Caring for your pets whilst you are away from home
Home Visits
Entrusting someone with your home and pets is a massive undertaking. Here at 4 paws, we have a created a solid bond with our client base through honesty, integrity, respect, and love for your precious pets. We have a long standing history of providing five star care and we pride ourselves in leaving your home clean and tidy, for your pets to be in the best possible conditions.
During the time we are in your home, we can also increase your security by turning on or off lights, opening curtains, taking in mail etc .. we can also water plants, top up bird feeders, and even hedgehog stations! All our team have had a clear DBS check, and key holder insurance which means if we were to misplace your keys, your locks would be replaced on us. We are always happy for you to leave any security cameras running for your peace of mind, and so you can check in on your pets any time.
Our failsafe policy ensures that we never miss a visit, and we are always happy to tac on an extra session/s if you are delayed on your return – or just want to extend your holiday a little longer!
Keeping your pets at home rather than taking them into boarding can significantly reduce stress. Pets can get stressed when you’re away, as it means a change to their normal routine. Having someone look after them in your home is usually best, as it allows you to keep things as familiar as possible for them.
This is especially true if you’ve got a cat, rabbit or small animal, as they won’t be familiar with travelling and visiting new places. For dogs, it depends on the individual dog as to whether they’d be happier to stay in their home, or board somewhere.
Cat Sitting
Catering for your cat with morning or evening feeding and fussing. We endeavour to keep to the time when your cat is used to being fed, however this isn’t always possible due to other clients and commitments. Morning visits occur between 8 and 10am, and evening visits are between 4 and 7pm. Visits can also be arranged outside of these hours to suit you and your cat.
During our visit we don’t just feed your cat! Depending on their personality we can fuss, groom, play, or just sit and read with them. If they use a litter tray, this will be cleaned out on each visit removing any soiled litter and replacing when necessary. We can alter cat flaps to keep in or let out, or we can call outside cats in. Food bowls will be cleaned before using them and water replaced with fresh. We can also give your cats any medication they require. We don’t force interaction so if your cat is the quiet type we can offer short visits, or we can sit with them to give them a chance to get to know us.
All our visits are followed up with videos, pictures and/or messages to keep you updated on what your feline friend has been up to with us.
Small Animal or Multi Animal Visits
Small animal sitting includes caring, cleaning and feeding for rodents, birds, fish and reptiles. We can also stay to handle your small furries for up to an hour to maintain or work on their sociability. If it’s just quick feeding your pet needs (such as fish) then our short ‘pop in’ visits would suffice. We can also do a combination of these if your pets need a clean out on one visit but not all.
If you have a multi-animal menagerie at your home, then prices are calculated by the hour. If we can service all of your pets adequately within the hour, then the price will be as described in the cat sitting section above. If there is a chance that more than one hour may be required then an additional charges apply. If you need us to travel between your house and say a field then that is taken as two separate jobs.
Puppy Visits
Puppies are very time consuming and demanding, they also have weaker bladder control and will need to be let out to pee much more often than an adult dog. This is very important whilst house training your puppy as the more times it successfully goes outside, and the behaviour rewarded, the quicker they will learn the appropriate place to do its business. On average, an 8 week old puppy should be able to hold itself for one to two hours, working towards another hour for each month of the pups age.
Our half hour visits are the perfect amount of time to let your pup out for a pee, clean up any accidents, play and feed before they are ready to settle down to sleep again. Puppies need around 18-20 hours sleep so leaving them at home in peace, provided they have a secure attachment, can be an excellent choice.
Once the young dogs are able to go out for a walk we can do this too. We recommend puppy visits until the pups are 6 months old, this is because young dogs are extra sensitive during this critical period and we believe they should have 100% of our care and attention. Then they can join social group walks or move onto solos.
Dog Sitting
Need to stay at work late, or going out to dinner and a show but don’t want your four legged friends to go hungry? Give us a message and we will be there. If your pet suffers from separation anxiety but you need to go out for an appointment we can help.
We offer pet sitting by the hour over 2h, or one of our visits mentioned above including late night let outs. We can chill and watch a film with your canine companions till you get back. Or if your going to be away for a longer period, check out our house sitting options.
House Sitting
Some dogs cope well in kennels, however others can find it stressful being housed in strange location with unknown dogs. Having us stay at your home allows your dog to keep close to their usual routine, have lots of one on one attention, and sleep in their own bed.
House Sitting example comprises of; Full walk in the morning, possibly left for small animal/cat visits (less than 2h) breakfast, possibly left whilst we walk regular dogs (4h or less), lunchtime let out, possibly left whilst we walk regulars (4h or less), back for tea, possibly left for cat/small animal visits (less than 2h), late night short walk, sleep overnight. This can be adapted to your pets needs, and we will take your pet with us as much as possible if suitable.
Due to the nature of this service, we have limited availability so advance booking is advised to avoid disappointment.
Failsafe
If we follow our failsafe policy we will never miss a visit.
- Message with your requested dates, times and visit duration
- Fill in our info form in as much detail as possible. Message to get it cleared.
- Recieve confirmation that your requested visits are booked – message if you don’t hear anything!
- Pay online before visit
- You message us on your day of departure
- If you don’t hear from us within 1h of your visit time then … yes you’ve guessed it .. message us!