Pet Sitting by Ruth

Ruth has pet sit for us on many occasions for 12-15 years, sometimes even on short notice when work or emergency travel has required. She is very good with our pets and they like her as much as we do. Ruth is a hospital nurse and can recognize and care for many animal ailments and give injections. She knows if/when a pet needs a vet's care and required us to keep our vet's contact information available to her just in case she would need it. We have moved out-of-state. We doubt we will ever find another sitter as reliable, caring and good with pets and their owners as Ruth!

We got our 6 year old cats from a shelter where they'd lived for 7 months. When we wanted to take a vacation, we knew we couldn't take the chance of boarding these cats - they would have felt they'd been abandoned one more time. We contacted Ruth and immediately knew we were talking to a person who would not only lovingly care for our cats, but also be alert to any illnesses that might develop. Both cats immediately took to her when she came for a pre-vacation visit. Cats, in our experience, are a very good judge of people. Ruth not only took fantastic care of our 2 cats, she also brought in newspapers and mail, varied lights left on, and watered our outside plants. And, as a particularly delightful activity, she actually sat on the sofa and read to them from the newspaper. One cat apparently nestled right next to her as she read. What a wonderfully inventive way to extend the daily visit and talk to the cats! Both cats looked wonderful and were extremely relaxed and content when we arrived home. If you want a carefree vacation, knowing your pets will be totally content when you return, you can't do better than Pet Sitting by Ruth.

Our cats are both 14 years old and Ruth has been our pet sitter since we rescued them at 8 weeks. I never worry when I have to be away, since I know they are well taken care of by their "Auntie." She leaves us notes about the mischief they get into while we're gone. We have always been able to tell by the notes she leaves that they are very social with her and that she spends time playing, grooming, and tending to them on each visit. Over the last decade, we have dealt with flight delays, bad weather, a broken garage door, medication needs, and just about anything else you can imagine. We travel often. Ruth has ALWAYS been right on top of the problem, with the needs of our two little ones given the highest priority. I don't think there is anyone that cares about animals more than Ruth and we trust her completely with the care of our little feline family members.

I've been using Ruth as my go to pet sitter since 1998 at first for just my cat and more recently for my two dogs. My pets all love her. While she takes great care of my animals when I am away, she also goes beyond the call in taking care of my house making sure the paper and mail are brought in and my plants are watered. If only she would clean up some of the mess I leave behind when I am in a rush to get out of the house, then she would be an absolute dream. Nah, too much to ask for.
I especially value her nurse and vet tech experience. When I am gone for extended trips, I know she will recognize any illness and make sure my pets get any required veterinarian attention. That's peace of mind that money can't buy. She even came over to assist me in giving one of my dogs an antibiotic injection. I probably would have ended up giving myself the injection if I had to do it alone.
People who know me would probably call me a fanatic about taking care of my dogs. I guess that's true and that's why I use Ruth for my pet sitting.

Too bizarre and over the top. See above.

Ruth was a part of our family and unfortunately our needs out grew her services. We miss her dearly!

It went very well. She was punctual and did everything we asked her to do. It was great to not have to worry about the house. I would hire her again.

We went on vacation and left her in charge of our animals. She was very professional; she made sure we gave her all the emergency numbers. She gave us a journal which she used to provide details describing how things went while we were gone. We didn't ask her to, but she brought in the mail and watered the plants. She left our cat extra water on the last day in case we were delayed. She even checked the level of bird feed in the feeders. Our cat is usually nervous when we leave, but she was just fine in Ruth's care. We were very pleased with the service.

We have been through several pet sitters since the ones we used for years moved out of state. Ruth is the first who more than satisfied our pets needs. Both cats are on medication and require special attention. We hadn't left the boys since one of them almost died while we were away. They seemed to be in very good spirits when we returned. Ruth left notes about the cats behavior while we were away and asked us to call when we returned. Ruth even phoned the next day to ask if there were anything she could do to improve!

We have 4 cats. Two of are elderly and have health problems. One is 18 years and the other 15 years old and deaf. The other two are litter mates and are 2 years old. Ruth came twice per day as advertised, cleaned 3 litter boxes, and provided fresh water. There were different instructions for the morning vs. the night visit. Ruth followed these to the letter. While we were gone, one of the elderly cats stopped eating. Ruth called us immediately to let us know and get approval to deal with the cat. She went to the pet store and purchased several different types of food and finally got the cat to eat continuing to give us updates until the crisis past thereby saving our vacation. She did extra things like filling up my bird feeders and sweeping up around the litter boxes. She also brushed the cats and played with them. She purchased several new cat toys for the younger cats. She also kept a daily journal allowing us to see what happened each day.