Just need to vent about my pet sitter...

[PirateGirl]

I returned from a week long vacation. I had my relatively new roommate take care of the animals for the first time while we were away. I left detailed instructions and bought extra food for everyone and figured they would be ok since, after all, the sitter lives there. We cleaned the house, the coops, the litter boxes etc. before we left and hoped for the best. It was not the best. It was far from the best. Maybe my roommate did his best but I will NEVER have him watch the animals again. The trash didn't go out on trash day, the duck run was a swamp (not the sitters fault, but he clearly didn't try to problem solve or call me or do anything, I could have had him at least throw down some straw), no snow had been shoveled anywhere on the property so consequently the door to the chicken run was frozen shut in a puddle of standing water/ice, there was no food left for the chickens and ducks, the eggs hadn't been collected and were all frozen/broken, no clean water, it looked as if he just took some extra tupperware from the kitchen and gave them extra food at some point and filled the water at some point and left them alone for days instead of checking on things daily and the food and water ran out and things were mucky and nasty. The cat treats were almost empty and I suspect he'd filled their food bowl with treats and not cat food (bag still full). Cat puke on the floor. Dog poop in the house, and my dogs are not accident prone, they clearly had been left for a long time One of my normal sitters was on the trip with us, the other had moved away, the third never called me back and was unavailable. Yes, all the animals are alive, yes, my husband and I cleaned up and fixed things, yes, they will all be ok, but I feel terrible about it and I'm extremely disappointed in my roommate who assured me things would be ok. I wish he'd just said he wasn't sure he could handle it and I would have looked harder for someone else.

 

[Shadowfire]

So sorry! Bear hugs

 

[PirateGirl]

So sorry! Bear hugs

Thanks. After my 9 hour car ride yesterday I spent the evening shoveling poop and snow and chipping ice while crying. I swear my house would burn to the ground if I didn't live there. I figured my fellow BYCers would understand the worries of leaving our animals in the care of others.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

Wow, sorry you went through that!

 

[Shadowfire]

Thanks. After my 9 hour car ride yesterday I spent the evening shoveling poop and snow and chipping ice while crying. I swear my house would burn to the ground if I didn't live there. I figured my fellow BYCers would understand the worries of leaving our animals in the care of others.

I know! It's hard to find people you can trust these days

 

[Shadrach]

I returned from a week long vacation. I had my relatively new roommate take care of the animals for the first time while we were away. I left detailed instructions and bought extra food for everyone and figured they would be ok since, after all, the sitter lives there. We cleaned the house, the coops, the litter boxes etc. before we left and hoped for the best. It was not the best. It was far from the best. Maybe my roommate did his best but I will NEVER have him watch the animals again. The trash didn't go out on trash day, the duck run was a swamp (not the sitters fault, but he clearly didn't try to problem solve or call me or do anything, I could have had him at least throw down some straw), no snow had been shoveled anywhere on the property so consequently the door to the chicken run was frozen shut in a puddle of standing water/ice, there was no food left for the chickens and ducks, the eggs hadn't been collected and were all frozen/broken, no clean water, it looked as if he just took some extra tupperware from the kitchen and gave them extra food at some point and filled the water at some point and left them alone for days instead of checking on things daily and the food and water ran out and things were mucky and nasty. The cat treats were almost empty and I suspect he'd filled their food bowl with treats and not cat food (bag still full). Cat puke on the floor. Dog poop in the house, and my dogs are not accident prone, they clearly had been left for a long time One of my normal sitters was on the trip with us, the other had moved away, the third never called me back and was unavailable. Yes, all the animals are alive, yes, my husband and I cleaned up and fixed things, yes, they will all be ok, but I feel terrible about it and I'm extremely disappointed in my roommate who assured me things would be ok. I wish he'd just said he wasn't sure he could handle it and I would have looked harder for someone else.

It's a problem with keeping animals and why farmers don't go on holiday much.
I would like to get out more but in the end, the animals come first and rightly so.
I did manage to get away for a few days this Christmas past and everyone was alive on my return but nobody cares for the chickens here quite like me.

 

[PirateGirl]

I know! It's hard to find people you can trust these days

I've had several other people watch the animals in the past and never had a problem with any of them! But you are right, there are very few people in my life I consider reliable.

 

[Shadowfire]

I've had several other people watch the animals in the past and never had a problem with any of them! But you are right, there are very few people in my life I consider reliable.

My neighbors have goats, chooks, (used to have ducks and guineas too), dogs, and cats and man is it a chore, but I do it for the animals the best I can. Hopefully you can find a good petsitter the nest time around!

 

[PirateGirl]

It's a problem with keeping animals and why farmers don't go on holiday much.
I would like to get out more but in the end, the animals come first and rightly so.
I did manage to get away for a few days this Christmas past and everyone was alive on my return but nobody cares for the chickens here quite like me.

Yes. Sometimes I think I want more animals, like yaks and goats and a few horses, but then we will really be tied to home, and I'm not sure I want that. I think perhaps I need to work on a better long term system for food and water for the birds. Winter certainly makes it more challenging, but if I could get out for a long weekend in summer and not have to worry because I've got a better food/water system set up, that would be ideal.

Once I left in summer and a critter got in my garden and ate everything to the ground. Totally not my sitter's fault, but it's crazy that the critters somehow knew it was a good time to break in.

 

[Shadrach]

Yes. Sometimes I think I want more animals, like yaks and goats and a few horses, but then we will really be tied to home, and I'm not sure I want that. I think perhaps I need to work on a better long term system for food and water for the birds. Winter certainly makes it more challenging, but if I could get out for a long weekend in summer and not have to worry because I've got a better food/water system set up, that would be ideal.

Once I left in summer and a critter got in my garden and ate everything to the ground. Totally not my sitter's fault, but it's crazy that the critters somehow knew it was a good time to break in.

It is really difficult. I've been lucky on the very few occasions that I've had to travel in that around here there are lots of other smallholders who understand the importance of proper animal care.