[nic99]

OH and I are off to New Zealand later this month to visit his brother for a few weeks. We have been looking for someone to either stay in our house or drop in twice a day to care for all our animals but have so far failed in our efforts. I have been looking at house/pet sitter services and am gobsmacked by the amount they charge. I therefore have a proposition for anyone living locally to me (Balmerino, near Newport on Tay in North Fife) in which we do a pet sitting swap. You come look after ours in return for us looking after yours whenever you next go away. The dates I would require are the 24th November to 2nd December. My mother is then coming to stay and house sit after that until we get back. So it would be a total of 9 days. We would then be happy to do 9 days of caring in return (or more if required). This could be over several weekends if you need to go away for family events etc., or for a longer holiday.

We don't have a farmyard full, so hopefully it wouldn't be a huge task. The animals that need caring for are as follows; 1 cat,  2 rabbits, 2 kune kune pigs,  4 chickens,  5 ducks,  and a predicted 3 chicks (due to hatch this weekend). Everyone would require feeding twice a day and the ducks and chickens need letting out and locking in. There would also be a little cleaning out required for the rabbits, chickens, and most likely ducks. The cat does everything outside so no litter tray cleaning required. Everybody is extremely friendly and tame, except the cat who is shy with male strangers and will run away from you (but usually fine with women).

You would be welcome to stay in our house over this period if it were more convenient than driving back and forth.

I look forward to the flood of offers I am about to receive 

Nicola

[Calvadnack]

Have you tried www.trustedhousesitters.com just in case ?  Many of the people don't charge a great deal and we found a lovely local lady for just a few days.

[doganjo]

What were the charges suggested to you?  I pay my homesitter £30 a day and she is a godsend and worth every penny.  She looks after 4 dogs, a cat, 12 hens and 5 ducks, waters my plants, keeps my house clean, and if I am due to return home  in the evening my bedroom curtains are closed, my bedside light on, the lounge curtains drawn and a small light left on for the dogs.
And you're not getting her name in case you steal her, so there!   Only joking,  if you think she'd be able to help you pm me and I'll give you the details.

[CameronS]

i wish i could help, but i would really struggle to get there twice a day.
but what i can offer up is if someone else could do one i could offer to do the other preferably afternoon so it coinsides with college?

[manders]

Hi I am based at Collessie and have just started a pet services business. Have a look at my website, it gives details of charges etc and if I'm sure I could do a discount to suit you if interested, www.pawws.co.uk

[ellied]

I might manage mornings if Cameron does afternoons, trouble is the diesel costs for me - and time as I have my own chooks, cats and ponies to do at dawn and dusk and I loathe driving in the dark!  Mornings would possibly be ok but I am waiting for an interview date in Leeds which would be a very early start/day trip by train and I have at least one day in Glasgow so I won't promise just yet til I know how things stand..

I may be needing help the last week of February if my exam is confirmed in Rome on 22/23 Feb - other than that I am often away working at weekends and my neighbours and friends may get fed up so a return of help would be most gratefully received   I'll get back to you asap

[nic99]

Cameron, you are a legend! I am happy to return the favour at anytime you need me to. Ellied, even if you could just do some of the mornings, it would be a massive help. My boyfriend's father lives close by and has offered to look after them for us, however he is a little frail and has difficulty walking on uneven ground so we are very reluctant to accept as we are not sure how well he would cope. He is the kind of person who would bend over backwards to help us out, even at the expense of his own health. However I am sure he could manage to do a few mornings  ok if you were unable to do them all.

This must be such a common problem for so many of us. It just makes so much sense if we were to form some kind of network where we all help each other out so that we can leave our homes every now and then. The average cost of a petsitter (I have found from web searches) is around £35 per day not including mileage, which adds about £500 to the cost of any 10 day holiday! I don't know about anybody else, but to me that is a heck of a lot of money!

[egglady]

i can do a bit of help as well, we are near Luthrie.  Couldnt do all the days as i work, have children and our own animals, but could hopefully fill in some of oyur gaps. will pm you our details and you can give me a call once you know the blanks in your calendar.

[SallyintNorth]

This must be such a common problem for so many of us. It just makes so much sense if we were to form some kind of network where we all help each other out so that we can leave our homes every now and then. The average cost of a petsitter (I have found from web searches) is around £35 per day not including mileage, which adds about £500 to the cost of any 10 day holiday! I don't know about anybody else, but to me that is a heck of a lot of money!

Quite a few farmers holiday by swapping farms with other farmers - so each looks after the other's farm, and the 'holiday' is being somewhere different with only their routine jobs to do and the rest of the time to do 'holiday' stuff.

[Sylvia]

But would that be a holiday? Or added stress. Oh, Lord, that pig looks down in the dumps, does it always look like that or is it poorly? What!! only one pint of milk from this healthy looking goat, suppose she dries up whilst I'm looking after her and the family rely on her milk?
I don't have holidays but this is my idea of one....not that I would enjoy it in case the pig was ill or the goat dried up
To have nothing and nobody relying on me, just for a day or two...........oh, what bliss

[doganjo]

That is exactly why I have an official petsitter - she knows all my animals (came to meet them before I went away anywhere) and she has PL insurance as well as having already met my own vet and family.  I leave her about 5 backup phone numbers every time. Worth the money in my opinion.

[ellied]

nic I've pm'd you re visiting to see where you are and what's wanted.. I've not heard from Leeds yet but let's give it a go on the basis of someone filling in the odd day I can't manage.

I wish I could pay someone £35 a day that was going to be as reliable as only an experienced animal keeper can be - I don't earn that in a week tho, so it's not an option for me