We come to your home to care for your pets on a per visit basis and can customize our services to suit your needs. We charge per visit so the frequency of visits are up to you.

We do all the obvious things such as feeding your pet and providing fresh water, dog walking and/or potty breaks and exercise (and playtime), cleaning kitty litter boxes, entertaining with toys, belly rubs and ear scratches and lots of baby talk! 

We can administer medication as needed and we clean up any accidents that we may find.

We will also bring in your newspaper and mail, alternate lights, put the main trash can out for pick-up, etc.  

The initial consultation is FREE!

No, we do not keep any pets in our home (other than our own).  We would be happy to refer you to others who do in home boarding or we can recommend quality boarding facilites in the area.  Just ask!

YES!  You will meet your actual sitter at the initial consultation or prior to the start date.  You may meet more than one sitter at this time so that more than one sitter will be familiar with your needs and acquainted with you and your pets.. 

Our rates vary, depending on the circumstances - the time involved, the type of care required and the distance we will be traveling.  We DO NOT charge a certain amount "per pet".  We may charge a little more for a large number of pets just because there is more care involved and it will require additional time.

Sometimes caring for 10 cats is as easy as caring for two so we do not necessarily charge extra for the number of pets.  On the other hand, sometimes a single pet with special needs may require extra time, clean up, etc, and may have a higher rate.  But we always try to be as fair as possible when calculating  your rate. 

We can give you an estimate before the initial consultation and will confirm the rate after the consultation.  Our prices start at $15 per visit. The majority of visits are in the $15-$18 range.  The most we have ever charged per visit is $35.

Additional fees may apply for holidays, short notice and/or work in visits, emergency scheduling, etc.  We understand that you may need to call late at night or early in the morning in the event of an emergency. While most people graciously include gratuity for such circumstances, we hope you will understand it may be necessary to charge an additional fee for our extra effort. 

Rates are subject to change but we will always notify you ahead of time.

For clients who aquire new pets after the initial consultation, we are happy to come by and meet your new pet!  Please understand that a standard visit charge will apply.

Payment is expected on or before the first scheduled visit.

A standard visit lasts for up to 30 minutes with the average being 20-30 minutes.  When we have light schedules, we may stay longer.  Sometimes we stay for a whole hour when we can but can only promise up to 30 minutes. 

Please understand that short notice/work in visits may be of shorter duration as we sometimes have to work the visit into our already booked schedule.

Visit time may also be reduced if your home is uncomfortably hot or cold.  Thermostats set at 80 degrees may be nice and toasty for a cat.....but it is generally not comfortable for our human sitters (or most dogs).   

Yes, we work 7 days a week and every holiday!  There is no additional charge for weekend visits but most holiday visits are subject to an additional charge which varies depending on the holiday.

We like to have as much notice as possible but we try to accomodate short notices (less than a week) whenever we can.  We realize that sometimes our clients are unable to avoid a short notice (emergencies, travel for work, etc.) so we try to do our best to accomodate those needs. 

Just remember that the sooner you schedule, the better the odds of securing the time you need.  Because once we are booked, we are booked. 

Please understand that "work in" visits require extra effort on our part and may be subject to additional fees (usually 10-20%).  Please be aware that the visit time may be shorter if we are having to work the visit into our already busy schedules. But we will do everythng we can to be there when needed in an emergency.

We greatly appreciate the extra fee being included in your payment for short notice scheduling.

Note: A "Short Notice" is less than 1 week for non-holidays or less than 2 weeks for holidays.  

Yes, PET PAL does overnight stays but on a limited basis.  If we are unavailable for the dates you need for overnight visits, we can refer you to a very nice retired couple who have been doing overnight pet/house sitting for a number of years.

We have found over the years that MOST all pets do PERFECTLY fine being left at home, without someone staying overnight.  It is actually a VERY rare pet that needs someone to stay overnight.  Elderly or ill pets who need to go outside in the middle of the night may need an overnight caretaker but pets without special needs should do absolutely fine on a per visit basis.  The most important thing is an established routine.  When your pet realizes the sitter is coming when expected and all their needs are being met, they relax and are content.  They then associate the special "sleeping buddy" partnership with their owners. 

Pets who become destructive due to severe separation anxiety from their owners should be evaluated by a veterinarian to see if this issue can be alleviated by medication or training.  Pets with this type of disorder are actually very rare.  Content pets are always the happiest pets and in many cases, separation anxiety can be effectively treated.

Yes, we can administer most medication as needed including oral (pill, liquid), transdermal (applied to skin) and insulin injections.

Most pets will generally do much BETTER being left at home (as compared to a kennel) where all the sights, smells and sounds are familiar.

Many pets do not do well in a kennel type of environment because they are confused and do not know where they are and they worry they have been abandoned by their owner.  And the sounds of all the other animals can be stressful to them which can cause behavioral changes that otherwise would not occur (such as soiling, not eating, etc.).

There are many reasons why pets have accidents (including medical reasons) but most pets who do not normally have accidents at home will not start having them while you are away.  This is very rare.

Should your pet have an occasional accident while in our care, no worries, we will take care of that.  We will make every effort to have your home looking just as it did when you left.

Please note:  Excessive soiling due to medical issues or improper training may be subject to additional clean-up fees. We greatly appreciate any gratuity you may include for pets who are prone to accidents or for excessive clean-up. 

Puppies generally require more care and clean up so there may be an extra charge for puppies.

We hope that once you meet us, you will see that we are honest, dependable, trustworthy people.  Because we realize that this isn't always enough for some people, we are bonded and insured to give you peace of mind.  We can also provide a background check if necessary.  And we will provide a long list of references and invite you to call each and every one.  We are confident in our services and our sitters and know you will be also.

Please be sure to see our testimonials!

Of course!  We will provide an initial consultation, free of charge, so that you may get to know us and so that we can meet you and your pets and learn their routine.  Pets also like to be "introduced" to new people in their home by their owners.  This way, they know we are "okay".

We will get general information at this time including veterinary information, emergency contacts, feeding instructions, medication instructions if required, etc.  We will also need a key at this time (preferably TWO keys so that more than one sitter can have access in an emergency) and alarm information (if you have one).

The initial consultation usually takes 30 minutes or less.  Please have all information handy so that we are able to complete the initial consultation within a half hour so that we can stay on schedule for the pets in our care.

No. We prefer to keep a key on file (preferably two (2)) so that the exchange of keys is not necessary, particularly in an emergency.  We also do not like for keys to be left outside because of the obvious risk. 

We will pick up and return your key free of charge for the FIRST scheduled visit(s) but after that there will be a $10 charge to pick up and/or drop of a key for any reason (including locks being changed, a move, etc.). 

The $10 fee will apply if our sitters have to arrange to exchange your key for emergencies, etc.  Also, please keep in mind that in the rare event of a car accident, your key could be lost and we would not have access to your home.

If you only want to provide one (1) key, then please provide us with contact information for another person in town with access to your home.

For your convenience, you can drop your key off at our address to avoid this fee. 

Checks should be made payable to PET PAL unless other arrangements are made ahead of time.  We also accept cash but are not accepting credit cards at this time.  We can accept Paypal but we are charged a fee for each transaction so if paying by Paypal, there will be an additional charge.

Of course!  Your sitter will get any gratuity that you are kind enough to include.  If more than one sitter cares for your pets during the period, the gratuity will be split equally and fairly.

Unlike most professional pet sitters, we do not have an official "cancellation policy".  We have found that most clients who cancel at the last minute are understanding of how this affects us and compensate us accordingly. We work by appointment and this is how we make our living and once the appointment is filled, we can't fill it with another when cancelled at the last minute. 

We are most appreciative and grateful when the monetary loss for us due to cancellation is taken into consideration by our clients.  We trust that our clients will be fair in these situations just as we want to be fair and understanding when our clients occasionally have to cancel on short notice. 

We do ask that you call during regular business hours only (8:00am to 8:00pm) to cancel any scheduled visits. 

Please do not call late at night (after 10:00pm) or early in the morning (before 7:00am) to cancel visits. We work very long hours and need our rest.

Cancellation phone calls made from 10:00pm to 7:00am will NOT be refunded and no credit will be issued. This is our only policy regarding cancellations.

Holidays are our busiest time and we often have a "wait list" of people wanting to book us for the holidays.  Therefore, we do not schedule anyone for holiday periods unless the dates are confirmed.  We do not schedule clients who say "we are going away for Thanksgiving so put us down".  We need actual dates and the number of visits per day in order to schedule your services. 

Even though we do not have a policy regarding holiday cancellations, we greatly appreciate our clients who realize how much a cancelled holiday booking affects us.

Yes, certainly.  All we ask is that you let us know up front which plants will need to be watered so that we can allow enough time for pet care and plant watering.  Because summer is our busiest time, we need to arrange for the extra time it will take for watering in order for us to stay on schedule.

We do not mind watering a couple of plants as part of the normal visit but more than a couple of indoor plants (or any outdoor watering) may be subject to an extra charge.  Please be very specific about which plants will or will not need to be watered (as none of us are "plant people" by nature so you have to help us out).

Please note:  Plants/flowers that attract bees may be excluded for watering as one of our sitters is extremely allergic to bees and can not risk a bee sting. If you have plants and/or flowers that attract bees that may need watering, we ask that you discuss this prior to scheduling watering services.

We are not pool professionals but we will do our best to accomodate your needs.  We do not accept any responsibility for any duties requested of us outside of our normal services. 

Please be aware that there may be an additional charge for pool requests (or any other requests outside of our regular services) as this is not included in the standard rate. We also ask that you provide adequate tools for removing full skimmer baskets (such as a rod with a hook on the end), a convenient outdoor trash can for depositing the debris. etc. 

We also ask that you provide detailed instructions regarding any additional request that is not covered during the initial consultation and/or telephone scheduling and we always appreciate any gratuity for requests that are in addition to our regular services.