These are archived reviews of Elizabeth's Pet Sitting from 2009. For more recent comments, please visit the entry.
2009-01-19 11:04:01 I can not say enough good things about Elizabeth and her petsitting partner Alex. They are professional and very knowledgable about animals. I have a diabetic cat, two lovebirds, and a newly adopted puppy. Elizabeth was very responsive over email and very detailed during the intial consultation. Our main worry was the diabetic cat who needed insulin twice a day. Elizabeth had no problem adminsitering the medications and even showed us an easier way. She was fully prepared with answers to all my puppy related questions and offered training and toy advice. We had her come and take care of the animals over the holidays and by the time we returned our puppy knew 3 new commands. She sent pictures while we were gone on our trip.Overall, I enjoyed having a petsitter come to my home. Now I don't have to worry when we travel. —AnneBrowning
2009-02-06 17:58:24 My husband and I are first time parents with our two kittens Neo and Aussie and as such suffer the dilemma of any first time parent leaving their children for a weekend away. Can we trust this person with our darling children, will she remember to check in on them, will she spend some play time with them and can we trust this person with the keys to our home. Elizabeth has meet all our expectations and more! I can highly recommend her services. She doesn't just feed the pets but takes an active interest in all her charges not to mention the patience to field 50 calls from the first time parents! Thank you for your help Elizabeth. —Kerriclark
2009-03-04 15:32:47 We (my 2 cats and I) have been clients of Elizabeth's for over a year now. Elizabeth has done a terrific job in taking care of my 2 rather elderly cats (12 & 16) including administering subQ fluids to my kitty Critter, who was recently diagnosed with chronic renal failure, while I was on vacation. In addition to the fluids, she also gave both cats their antibiotics all week long, and made the time to visit 2x daily in order to follow the vets order on dosing. Prior to this last visit, Elizabeth has been helping me for both 10 day vacation type travel as well as covering weekends and last minute requests. She is great with my cats, responsive to our needs, very good with follow up on email and text messages. I did find that once I was more specific about how I wanted things managed in my home (food spill clean up, disposal of litter, disposal of soft food cans, help with ant management, etc.) she did an excellent job. Since being given both specific directions and appropriate tools ie, cleaning suppies etc, she has followed my directions closely, including providing detailed notes about her visits. She takes feedback well and when my vet didnt provide me with detailed insight into my cats diagnosed CRF, she went the extra mile to help educate me and direct me to resources for care, diet and supplies. Excellent service. We really appreciate her - especially considering how difficult it was for me to find a cat sitter over a year ago, and how difficult it can be to build a reliable relationship with any service provider who comes into your home while you are not there to supervise them. Lastly, I have to mention that Elizabeth went the extra mile and took my husband to Sutter for unexpected knee surgery while I was out of town and he couldnt find a ride! If you would like to call me for a reference, please ask Elizabeth for my phone number prior to starting service with her, I am happy to share my experience. Also, my recommendation to anyone considering any pet sitter or in house service: be specific, leave instructions, if there are house rules, just outline them so there are no surprises.
2009-04-23 14:51:28 Elizabeth (and her assistant Alex) regularly walk our 18-month old Golden Retriever while we are at work (3-5 times a week) and have been doing so since August 2008. Recently, we took a 12-day vacation and hired Elizabeth's Pet Sitting to stay at our house while we were out of town to take care of our dog plus two cats. The rate was reasonable (far less than the WAGHotel), and our dog also received her regular midday walks, not to mention lots of love and attention which is critical to the happiness and well-being of a golden! We usually walk our dog 3-4 times a day and spoil her rotten, so staying at our house (and waking up with her at 5:30am) is not an easy gig!!! We returned to a very happy, healthy dog and two equally well-taken-care of cats. My husband and I (well, probably me more than him) are very picky about our animals - they are our fur kids. Anyway, I would not trust anyone else besides a family member and Elizabeth/Alex to stay with them in our absence. I believe that you cannot put a price on peace of mind, and I had that. I also received daily email updates from Alex or Elizabeth (and sometimes both of them), letting me know how things were going or what funny events or games they had been involved in with our animals during our absence. As I would never let our dog stay at another person's house while I was away because I am not very trusting of the standard of care employed by others nor would I want my dog accidentally peeing on someone else's carpet, I cannot comment on Elizabeth's own in-home care pet sitting option at her house. However, I highly recommend Elizabeth's Pet Sitting for both dog walking services and for in-home pet sitting at the pet's own home. —MelissaFoster
2009-06-23 09:43:06 I am thrilled that I found Elizabeth’s Pet Sitting. I have an assortment of animals—3 dogs, 1 cat, goats, chickens, loose rabbits, fish—and I never went anywhere overnight because I had no idea who I could get that could care for both house and barn animals. From the moment I met Elizabeth I felt confident in her ability to care for my animals. She has extensive experience, and is also a true animal lover. My goats are not the calmest creatures, and I never once worried that they would be too overwhelming for her. She actually looked forward to watching them! When I returned home, everything was as I’d left. And most importantly—my animals were all well cared for and content. I highly recommend Elizabeth. She stayed over nights—which is a wonderful service. Her fees are very reasonable. I have worked in both a boarding kennel and a veterinarian office, and I understand the level of competence and care needed to look after animals while their owners are away. Elizabeth exceeded my expectations. I look forward to my next vacation and leaving Elizabeth in charge. —CharleneLogan
2009-09-07 22:42:41 Elizabeth's pet sitting service is fantastic! We have a lively Australian Shepherd who worries a lot when we are away, but finds comfort in Elizabeth's visits. Barley (our Aussie) is always happy and well-cared for when we return. Elizabeth is reliable and very easy to contact over email. We've had a lot of luck hiring Elizabeth at the last moment. It's wonderful to be able to keep Barley at home when we are away, and it's a great feeling to know that she is being cared for by a trustworthy and loving individual. —JessWilliams
2009-09-22 17:21:27 Elizabeth seems like a very nice girl, however, I have to be honest here because I do not want other animals or owners to go through the frustration and serious disappointment I faced when I recently returned home from a 10 day trip during which Elizabeth watched my cats. I hired Elizabeth due to her various animal experience and professional affiliations, but her service demonstrated a sheer lack of experience and professionalism. I provided Elizabeth with explicit oral and written instructions regarding my cats' care, so I was shocked when I returned a day early from my trip to find four neglected cats and a horrid mess.
The cats were severely overfed as evidenced by the heaps of food remaining in the bowls after I stressed the importance in not leaving food out for the cats and in great detail explained the exact amount the cats were to be fed; one of the cats had serious diarrhea and obviously had been having chronic diarrhea as there were dried feces smeared all over her rear; another cat had feces coated on one of her arms; there were feces stains all over the residence including my bed, all over the floors, and the counter tops; to my horror I found three metal cans left out in the open with their metal lids standing upright, which any animal caregiver would know poses serious risk to cats if they should lick the cans; I found heaps of litter in my toilet and around the toilet bowl; there were pieces of dried feces outside of the litterbox and all over the rug which I believe had been present for several days; the cat bowls were caked with a thick layer of crusty old food which clearly demonstrated that they had not been rinsed out once in ten days; there appeared to be an explosion of huge amounts of wet cat food in my sink, laid out in such a way I can honestly not even imagine how a human being caused such a mess; and more.
Worse yet, when I confronted Elizabeth and offered pictures of the cats and residence to demonstrate the validity of my claims, she responded that due to a circumstance, she had to have a "friend" watch the cats, as her partner, Alex, was unavailable for service. When I spoke with her the day before I ended up returning from my travels, the eighth day of my trip, she made absolutely no mention at all of an emergency situation and the need for an outside person to assume the responsibility of the cats and my residence. The contract I signed for Elizabeth's business clearly states that should a situation arise in which the petsitters could no longer provide care for the animals, then I as the owner authorize them to be placed in a kennel. I would surely, had been notified of Elizabeth's obligation, chosen for them to be placed in other professional care, or I would have returned early from my trip. NEVER would I have accepted a random person whom I did not meet, whom is not bonded and insured, and whose experiences I know nothing of to be responsible for the welfare of my cats and to be in possession of my residence's keys. Though Elizabeth assured me she requested the assistance of a trusted friend and provided this friend with the same clear instructions I provided her, the alleged friend she selected for the job demonstrated that he/she possesses no knowledge of animal care, no ability to follow the most basic instructions and no concern for animal well-being.
Furthermore, Elizabeth had been very difficult for me to contact while I was away - which was not all her fault considering I was in locales that frequently did not have cell phone reception - but nonetheless, she did not leave me a single message for the random instances I was able to check messages. The two times during those ten days that we did connect, she indicated having received my messages to request her return phone calls, but she did not leave me a single message, and in fact indicated that she would have gotten in touch with me had I been able to receive text messages. As far as I know, as long as a person can send a text message she can also dial out a call and leave a message. Worse yet, when I confronted Elizabeth with this, she told me her circumstance prevented her from being in touch. This infuriated me, as I am certain her friend, with his/her obvious lack of animal care experience, would have had no idea how to respond to an emergency situation, and would have been unable to get a hold of Elizabeth for advice as to how to adequately handle an emergency. I have a cat with epilepsy, and stressed to Elizabeth that I expected her experience with animals would allow her to make professional decisions in the case he should he have a seizure! If her friend could not even follow the most basic feeding and litterbox cleaning instructions, how would he/she have responded to that????
The truth is, I don't actually know that I believe that Elizabeth had hired a friend, as, like I said, she made no mention of him/her during our phone calls and the day before I returned home, she referred to a "little mess" she needed to clean before we returned. I imagine that she planned to clean the mess during her last "shift", but that I prevented that from happening due to my earlier than expected return. Either way, her decision-making in regards to animal care and animal welfare were obviously very, very poor.
I am not exaggerating the state of affairs, as, like I said, Elizabeth struck me as a very nice person and I had to really debate leaving such a negative review. At the end of the day, however, I feel very sorry for my cats having to live in those conditions for that long, and I really don't want other animals to have to endure similar experiences. Similarly, I hate to think of their owners paying for services that they thought were decent simply because the mess was covered immediately prior to their return. —Laramie
- Laramie: I deeply regret the substandard care that your cats received. It is absolutely atypical of my business practices and was the result of a sudden emergency over which I had little control. My friend is a long-time friend of mine and I trust her implicitly. I believe that it was due to a miscommunication that she overfed your cats wet food, resulting in their diarrhea. I can guarantee that I paid close attention to your cats and home on each prior visit and never saw feces either on an animal, or household surfaces. This must have occurred overnight, just before your arrival home. This is no excuse for the mistake, but I just wish to point out that your cats were absolutely not living in that condition the entire time. I weighed my options and decided that it would have been much less stressful for your animals to ask my friend to visit your animals in their own home, then to introduce them to an unfamiliar setting (a kennel) when they were likely already stressed due to the absence of their owners. With respect to the other messes — cat food cans, wet food in sink, etc — That was completely my fault and I apologize. It was a lack of judgement on my part and does not reflect the manner in which my animals are typically cared for. You failed to note in your comment that I comped you the full value of the pet sitting services I provided, as I always do on the rare occasion that I have a dissatisfied customer. Please see my dozens of positive reviews for more information on how I run my business. —ElizabethBarthel
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2009-09-23 12:07:53 Elizabeth, Thank you for your response and yes, it is quite true that you easily offered to forgo payment and for that, I am quite appreciative. However, I still want to stress that 1. the filth I found in my residence absolutely accumulated over the course of many, many days (likely 10) and I have offered previously to show you the pictures if you would like to evaluate them yourself as I am confident you will also agree that there was no way a one-time visit could have resulted in such a mess and 2. in no way did I, orally or in writing, give you permission to "hire" your friend to be the caregiver of my cats. You indicated in your response that you considered the options and decided against placing the cats in a kennel but in no way are you responsible for making such a decision. I signed a contract that explicitly stated that should you or your partner have such an emergency arise and not be able to fulfill your duties, you would place the animals in a kennel. Nowhere in your contract does it also say, "or I may ask a friend to help." You should have called immediately for my approval, and please do not argue that you tried and I did not have service, because I had service that entire day.
Also, I'd like to add that in your emailed response to me, you definitely indicated that your friend provided care to my cats several times - not just the night before, and I am more than happy to forward you that email if you would like to reread your statement. As I said before, I hired you for your animal experience, your insurance and your professional affiliations, and had I not been concerned about such assets, I would have had my own friend watch my animals for no fee. I actually believe, Elizabeth, that what you did was an illegal business practice, and I would be careful to ever do it again. Look, like I said before, you seem very nice, I actually liked you quite a bit, and I do appreciate the ease at which you relinquished your fee, so I'm not trying to wage some personal war on you, but I am seriously disturbed by the conditions that I came home to, confident that they were a result of long-term neglect, and by the very poor judgement call regarding your friend, especially without making any attempt to notify me. You knew that one of my cats had a medical need, and I cannot believe that you would opt for an uninsured and inexperienced friend over placing him in the hands of professionals. I believe that you are seriously lucky that nothing more serious occurred. I just feel really badly that other animals might be placed in the same situation, but next time, not with such a lucky outcome. —Laramie
Elizabeth has a nasty habit of deleting or altering negative comments about her business. She even went so far as to delete wiki pages of other competing pet sitting businesses. That alone speaks of her character and ability to trust her. Would you really trust your pet to someone that would stoop to that level? Further, have you ever seen her home pet sitting business? Dogs escaping all of the time due to poor fencing, and way too many dogs for the space she has. Maybe she has fixed this, maybe not. Again, who wants to chance it? There were also allegations of her eating food from a clients house when they were away. That is just wrong! I will NEVER again give her my business-there are way too many other good options than her. —Duudee
- Duudee: I do not believe I have ever met you, nor have you ever booked my services or been inside my home. As such the fact that you say that you will never "again" book my services is extremely misleading. This is the second comment you have left on my wiki page, and on neither occasion have you directly commented on my actual services; you have only reiterated others' complaints. I suspect that you are simply a vindictive neighbor of mine, who is upset at the occasional dog bark. If the way in which I run my business negatively affects you, please contact me to discuss it and I will make every effort to improve the situation. I am fully licensed through the city of Davis and have obtained approval from my landlord to operate my business. By the way my fences are very secure and I always ask my clients if it's ok to eat their food. —ElizabethBarthel
2009-12-27 01:09:18 Over 2 years ago that Elizabeth cares for our 3 dogs (Louie, Matilda and Emilio) whenever we left the city, once for 20 days and some not more than a week. My wife and I have no more than gratitude. She is very professional and has very good relationship with our dogs. The first time we were nervous, but now we can relax and enjoy the time we travel because they are in the best hands. 100% reliable. thanks Elizabeth! —Alejo
