A Pet Sitters Blog

Our first franchise!

Nina’s Nannies for Pets are offering a unique opportunity, to animal lovers in the United Kingdom, to own our first pet sitting franchise. Pet sitting is a wonderful opportunity to turn your passionate hobby into a full-time business of your own. Whether you are facing redundancy, retired from the forces, a graduate, or a return to work mum, owning a Nina’s Nannies for Pets franchise could be your chance to change your lifestyle, while operating and growing a successful pet sitting business.

The pet care industry continues to grow despite the recession. People are moving away from catteries and kennels, in favour of allowing their pets to stay within the comfort and security of their own homes. In order to meet these demands Nina’s Nannies for Pets are looking for ambitious people, who are prepared to work long hours and in all weather conditions.  

The services that the franchise will offer are as follows -

---info@ninasnanniesforpets.co.uk for further details.  

Pet Insurance

At Nina’s Nannies for Pets, we have always been keen advocates of pet insurance. Ensuring that your pets medical requirements and veterinary bills are taken care of is of the utmost importance. If your animal becomes ill and requires urgent medical treatment, the last thing you want to be thinking about is the financial implications.

You would not think twice about insuring your vehicle or home and yet there are still many pet owners who fail to insure their pets. You are however, far more likely to claim on your pet insurance compared to the anything else!

There has been huge advances in veterinary treatments over the years and the costs can spiral, running into hundreds if not thousands of pounds!. As well as medical expense, cover will also typically include legal expenses should your pet cause injury to a third party. It can also cover the cost of advertising if your pet is lost and even a reward for their safe return. A more expensive policy can also offer a payout, should you be forced to cancel your holiday if your pet becomes sick.

Although cats and dogs are the easiest pets to find insurance, other animals can be covered – even exotics. However, you may have to search for a specialist provider if your pet is a bearded dragon!

Knowing that you are covered by reliable and affordable insurance offers complete peace of mind and allows your focus to be on their care and recovery.

We have always been dedicated to offering consumers the best possible care for their pets which is why you can now visit our Pet Comparison Directory.

Introducing

Hanne is also certified in canine psychology, canine behaviour, care and development at advanced level and a certified NLP practitioner who helps dog owners with problems from the minor to the extreme (e.g.) pulling on the lead, excessive barking, separation anxiety, phobias and obsessions, aggression towards dogs, and towards humans. She also visits your home and consults on a 1-1 basis. Owners receive back up support for life. She is also a member of the APDT, ABS, ASAB, ABMA, UFAW, PAACT, JFIDL and certified in cat behaviour and Canine Touch at foundation level.

For further information you can visit Hanne’s website http://www.doglistener.tv/

Goodbyes

This year, Nina’s Nannies for Pets have been deeply saddened by the loss of many old friends.  Clients and their pets who have used our pet visiting and live in pet sitting service for many years, have reported the death of their much loved cats, dogs and little furies.

In Hemel Hempstead we said goodbye to a little tortoiseshell cat called Titch.  In Potten End we recently mourned the loss of Penny, also a tortoiseshell aged 20, whom we had just finished a couple of weeks

Remembering old friends

previously.  Jazz, also 20 and another little cat from Eaton Bray, Daisy, a wonderful little Grey rescue cat from Berkhamsted, Phoebe from St Albans and more recently Mr Snuffles a wonderful old Lab from Cambridgeshire.  We really will miss them all dearly.

On a more pleasant note, Luika our two year old German Shepherd Dog has become a massive hit on facebook!  If you would like to follow his antics he can be found under Luika Cole, but more about him in blogs to come.

The volcanic eruptions continue to cause problems for our pet sitters, but we have managed to juggle sitters diaries in order to keep clients continuity and hope that the disruption to our time tables are not too long lasting.

Pet Sitting Update

I would like to say a huge thank you to our new and existing clients, who continue to help Nina’s Nannies for Pets thrive. Our pet visiting/sitting service in the Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, St Albans, Harpenden and surrounding areas have never been busier and we cannot accept any further dog walks since we are now fully booked for the foreseeable future.

A long lost friend!

We always like to welcome our new pet sitters and our latest couple, Sue and Tom Smith from Cranleigh in Surrey, are no exception. Although, both now retired, Sue worked as a veterinary assistance and Tom also worked as a Police Officer and they are both very much looking forward to building their regular client base.

Our recent additions have really strengthened our pet sitting team in Surrey, London, Bristol and Somerset, but we are still recruiting live in pet sitters in the Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire areas. Anyone who may have an interest should visit our ‘Become a Pet Sitter’ page for further details.

We also have some exciting news to announce, so watch this space for further details.

It’s Snow Joke!

The past few weeks has seen our pet sitters battle through the most atrocious of weather conditions to arrive at their destinations.  Both on the visiting and live in side. 

Since our visiting pet sitting service, covers Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Bovingdon, Harpendon, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Tring, St Albans and surrounding areas, traveling proved both laborious and time consuming, however, we are pleased to say that every cat and caged animal in our care was reached, even though some days our pet sitters did not finish until 8 p.m after an early morning start.

I think that the worse case was in Berkhamsted, where we were feeding both cats and chickens.  One of our pet sitters arrived one morning, to find that the electric fence surrounding the hen house was felled with the sheer weight of snow.  Thankfully the chickens were all huddled together inside of their house and safe from any marauding foxes!

It’s testament to the dedication of our pet sitting team, who in some instances parked on the flat and trudged up hills to ensure that all our clients pets were fed and watered.  In another case a sitter dug her way out of a foot of snow in Harpendon to reach her destination! Well done Sue for remembering your shovel!

Saying Goodbye To Old Friends

This year has seen the loss of many old friends, including Mr Speckles, a beautiful lop eared rabbit, Muffy, a 17 years old cat from Berkhamsted, Charley a newly adopted cat who was already 15 years old and Tigger, who was the eldest cat on our books at 21 years of age.

It is always a very sad occasion for us and our pet sitters, since attachments are formed in the first few days, and some are frequent sits when their families have property overseas, or indeed, if they are frequent flyers and require a pet sitting service throughout the year.

We have also bid a fond farewell to Janet and Ray Marshall, who have been with our company for the last five years. Sadly their last assignment will be in January next year, since they now have family commitments and will not have the availability to continue. They will both be sadly missed by both us, our other sitters and of course their regular clients. The door however, has been left open for their return, if circumstances change in the future.

Christmas is almost upon us and we have no further availability for our live in service until January 10, but we do still have spaces for our visiting pet sitter, pet sitting service in the following areas – Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Bovingdon, Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, Northall, and Redbourn. I would strongly advise however, that you contact us at your earliest convenience should you require a visiting service for your cats or caged animals, since there are only so many hours in a day and we do endeavour to finish by 4 p.m. on Xmas Eve, Xmas Day and Boxing Day. There is also a preliminary visit required and since we only have the weekend in order to see new clients you will appreciate how little time there is left.

At Nina’s Nannies for Pets, we have had a wonderful year and seen expansion throughout the South and South East on the Country. We are now able to offer our pet sitting and pet sitter service in the whole of the London area and have added Norfolk to our port folio. We are still recruiting in these areas however, so anyone interested in becoming a live in pet sitter should visit

www.ninasnanniesforpets.co.uk/recruitment.html for further information. 

Orangutans on the brink

In our work within the pet industry, we inevitably come across people who devote their entire lives to helping pets or animals in need. One such lady brought to our attention the plight of Orangutans out in Indonesia and quite frankly, their story is heart rending.                 

How many of us have been tucked up around a roaring fire, watching these beautiful creatures and their struggle for survival. One such programme, appeared a while back on BBC2, but did any of us offer the monitory support that is so desperately required!

It seems that Palm oil is the main cause of the Orangutan’s struggle for survival and during the past decade tens of thousands of them have died at the hands of palm oil companies. It’s people like you and I that can help to prevent the destruction of their habitat. How, I hear you ask. By visiting http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/ which is awash with information.

The Orangutan Appeal UK is a registered charity that is based in the south of England. They are dedicated to the rehabilitation and preservation of Orangutans and the conservation of their habitat.

The Appeal strives to protect remaining wild populations of orangutans by providing support and funding for projects across Malaysian and Indonesian Borneo; and by raising awareness of the plight of this great ape across the globe. The Appeal is also authorised to work on behalf of the famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre!

It is only when you are faced with the most appalling stories of abuse, such as torture, mutilation, shooting, burning and even the rape of these wonderful creatures, that the horror they are facing really hits home.  By adopting, and helping to fund raise, at least it will help those people on the front line, dealing with their day to day suffering.

We recently offered our support by adopting baby Sen, who was rescued by Sepilok in September 2006 and by highlighting this on our blog, we hope that it will encourage other people to do the same.

Autumn

I cannot believe just how the time flies and how I have neglected my blog of  late!

Harriet (our little kitten from Cats Protection), is growing into a  beautiful cat and was nutered last week.  Always a worrying time, but she has recovered well and thankfully won’t be adding further strain to rescue centres, by producing her own kittens.

We have continued to expand our pet sitting service and despite the recession have had our busiest year yet.  In fact we are still recruiting for live in pet sitters/couples in the London, Wiltshire and Devon areas, so if you are interested,  please do get in touch.

We have been extremely active on Twitter and you can follow us here or join our new Facebook page,  where you can join in some extremely interesting debates and meet like minded people.

New members to our pet sitting team are Adrienne Hasler from Woodford Green in Essex.  I hope that Adrienne will very much enjoy her time with us and is due to start in the New Year.

Saving Chloe

As an active member of a pet forum, I was appalled to hear of Chloe’s story.

Chloe is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was rescued by a lovely member of petsforum.co.uk from what looked to be a puppy farm. She was only four days away from having her puppies, when the despicable ‘owner’ decided she wanted to get rid of her. Someone alerted the forum member to Chloe’s plight and money was raised to bring the poor dog  to safety.

She was vastly underweight, extremely matted and extremely  fearful of humans.  The wonderful forum member who so kindly took responsibility for Chloe,  has helped her through her birth and both mother and puppies are doing wonderfully well.

Another pregnant bitch called Bonnie, was in a similar situation – she was also heavily pregnant and  being sold  by the SAME person, however when forum members enquired about Bonnie, they discovered that she had already been sold.  Her whereabouts sadly remain unknown.

The following petition is to protest against the sale of pregnant bitches.  Chloe and her puppies  are now enjoying the comfort of a safe and loving home.  The same cannot be said for Bonnie, who’s whereabouts its unknown.

PLEASE SUPPORT this petition by visiting http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/pregnantbitches/ and please do not  forget to invite your friends and family to join this group.

Thank you.