Just being direct. You can’t put off all decisions onto others. What would you do if the emergency contact was unavailable?
Thanks all for comments. Interesting.
It seems that both house sitters and pet parents, at least those on this thread, agree on the benefit of a pet parent leaving payment authority for pet care with their vet. Transparency is good. As seems related contingent pet care.
Expressed views suggest that housesitter determining enthanasia are emotional. Totally understandable.
Potential quirk is extent of availability of pet parent during housesit, and any presence of local emergency contact. Quite a few of our pet parents travel to distant time zones (Asia cruises seem popular) and with variable internet connection. And not every pet parent has neighbours or friends that they offer as emergency contacts.
For context, we did not ask for this form. Not seen it before - hence thread. A takeaway for us is that we should probably try harder to seek vet pre-approval prior to sit - never been a problem but seems good idea. We can’t really imagine a housesitter progressing serious pet medical matters without huge effort to contact pet parent, or nominated person. But then we’ve faced several oddball situations during housesits - that required calm, pragmatic decisions. Alas unexpected stuff happens.
As raised in another thread, we’e also had at least two pet parents that, during onsite handover, mentioned that they were uncertain if pet would live until end of sit. Quite the uplifting start to a housesit! Mercifully all was ok.
Sitters, When do you bring up the conversation about vet payment with the HO? I feel like doing it during the initial video call is presumptuous as you haven’t been offered the sit. But then it gets a bit awkward after acceptance or prior to the sit to do it over the THS app or WhatsApp messaging. If the pet is young, do you still bring up vet fees?
We discuss this during our video call, before the sit is confirmed …in case a vet is needed in an emergency, what arrangements have you made (or are planning to make) with your vet ?
It’s really no different from asking about feeding or exercise routines; it’s simply about being fully prepared.
Many hosts have told us that our questions reassured them that our priority is providing the best possible care for their pets and home and that’s why they choose us .
We always ask . A puppy or kitten could just as easily have an accident or injury as an older pet . We looked after a young dog who just days after the sit did finished became seriously unwell , was rushed by the family to the vet where investigations revealed that she had cancer that could not be treated - she passed away within days . Has this occurred just a few days earlier , we would have been dealing with this situation during our sit with the family on the other side of the world .
This thread is about a 5 month pup
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/things-that-go-bluuuurgh-in-the-night