Who owns who?

About fifteen years ago, a friend of mine said to me abuptly after spending a few hours with her, "It's time for me to go home. I need to tend to my cats".

At the time, I was a bit offended, thinking "what a lame excuse in order to ditch me". I''ll admit that it was a bit egocentric of me to even think that her departure had even something to do with me.

Well, now that I have pets of my own , as well the responsibility to care for other people's pets, I realize that this was no lame excuse but something she really had to do. When you care for animals you have to be considerate of sticking to a schedule.

Pets thrive by a regular routine of expectations.

This includes cats, even though they appear to be pretty independant and act like they don't even acknowledge your presense. Believe me, they expect you be home at a certain time.

By keeping pets on a schedule, a regular routine, keeps me in business. If a client wants to go out for a dinner date, the client will call me to come over at dinner time to feed and take their dog(s) out so they do not have rush back home. Dogs will get anxious if their schedule is interrupted. They can act out by either pooping on the floor, tearing shoes up or whinning incessantly. Cats can do the same thing by pooping outside the litterbox, scratching the furniture or biting you.

When I take care of people's pets I generally stick to a regular time specific schedule so the animals know when to expect me.

I know myself, if I am out all day, I get panicky and anxious worrying about my birds. They are used to their daily schedule of their papers, food, and water changed plus "flight time" outside of their cages at approximately 7:30am and at 5:00pm. They are also used to their "TV time" too where they will get cuddled and have their heads scratched. If their schedule is thrown off they will screach, sulk and can be nippy. If I have a meeting or an event to attend to in the evening, I will either make sure my husband can tend to them or hire a pet sitter. Yes, my birds rule my life.

Alot of my close friends have pets so when we give each other 'the look" that we have to get home at a certain time we now have that understanding of why. They are little souls that depend on us for everything even for entertainment and our company.

So if I tell you have to be home at a certain time please be understanding that I am responsible for the care and well being of my companion critters. They are living creatures who depend on entirely on me. I completely understand now why my friend had to get home for her cats!

* the photo above is "Cuddles" the cocker spaniel taken by my cell phone. As you can see she is also a Red Sox fan!