If you are a pet owner whether you have a dog or a cat or another mobile pet you may need pet assistance. That might include a pet sitter on occasion for when you go away, or equipment like a cat flap or dog flap for when you are out of the house. Here are some tips about caring for pets when you are not there.

Caring for pets when you’re not there

When you are absent from home, for example when you go to work or for a short day’s outing most of us consider caring for pets in terms of making sure they have sufficient food and water, toys for stimulation, a dog walker if the day is a long one and they need exercise.

Find a perfect petsitter

However, if your absence is longer we always recommend a pet sitter to care for your pets in their own home.

You will likely go online to choose pet and house sitting website at first, and then start choosing your pet sitter.

Find pet sitters to care for pets in your absence

Finding a pet sitter can be very easy, even if you are new to a neighbourhood and have few connections in the area. You can join an online housesitting website. There are websites that are free and websites that are paid for. These platforms become part of your routines when caring for pets and finding pet care.

A word on free house sitting websites and free housesitters

There is an old adage ‘If you’re not paying for it, you are the product’. This is largely true. Always ask yourself how is the other party benefitting? If they appear to get nothing from the arrangement then you maybe the star turn on offer! However, if they are offering free housesitters and they can justify a small annual fee because the website is professionally run, then research the company’s reputation.

So consider the free housesitting websites and the alternative option of paid for sites offering checked free housesitters. Each has a benefit, you will be more suited to one or the other.

Home pet equipment

Caring for pets can also mean considering their comfort in your home, giving them access to your garden securely with special access points that are appropriate to your pet’s needs and your local environment. Pet doors can play a major part in caring for pets when you are not there.

– Benefits of Pet Doors for your Home

Today’s electronic doors for pets often incorporate smart features that are designed to simplify life for pet owners. Check out the following list of five innovative features that are available on modern pet doors.

Chances are, you will want to install one of these handy doors in your home right away. Check out Dog Product Picker to find the best dog doors available to buy.

1. Collar Key Fobs can play a major part in caring for your pets

Standard pet doors don’t allow for access control. That means that strange animals can find their way into your house. One time, one of my friends returned home after being out to find not only her cat but also a bunch of other neighbourhood cats in her kitchen.

The best way to avoid this issue is by investing in a smart pet door like the PetSafe SmartDoor Plus. This door is designed to limit access to only your pet. To use it, you just have to attach a special key fob to the collar of your pet. When the key fob is detected, the door will open, allowing your pet to get through.

One drawback associated with this type of door is that it only works if the key fob is attached to your pet’s collar. If you have multiple pets, you need to make sure they all have key fobs. It also can be problematic if you have a pet that frequently loses its collar.

2. Microchip Pet Doors

If your pet has been micro-chipped there is a microchip door that can help in caring for your pets in your absence. You may want to look into doors like the Cat Mate Elite Microchip pet door. These doors are designed to recognize your own pet’s microchip, granting them access when they approach the door.

If you have multiple pets, look for a door at that is capable of recognizing more than one microchip.

        3. Insulation on pet doors

Standard doors for pets may not provide adequate protection against the elements. A lot of today’s more advanced pet doors, however, are insulated against the weather. This helps minimize the amount of air that travels through the door, improving the energy efficiency of your home. Doors with gasket seals do the best job of insulating against the weather.

The PX -1 Fully Automatic Power Pet Door is a good example.

      4. Timed Locking Mechanisms

Some doors come with timer-controlled locking mechanisms. This makes it easy to control when your pet can and can’t use the door.

Depending on how you set the timer, you can either use the door to keep your pet indoors during certain hours or to keep them outdoors during a specific period of time. The High-Tech Pet Power Door, for instance, has different settings for keeping your cat in, letting them out, providing them with unlimited access, or locking the door altogether.

Using the curfew feature on these pet doors, you can program them to lock or unlock automatically at specific times of the day. For instance, if you don’t want to get up early to let your pets out, you can program the door to unlock automatically when morning arrives.

5. App Control to help in caring for pets

Some of the most advanced pet doors that are available today allow you to control the door using a special app that is installed on your smartphone. Doors like the SureFlap Microchip Pet Door that have this feature make it possible to let your pets out without having to crawl out of bed.

Using apps is also a great way to monitor your pet’s habits. For instance, you can see how often they go out over the course of a typical day. A pet sitter will be able to help you monitor and manage this if they are resident. But in the absence of a petsitter an app is a tremendous support. This information can be useful if you are trying to track the behaviour of your pet.

Further reading on caring for pets, pet sitting and housesitters

At Housesitmatch.com we like to share useful blogs and practical advice about housesitters, housesitting and pet sitting. We hope you find this small selection of our blogs on house sitters useful.

Housesitters keep pets safe at home and save money

What a housesitter does – Top 10 responsibilities

Preparing a home for a house or pet sitter

Orange cat varieties – What makes them special?