend who packs this suitcase. He is a touring musician and when he packs this suitcase, he is usually going to Europe, or has a bunch of shows to play on the East Coast. I don’t care if he is gone. In fact, I kind of like getting to use his pillow when he is away.
There are a couple of in-between suitcases, and when my human packs one of those, it is usually good news because she is probably going to a conference like BlogPaws or the Cat Writers Conference, and she is going to bring back a goody bag of swag for me, Binga and Boodie!
As you probably have guessed, we kitties have lots of experience with pet sitters! The first one we had was back at the old house, in 2004. My human went back east for some shows her boyfriend was playing and we got a nice woman named Nora. In those days neither my human nor her boyfriend had a cell phone, so Nora put temporary tags on the collars we were wearing at the time that had her phone number, in case something happened and we got out. If you want to read more about Nora, and the humans’ trip, you can read my September 2004 blog post!
Here are just a few suggestions about what you kitties can do about the whole travel and pet sitting thing:
Sitting in the suitcases may seem like a good idea, but it really isn’t. For one thing, it won’t stop the humans from leaving. For another thing, you do not want to be shut inside the suitcase! Luggage does not usually get the First Class treatment a kitty deserves and you may wind up the worse for wear.
Pet sitters may smell funny and unfamiliar at first, but don’t worry, you will get used to it.
Sadly, if you are on a special diet or you are not supposed to have extra treats, your pet sitter has been told this and you will not be able to wheedle any goodies out of him or her.
If you do not like your pet sitter, there is a chance your human will fire them! It’s true: one time, after Nora moved away, we had a pet sitter that did not make us happy. How did my human know? I was really happy to see her when she came back! Usually I am mad or indifferent. If I was happy, she knew I must not have enjoyed my time with the pet sitter, so she did not use them again.
Pet sitters are usually pretty cool! If they are anything like most of the ones we’ve had, they treat you better and play with you more than your actual humans! Our current pet sitter sleeps over when the humans are away, and even Boodie hangs out on the bed with her.
One bad thing about pet sitters — it is quite possible they will take photos of you. They do this to send the pictures to your humans. Yes, there is no escape from the paparazzi!
I hope you enjoyed my tips! And nice as they can be, I hope your experiences with pet sitters are few and far between!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

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