Go enjoy the trip. The whole zoo is in good hands.

When we first contacted Deb she came to our home one evening to meet us — and our cats. She was interested in learning exactly what their routines were, their individual idiosyncrasies with what and how they ate, what things they liked and didn’t like. I was surprised that someone would be so interested in my cats to want to know all this, but Deb wanted me to know that she does more than just take care of the chores — she cares for the animals like they are part of her own family.

Read Diane’s whole letter

We have 3 older cats that Deb cares for when we are out of town. I am so happy to have found her as a pet sitter. Previously we hired well-meaning neighbor kids to watch our cats: feed them twice a day and clean out the litter box. Unfortunately, it was evident that our neighbors — while they were really good kids — were just too busy with their own lives to spend any time with our cats other than the minimum amount required to put food down and (probably only sporadically) tend to the litter box. Frequently we would come home to find the litter box overfilled and cat messes on the floor — our cats’ response to an untended litter box. The cats also seemed anxious and upset.

When we first contacted Deb she came to our home one evening to meet us — and our cats. She was interested in learning exactly what their routines were, their individual idiosyncrasies with what and how they ate, what things they liked and didn’t like. I was surprised that someone would be so interested in my cats to want to know all this, but Deb wanted me to know that she does more than just take care of the chores — she cares for the animals like they are part of her own family.

Deb’s love for animals is evident. She has such a reassuring and caring manner and obviously sets them at ease. Our cats, like many others, are sensitive to situations where they feel they can’t trust visitors or strangers in the home. For example, one of our cats will hide and not come out to eat if he is upset or scared, but another one will take advantage of the situation and gobble down the other one’s food if he has the chance. We’ve come back from vacation in years past to find one cat had obviously lost weight while the other one had really packed on the pounds! But that’s not happening anymore! Deb makes sure they all feel well cared for and loved. She spends quiet time with them, makes sure they all eat, pets and brushes them and breaks out the cat toys. She’s able to put a critical eye on them, on the alert making sure an unusual symptom doesn’t become an actual health problem. She has even sent pictures to my phone of my contented cats at home when she’s visiting!

Now when we come home, our cats are happy and relaxed, not nervous and skittish as before. There are no cat messes and the litter box is clean! No extra work to deal with before we start to unpack! I can’t tell you how happy it has made us to know that someone is really looking out for our cats and caring for them just the way we would if we were home.