Joycares Personalized Pet Care

My cat was sick and they came during the Christmas season to take care of her. They were very attentive and responsive. I really appreciated the extra care they showed her. At one point she wasn't using the litter box in the basement so they brought it upstairs.

Below is the letter we sent the owner after our "special" care pet had to be put down due to complete neglect while we were gone. We fired them hours before the emergency run at 11:00 PM. The manager of special care was supposed to be caring for the cat needing fluids and blood pressure medicine and swore that he was "just fine" in the morning of the day we came home and then kept changing her story to defend her lack of care. (A seven hour gap from the time we arrived home.) We found other disturbing issues after we wrote this letter. Basically the owner was defending a woman who lied about what she was not doing and ignored our directions because her "short cuts" would save us money which we did not ask for. We also had Terramycin in the house that was supposed to be used on another cat. We cleaned his eye, spoke to our Vet and used it when we saw how bad his eye was. Our Vet confirmed that the eye could not possibly had gotten that bad in 7 hours and that he was in visibly real bad shape which Amy denied. Joy backed Amy and essentially called us and our Vet liars. The cat went into complete renal failure while we were gone because he was not getting enough fluids, food or water. He was drinking, eating, getting his fluids and pooping before we left. He was scheduled for a 6 month check up in one week. Below is the letter and we have had no response from Ms. Joy: We want to thank you both, Joy and Amy, for putting the final nail in Sammy’s coffin. Per our Vets, there was no way his eye got that infected in 7 hours (NO WAY). Nor did his kidneys completely fail without lack of fluids, food and water. His intestines were blocked. I caught him trying to poop and nothing but foam coming out. Some of his kidney values were off the scale they were so bad. He had a big weight drop. (He did eat for us before we left for the emergency room). At a minimum, we should have been called when the eye got infected. He needed immediate medical attention and was ignored by your staff. You had our authorization to take him to our vet without notifying us and we told you he was very old and fragile and needed special care. It appears your idea of special care is to completely ignore obvious distress. Notice he was euthanized last night. We were advised that this was the humane thing to do as he was in really bad shape as proven by the blood work and the physical exam done. Yes, he was “just fine” yesterday morning! See attached. We really appreciate Amy’s money saving “short cuts”! We are not going to forget and are going to broadcast our opinion of the “expert” service of JoyDOESNOTCare and the neglect your business provides. One lies (Amy) and the other (Joy) swears to it. All the outside chores and instructions I requested were ignored. I have her on camera and I inspected. The litter boxes appeared very, very dirty when we arrived, and all were dirty which confirms to us that they were not cleaned yesterday morning. Instead my house was. We emptied all the litter boxes and used Lysol to disinfect them before we left. That 2-hour final visit by Amy was nothing more than a cover-up attempt. Some of my biggest eaters have also lost weight. Amy, shame! She half-assed all her chores inside the house. Contrast what we have to say with the attached nauseating letter Amy left us which is nothing but lies and B/S! She is going to ruin your business! We know what “expert” care is as we have been doing it for many years.

Great! We always get a note on how things went. The dog hasn't complained. She's usually asleep when we get home.

unknown

unknown

I have two cats (females) that are relatively healthy. I have two other cats (males)  who are chronically ill.  Their food MUST be separated since illness for each of them results if they have access to the other's food.  One cat vomits. The other cat's situation is much more serious. He has already had the PU surgery due to urinary blockage caused by crystals and a second operation to remove stones from his bladder caused by the crystals.  He MUST be on prescription food to prevent the crystals. And he must have amytriptiline (pill form 1/2 tab)  in the evening to maintain his health.  The other cat has allergies to dust mites and must have Atopica in the AM and Prednisolone in the PM. He also has medicine for his eye should an infection flare up.  He also has Optixcare Lysine supplements on his food in the AM.  The JoyCares team said they could handle the food separation/medicine doses requirements. Their contract said that I would receive a call confirming their visits 24 hours in advance.  I did not receive that call.  On 4/12 - the night before my 7am flight - at 8:30pm I texted the specialized personal care manager (Person 1) as a reminder that I had an early morning flight and would take care of cats in the AM.  Her first visit would then be in the PM.  She then informed me that she would not be the one entering my home, it would be the second person (Person 2)  that I had met at my consultation interview 3 weeks prior.  She told me I was told this.  I do not remember being told that specifically.  What I understood was that Person 1 would start this pet sitting event and then person 2 would work into it under personal on-site guidance from Person 1.  My relationship had been with Person 1.  I had personally contracted with her through JoyCares for her healing touch services. I  considered her a trusted resource and I respected her work.  I thought I was purchasing her services and when I was quoted the price and even mentioned that I thought it would be more since I clearly thought it was her care I was purchasing for which I would gladly have paid.  That was the FIRST misunderstanding.  (And if this was my fault I accept the responsibility.  I believe that everything that happens is in God's plan for a reason.  I should have been more adamant about finding out who was entering my home and when. My trust of Person 1 prevented me from asking more questions).  At that time I said then I NEED to talk to the person who is coming into my home to work with them directly.  I wanted to make a change on the separation of the cats during the night.  I tried to talk to Person 2 but she was unable to speak to me until the next night when she would be at my home.   With much trepidation I left the next morning.  I canceled my evening work plans with the team on site in Boston so that I could work on the phone with Person 2 who was to be in my home.  I explained the separation arrangement for the one cat.  She said she understood and would make the change. She said the cats were good,  I thought we were OKAY at this point.  She said she would text me the next morning when she went in.  It seemed that everything was OK- I was hoping!  She asked me if she could leave wet food out for the cats.  I said that I starts to spoil rather quickly and that she should NOT leave the wet food out.  Then she mentioned that another person (Person 3) was being introduced at this visit, and Person 3 would be back in the evening to handle things alone.  AT THIS POINT THINGS WERE NOT OK WITH ME.  Now a third person - who I do not even know or trust - is going into my house to handle a very complex situation and I cannot contact her or speak to her or determine if she is the person I want entering my house and taking care of my animals. I can ONLY text Person 1 or Person 2 who are not there!  At 7:02pm I texted Person 2 to find out when Person 3 would be there.  I was told 8pm. I texted back "Please do not forget to get back to me".  I was told when Person 3 texted Person 2 she would text me.  At 9:01pm I received a text from Person 2 that   "Everyone did Awesome" and the great,food and meds and all happy kitties".  I did not understand this text since Person 2 was under the influence of alcohol the first time I tried to speak with her, it appeared that the situation was repeating itself.  Since I was told that texting was the way to communicate I started texting to try to get answers. And then there was silence.  Then I received a call from Joy Sutton herself,  The first words out of her mouth were, :Linda 68 text messages are excessive"  Not, Linda what are your concerns, Linda how can I help restore your confidence in our company, Linda how can we do a better job of taking care of your cats and building your trust in us.  I said that's OK Joy I will have my sister go there in the morning to take care of the cats.  She told me that I could not send anyone else into the house.  That would break the contract.  And I told her that I could send anyone into the house I chose to, but that it certainly would not be her crew anymore. That night I tearfully reached out to a friend and my sister. They  graciously agreed to maintain care of my cats for Wednesday and Thursday until I could get back home.  Thank God, again, for them.   The next morning while out of town I called Joy and left a message that I had no choice but to break the contract and to send in a friend and my sister.  Then I texted Person 2 to tell her of my decision.  I  texted Person 1 at some time and she said she was aware as well.  Then this is what my friend found when she went into my home.  All cats were together, there was no separation, all food types were available to all of the cats, the wet food was down and spoiled. There was vomit on the floor and one of the syringes from the medicine was on the floor. The simplest of requests were NOT FOLLOWED in separating the cats and separating the food.  I have no way of knowing if the correct medicine was administered to the appropriate cat.  Or if it was given at all.  My keys were returned to me by Person 1 on Saturday after I had called the office twice. There was no apology, rather somehow it was framed to me that this was all my fault.   I think that Joycares has a very Poor business model, but the abhorrent part is that they did NOT deliver appropriate care to the animals and they blames me for testing too much.  How ridiculous!.  I knew it was bad when they would NOT respond to me. They berated me for sending too many texts and for questioning their process and their experience. I have always been told to pay attention to the behavior and not the words.   I just say to anyone who leaves their animals with Joycares, be cautious, beware, ask questions and good luck!  I would not want anyone to be treated they way they have treated me and certainly you always want your animals to be safe.  I still do not know what the ramifications will be of my cats eating the wrong food. I would just say to Joycares,  your bad care of my cats and your bad customer service is not my fault.

RESPONSE on 4/27/2015.  During the initial response with person #2 she apologized to me for having been drinking too much to the point where she could not understand what I was asking,  otherwise I would not have mentioned it.  I understand that it was 9pm at night, but your hours do list as 24/7. At that time I texted to Person #1 that no one "under the influence of alcohol"  would be allowed in my house.  I received no response to that text. When I got the weird text on Tuesday night, with words jumbled, "

The initial phone call and in person meeting were very professional and thoughtful. I needed help as soon as possible, and they adjusted their schedules to accommodate us within just a few short days. The team of care-givers has been reliable, caring, communicative, and flexible. They have brought great peace of mind to our lives. I look forward to continuing our partnership.

They are really responsive to the dog. They leave great notes on what happened during the day. They really care about my dog quite a bit. They are phenomenal people and I really trust the people with my house. They really understand the dog. They give him massages. They have actually called before when there has been a question about timing. I have recommended them to anyone who would listen.

They do in home care, and they also do a ton of other work. They are really responsive to the dog, they write great notes to let me know what happened through out the day, they seem to care about my dog quite a bit, and my I trust them with the keys to my house. They are great with the dog. The worst thing that I can say about them is that one time they broke something while rolling a ball in the house for the dog to chase. They left a long note offering to pay for it but we did not expect them to. They cleaned it up and were very responsive. They have called us before to find out the timing, which we didn't expect dog walkers to do. I have recommended them to anyone who would listen.

I definitely recommend them.

I've been using JoyCares for just over two years to help with my Great Dane. I've made several changes to the service over the years and JoyCares has always done their best to accomodate any changes. I use them now as needed based on work travel and for transport to and from The Mutt Hutt on Scranton. The caregivers that come into my home are great and take excellent care of dog!

We've been using them since late October on a 3 day a week basis and over out-of-town long weekends with excellent service. Love them and they love our lab too!

I would consider this service in case of emergency only. They are a large pet sitting service (12 employees/750 clients) and have great recommendations for those who use them. For the following reasons, I decided not to use them and perhaps this will save you some time:

1) I called 9 days before my travel date (a Thursday morning) and was told that the person doing the visit would call back to set up the appointment. I returned my call on Monday morning and they had no record of the original call we could discuss and seemed unconcerned that if it didn't work out, I would be stuck.

2) Initial home visit requires 50% deposit for planned travel (you cannot meet them in advance of actually hiring; you must pay a deposit upon the visit).

3) The person you meet is the pet care supervisor and not the actual care giver. You don't meet any of your pet care providers until they walk through the door to care for your pet. So, if for some reason you are uncomfortable and/or your pet doesn't respond to them, you are out of luck.

This might be fine if you are setting up a walking service, perhaps, but I don't want to give keys to my house to someone I don't know (or a group of someones) just in case. Maybe I'm spoiled, but my previous pet-setter who also was a bonded and insured sole-proprietor in another city was a gem. She provided all of the same services, including sitting my dogs at her house whenever possible. Perhaps I will try using them for walking services and see how things go.

Before they started, they came to meet my dogs and get the "lay of the land". My dogs adjusted to the walkers with no problem. Now they look forward to them.

I called and left a message on a Monday to see whether someone would be available to sit for our cats the following weekend. I know that that is short notice, and we were really in a bind (our regular sitter was not available). Nobody ever bothered to call back. Perhaps no one was available to provide the service or the company doesn't cover our area. But nevertheless, I would have appreciated a return phone call.

I have been using Joy Cares for about 2 years now. I have 2 miniature schnauzers (a 12 year-old and a 2 year-old). I first started using their services when my youngest was a puppy, as they would stop by 2x/day to give her potty breaks. After the first few months, I switched to daily walks and have been using them since. I also have them watch my two girls while I'm away.

Annie, the dog walker that regularly walks my girls, is absolutely wonderful!! When my older dog had acute pancreatitis, she called me at work to let me know she had and quot;bloody accidentsand quot; in the house that day (in addition to cleaning all of the accidnets). I came home from work a few hours later to take her to the vet after Annie reassured me that my dog seemed to be resting comfortably and did not need to emergently go to the vet (I am a doctor myself so felt comfortable after talking to Annie). That night she was admitted for treatment for acute pancreatitis. Unfortunately, the next day she was worse, despite treatment. I texted Annie to let her know and on her own time, she went to visit my girl at the vet office that day. That meant so much to me- to know she cares so much about my dogs that she went during her free time to visit my sick dog! Fortunately, my dog recovered completely and I'm sure the visit from Annie helped lift her spirits. Both of my dogs LOVE her (and my oldest is pretty picky:). It is so nice to know that I have dog walkers that actually care about my dogs and that it isn't and quot;just a joband quot; to them.

I HIGHLY recommend Joy Cares.

PS. I must add that I also have a cat who loves affection - Annie will also go upstairs, pet him if he comes out, and check his water, in addition to walking my dogs daily. She is absolutely wonderful.

We have 3 pets: an older Pug dog, a young rescue cat, and a redfooted tortoise. Boarding our animals off-site has been a problem in the past - the dog was exhausted by the experience, the cat's sensitive immune system is stressed by environmental changes, and ~no one~ would take care of the tortoise for us (which meant he traveled with us to the Outer Banks, but that's another story). The rescue group from which we adopted our kitty recommended JoyCares to us, and they were like a tiny little miracle in our lives! Susan came out and met the critters a couple weeks before we left, and I was instantly comfortable with her and her rapport with the animals. She didn't bat an eye at the tortoise's odd dietary needs, she cooed to our dog, and she carefully made note of the myriad silly nicknames we have for our kitty. Leaving for vacation was a dream - no worries about dropping animals off at the kennel, no delays while we waited for the kennel to open. We came home to happy, healthy pets - none of our babies were sick or stressed, litterboxes were clean, the tortoise stayed home where he belongs! It was nice not having to coordinate our arrival time with the kennel hours, trying to get home before they closed or else get charged for an extra night's stay. JoyCares left a detailed note for us, outlining exactly when they had visited each day, and how each animal had fared during the week. The details they shared about each pet's personality was striking, and I could tell they'd really gotten to know our animals. The price was EXTREMELY reasonable, especially when you consider that they made 3 daily visits for the nine days that we were gone - we would have easily spent the same amount just to board our dog. And I can't tell you how lovely it was to completely enjoy our vacation, with no worries whatsoever about our animals, and without having to pack up the tortoise and all his assorted gear. JoyCares is a miracle, I tell you!

I had no idea a pet sitting service could be run SO professionally, but Joycares proved it without any doubt. They not only did exactly what they said they would do but actually did things that were a surprise, like washing the plates and utensils used to feed our cat. I did not ask nor expect them them to do that, but they did. Joy and Kris, a lady who works for her, came over before our trip and were extremely thorough in explaining what services were provided. They also made sure we knew to call them when we got home, regardless of the hour, so they knew our pet would not need a visit the next day. They also dealt with an usual situation (not involving our cat) that was handled as well as it could have been, which we greatly appreciated. No question we would (and no doubt will) use Joycares again and wholeheartedly urge they be contacted by anyone needing caring, responsible professionals to watch over their pet or pets.

I am extremely happy with the services provided by Marilyn and Susan from JoyCares. They are conscientious, 100% reliable, and genuinely care about my animals (including the cats). They walk my dogs through rain, snow, sleet, and all manner of Ohio weather! My dogs are much happier because of the daily walks and care from JoyCares. They come 5 days/week. I feel much less stress knowing my dogs have been cared for while I'm at work. I highly recommend JoyCares to anyone who wants a reliable, caring, and reasonably priced dog-walking and/or dog sitting service.

Excellent, as usual. Sue and Marilyn split the visits and always leave a detailed summary sheet for me. They let me know if the dogs went #1 or #2 and if there was anything unusual about their behavior. They also brought in my mail and left it on the table for me. They are very professional. My dogs are always relaxed and happy when I get home. I also like the fact that I get a confirmation call before the visits start and Joy requires a "I'm home" call to cease the visits. This last feature came in handy on a business trip when my flight was delayed and Joy came an extra time because I wasn't home yet.

have two dogs and two cats. When out of town I use this service. Cant say enough good things about it. Dogs are walked a minimum of three times a day; fed on a regular schedule. My dogs just love Joy and her helpers. When we run into Joy the dogs both get soooo excited. Joy and her employees will feed the cats on schedule and clean out litter box daily. Will change litter if necessary. If food, litter or supplies run low the service will run to the store. Once while out of town one of the dogs became very ill; my vet was unavailable so after getting my OK they took her to the vet they use for treatment. Joy has established contact with many of the area vets. Very detailed reports of the animal's behaviour etc while under their care. Have come through at the last minute when there have been personal emergencies

Joycares is great. I use them frequently when I travel for work. My cats are always well taken care of. I love the reports Joycares leaves so I can read up on how the "kids" did while I was gone. I've been using them for a few years now and will continue to use them exclusively.

They provide great service. I travel extensively for my job and they are always happy to stop in and care for my cats. They also bring the mail in to give the home a lived in look.

It has been an outstanding experience. My dogs really enjoy them and I trust them completely they take great care of my dogs. I think their prices are very reasonable and in the year I have used them I have never had any problems.

Their prices are reasonable, and they really spoil my dog. They are very professional about entering my home, and leave everything in its proper place. Joy responds to my phone calls and emails right away. They do better, however, if you have a regular day of the week when you hire them--less well responding to any emergency you may need them for. If you have people coming in and out while you're at work (cleaning lady, teenage child, etc), Joy Cares will not come to your house when someone is in the home. I believe they don't want to be responsible if somebody else lets your dog out and it escapes. This may affect what time of day you schedule their services.