Oh my…North Andover has really taken a beating in the last 24hrs! October 30, and there are more trees down than a February blizzard, wires dangling and homes without electricity. I was driving on Great Pond rd this morning to check on a cat client of mine and realized that every single home had lost electricity and trees where down all over the place.
Strategy time:
Enter the home: Yes, as a pet care provider I do require all my clients to give me a key to their homes. Most offer me their codes and electric garage door openers but once I say to them “What if we loose electricity?” then they think about it and say …”Never thought of that.” It really isn’t something one would think about but in reality when you are leaving your animals in your home, you must have a way for someone to get to your pets in case of an emergency or for pet care.
Snow removal: This client and I had this discussion before they left and had a service scheduled to come and plow incase we got snow. I NEED to be able to enter your home and in North Andover some of the houses have really long and steep driveways!
Flashlight: Another check off my list- even if there isn’t any electricity I still have to be able to move around your house. In this particular situation, I am taking care of two cats that require an IV injection. Tonight I will be administering their IV’s under a flashlight. Needs to be done, these cats need their fluids and that is why you hired me. Task will be completed!
Food: Always available...but I did have a good chuckle this morning. On Sundays, this client gives their cats a special treat of tuna. They left the can on the table for me to feed to the cats, but guess what? The electric can opener obviously isn’t working. Note to Me – bring over my hand held opener tonight to feed the kitties their special treat.
Water: Well that fancy electric fountain isn’t working right now…therefore, I left a few extra bowls of water around the home. Since both of these cats have kidney problems it was a necessity for me to leave a few extra bowls of water for them. They drink a lot because of their medical condition and I didn’t want to take any chances they didn’t have enough.
Kitty litter boxes: Cleaned! I did that while the sun was shining through the house. No way I would even attempt to clean those under a flashlight ...hehhehe
Property Check: When I do a pet sitting job I always do a property check for my clients. A few branches are down in the backyard, there is no water in the basement and the ceilings are not leaking in any of the rooms upstairs from the roof. Oh, and I found a UPS package on the front stairs buried under snow. Another check off my list.
Lock the house: Walk through is complete, door is locked, and leaving the property until tonight.
Now that my visit is complete I will send a message to my client. All is fine with the house and the cats are doing well. I don’t want my clients to worry while they are away. They will see a newscast and will have concerns with the storm. They will want to make sure their “babies” are fine. And in this case, with proper preparations and planning from the client all is a success!
Tracey also blogs on http://www.northandoverpatch.com/
http://northandover.patch.com/blog_posts/a-pet-sitters-journey-in-a-storm
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