Our Services

Our services help you manage your pets during the day, when you are away on vacation, business trips or holidays, those days you are unexpectedly held up at the office or to cover your home in a family emergency..... or indeed any other reason that would require your pet to be left unattended.

We provide a standard set of services for Dogs, Cats, Birds, Exotic Animals and other Pets including small ranches.

If your pet is not listed, give us a call and we will be happy to discuss it's needs with you.

We also offer a house-sitting service for those people who do not have pets or which can be added to our Pet Sitting service at a special combined rate. This service is especially useful for extended absences.

Initial Visit

All first time clients will have a free in home visit from myself to introduce us to your pets (to make sure we are compatible) and discuss the requirements of our services to both your pets and home. This visit takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. At that time, we will go over the Service Agreement (we renew this with you every 2 years), have you fill out a Veterinary Release form and a general information sheet for our files. We will discuss the charges for the services to make sure we both understand what is required of us and pick up two keys.

Finally, we will need an access door key and to understand any security arrangements (i.e. burglar alarms) that you may have installed.

Security

We operate a special key security program. You may chose to leave your keys with us for future services, in the event that you are locked out, for example, or need someone to go to your house in the event of an emergency. In this case we operate a key-safe program to ensure your house security is maintained. If you ask us to return the key, there will be a charge for our time and gas.

In the event that we are required to employ a locksmith to gain entry into your premises, due to a malfunction of the key or lock, we would expect to be reimbursed for all costs incurred.

Diary

We will leave you a short description of how the visit went and general information together with the time of our service. This can be e-mailed to you or handwritten. This helps our clients know what occurred during their absence.

Invoice

At the end of the service period, we will leave the daily diary at an agreed upon location in your home (the kitchen counter for example). We will also leave an invoice for first time clients. Otherwise invoices will be e-mailed unless other arrangements are made.

Payment is due at the end of each service period. We ask that you pay us in cash, check/money order or electronically using the PayPal service, though in the latter case we will add a 3% service charge.

Booking

We ask that you schedule our service as much in advance as possible to avoid any scheduling conflicts.

Unlike our competitors, we do not charge extra for visits made during a Public Holiday such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. During Holiday periods, however, if you book service for a specific period and decide to return home early, you may be charged for the period of time you reserved.

Last minute bookings made within 24hrs of the first visit may carry a 25% surcharge for the first day of the service period if we have to schedule our staff at short notice.

There is no charge for the cancellation of visits provided that at least 48hrs notice is provided. We will endeavor to redeploy our staff for all bookings that are cancelled with less than 48hrs, but more than 24hrs notice, but you may be charged for the first day's scheduled visits if this is not possible.

Please note that Thoughts4Paws reserves the right to receive full payment of scheduled services not cancelled within 24 hours notice.

Other Conditions of Service

Each visit is 20 to 30 minutes in length

All pets must be visited at least once every 24 hours. We do not accept contracts that specify longer periods between visits. Note this does not apply for long term contracts for services, such as week day middle-of-the-day walks

We do not accept pet sitting jobs that are “shared” with friends, family or neighbors

Safety

For our safety and your pets’, please do not ask your friends, neighbors, or relatives to stop by and check in on the animals, plants, or home during our service agreement dates. You should notify us of anyone who may be entering the premises during the agreed pet sitting times. If no one is scheduled to be on premises when we get there, we will contact the police for our safty and your security.

Under exceptional circumstances, we may have to modify our service if we find that the pet under our care poses a danger to the health or safety of our pet sitter. If such concerns prohibit us from caring for your pet, we may seek a suitable alternative arrangement, such as placing your pet in a kennel.

Please note, however, that we pride ourselves in our ability to deal with any animal under our care, whatever their attitude towards our visits, and have never had to do this in five years of operation!

Liability - the legal stuff we have to put in!

The best of care will be given in watching both your pet(s) and your home. However, due to the extreme unpredictability of animals, we cannot accept responsibility for any mishaps of any extraordinary or unusual nature (i.e., biting, furniture damage, accidental death, etc.) or any complication in administering medications to the animal(s). Nor can we be liable for injury, disappearance, death or fines of pet(s) with access to the outdoors. In the event of inclement weather or natural disaster, we will use best judgment in caring for your pet(s) and home. We will be held harmless for any consequences related to such decisions.

We cannot be held liable for any damages to your pet or property caused by your pet(s) or other means outside our control. You must take adequate precautions and evaluate the needs of your pet(s). Gates or crates (if needed), proper heating/cooling, medications and food must be provided by the client.

When any pet has access to the outdoors when we are not on the premises, we can not be responsible if the pet is lost, injured, or stolen.

We will provide the services stated in the service agreement in a reliable, caring and trustworthy manner. In consideration of these services, and as an express condition thereof, the client waives and relinquishes any and all claims against Thoughts4Paws except those arising from negligence or willful misconduct on the part of the pet sitter.