by Acacia Jane

Created on: November 11, 2008

Anyone with a pet should have a pet sitter, just as anyone with kids should have a babysitter's number on speed dial. But you can't just call up any old pet sitter from the yellow pages. The perfect pet sitter would be a trusted family member, while a good friend or well-known coworker with pets would do in a pinch. But, it's understandable if you're new to town and can't take your pet everywhere. In that case, give the yellow page pet sitter a shot, but make sure you protect your pet (and your personal property) by setting up "nanny cam" surveillance before you leave a stranger in your home with your beloved pet.

I do not recommend kennels because they rank, for pets, right up there with the vet and the groomer. A kennel means a trip to a strange place with strange smells and strange people and other strange animals whose temperament may not be suitable for keeping your pet company. In other words, kennels are very likely to stress your pet, and the trouble is that you never know whether it will be the next trip that does it. You may board your pet for years before you have a bad experience, but it only takes one bad visit to sour a pet on the boarding kennel experience.

The purpose of a pet sitter is to have your pet cared for within the comfortable atmosphere of your own home. Pet sitters who drive around, collect a whole bunch of pets, and take them to their home or business are no different, in my opinion, than kennels. You don't have any way of knowing what your pet is going through while under their control. Who knows, it may be nothing, but maybe not.

If you arrange for a pet sitter in your home, you'll know that the pet sitter's attention is dedicated to your pet or pets, as the case may be - and you'll be able to keep an eye on things if you want. Many a parent has put up a "nanny cam" only to find their trusted babysitter is mistreating the children. Before daycares added an option of live webcam check-ins for busy Moms and Dads, parents couldn't monitor how their kids were treated. To my knowledge, there are no boarding kennels with a "watch Toto on the web" option.

So if you're headed out of town, don't stick your pet in a kennel where you don't know what's going on. Ask a relative, friend, anyone you trust, to come to your home and watch your pet for you.

Or, if it's someone you visit a lot with your pet in tow, you should feel comfortable with taking your pet to their house for a night or for a week's vacation. Careful, though, because some pets refuse to eat when their owner is away. It's best to put your pet's "homesick" behavior to the test before leaving it behind for a week or more.

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