Hello, clients, [Warning: My kitten, JoJo, is "helping" me with this message, so if there are any glaring errors, typos, gibberish, etc., I blame him!]
Thank you all for your kind messages you have sent to me over the past week. I will respond to each of you individually in time, but I wanted to respond more immediately to your requests for referrals of other sitters. In lieu of responding to each client individually with names of specific sitters in that client's area, I decided it would be more efficient to just post names and contact information for all of you on my website. Please do your own due diligence on these sitters! I know many of them and believe them to be kind and thoughtful people, but in most cases have not talked to their clients or checked their references so cannot vouch for them as pet sitters. I am merely providing you names so that you can follow up for yourself.
For those in Western Albemarle and surrounding areas:
(1) Laura Daly, Country Life Pet Sitting, http://www.countrylifepetsitting.com, countrylifepetsit@embarqmail.com, (434) 566-8483, see website or contact Laura for details on areas of coverage, but I believe she covers Crozet and 5 miles surrounding Crozet, Batesville, Greenwood. Laura has cared for my kitties before and Laura and I have been back-up for each other in certain circumstances. I know from these experiences that she is reliable, thorough, conscientious, and trustworthy and I highly recommend her!
(2) Sandy Getchell-White, Purrfect Place for Pets, http://www.purrfectplaceforpets.com/, contact Sandy for specific coverage area, but her focus is Ivy (I think this includes Owensville Road and any roads off of that, and also areas of 250 and Garth Road surrounding Owensville Road).
(3) Feather Stein, (434) 964-7880, focusing on Crozet, Batesville, Greenwood, Afton, and possibly areas of Nellysford and Waynesboro.
Charlottesville (and each of these sitters probably also services some radius around Charlottesville or another area, but you will need to contact them to find out):
(1) Belinda Akers, (540) 256-4477
(2) Elissa Lauer, (434) 906-6601
(3) Alice Knicely, Petwatch Services, (434) 977-7387 - Alice is a wonderful lady, but I have no idea if she's accepting new clients.
(4) Maria Sweeney, Petworks, midday dog walks and boarding only, (434) 973-5965, (434) 465-5965
(5) Ronnie Kahn, Rainbow Pet Sitting, http://rainbowpetsitting.com/ - Ronnie was very kind and helpful to me when I was first starting out. I have no idea if she is accepting new clients.
(6) Linda Porzio, Housecalls for Cats, (434) 589-4383 - Linda has been so kind and helpful to me throughout my entire pet-sitting experience. I think she might be the kindest person on Earth and therefore is probably the best kitty sitter on Earth, but I don't think she's taking new clients right now. She has been so helpful to me, though, that I couldn't leave her off of this list!
(7) Scott McNabb, mcnabbpetsitting@aim.com, (434) 825-3587
(8) Pet Nanny Services, http://www.petnannyservices.com/
Fluvanna:
(1) Ashleigh Morris, No Place Like Home Pet Services, http://fluvannadogs.com/index.html, serving primarily Fluvanna, but also some in Charlottesville - Ashleigh has also been an excellent mentor to me! She is also a dog trainer!
(2) Sheila Strick, (434) 466-5564
Note: If you don't have luck with any of these people, you might ask them if they know of others. You can also ask at your veterinarian's office if any of the vet techs there do any pet-sitting, ask around at shelters or other animal rescue groups, or try care.com.
I hope this helps a little bit and that you are all able to find great people to take over the care of your sweet critters when needed. Again, I will respond to each of your e-mails individually and will also begin the process of returning keys and any credits due as soon as possible. However, I am still providing pet-sitting services through early November, so I may not be able to focus on "closure" items until that time (however, if you need your key asap, please let me know). This is all very sad to me and I am grieving the loss of all of your wonderful pets right now! Please give them all kisses from Auntie Mel!
Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions about any of these people - or anything else!
Best regards,
Melissa
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Announcement Regarding Close of Business
Buggledoo Pet Sitting will no longer be providing pet-sitting services, effective as of November 6, 2010. I have enjoyed caring for all of my clients' pets and I am grateful to all of my clients for your business. I am sad that I will not be seeing the pets anymore and I will miss them all. However, I am looking forward to some quality time with my husband, my kitties, my family and my home - and to sleeping in and going to bed early occasionally, and to enjoying some weekends and holidays! I'm not sure what I am going to do next, but I hope to keep in touch with many of my clients regardless of where my career takes me.
If you would like help finding a new pet-sitter, I would be happy to provide you with names of people that I know of that may service your area. With the exception of one or 2 of these people, I don't know them well enough to "recommend" them, but will gladly provide you their names and contact information and you can do your research from there (checking references, etc.)
I regret that I cannot contact each one of my clients individually to let you know of this decision. However, if I can do anything to help you or if you would like to discuss, please contact me by phone or e-mail.
Best regards,
Melissa
If you would like help finding a new pet-sitter, I would be happy to provide you with names of people that I know of that may service your area. With the exception of one or 2 of these people, I don't know them well enough to "recommend" them, but will gladly provide you their names and contact information and you can do your research from there (checking references, etc.)
I regret that I cannot contact each one of my clients individually to let you know of this decision. However, if I can do anything to help you or if you would like to discuss, please contact me by phone or e-mail.
Best regards,
Melissa
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
What In the World Am I Doing These Days???
I've been so busy recently and also spending a lot of time with some doggies that don't have an Internet connection so I have not been posting at all! :) I have a RARE 3 WHOLE DAYS OFF right now so I'm trying to catch up on some things.
We recently got a kitten. His name is JoJo and he has already earned several nicknames, one of which is Rambo and which was given because he is RAM-BUNC-TIOUS. Wow, he's a little terror. And I love him so much! He's the cutest little bugger you've ever seen, especially when he's asleep! ;) I'll post a photo of him asap.
JoJo was nice enough to bring a virus into the house, we think, so Muffin and Little Man have been sick. Little Man lost his voice and Muffin got icky, white pus in her eyes. They're both taking Clavamox now and feeling a little better. Muffin's "rodent ulcers" (more properly known as eosinophilic granulomas) have struck again, this time in the roof of her mouth. Poor girl. We've increased her Leukeran back to once per day instead of every other day to see if that will help. (I don't recall if I told the whole story before on here, but Muffin has had chronic skin issues, previously on her lips and paws. We tried gazillions of different medications - first steroids, which notified us of her heart condition in a very scary way - and Leukeran, a chemotherapy drug for humans, was the only drug that finally helped. Fascinating.) I think the Clavamox is helping with the rawness/redness of the ulcers, but they are still there and still look very painful and icky. Lily has fought off the virus so far, knock on wood, and JoJo is totally healthy, too, except for some lingering ear mites that are hopefully on their way out the door.
As for the social acclimation amongst the group...well, it's moving along slowly. Little JoJo thinks he owns the house and is right now sleeping peacefully on a bed that had previously been Little Man's "territory." Muffin, Little Man and Lily all smack, hiss and growl at him and he jumps right back up, completely unphased. Heh. I feel bad for the big cats, but they'll get over it. There have been moments where I thought Little Man might have been having fun smacking the little guy away. :)
I haven't had much time lately for anything other than caring for client pets. I think I mentioned that in an earlier post. I was going to hire employees to help me, but I got very overwhelmed with that process and what it entailed so I put that on hold. I have made a few changes, such as increasing my rates, trying very hard to stick to a daily maximum number of visits, and only accepting new clients close to home. But, I'm sad to say that I think more changes are probably in order. For now, I think the best thing for me to do is to continue to reign in my service area. Therefore some of you may be receiving messages from me in the near future saying that you will no longer be in my service area as of some near future date. It kills me to do this because I love all of the pets so much. But I love my pets, my husband and my home, too, and I need to see them more. And I need to love myself a little bit more, too, by taking care of my mental and physical health (including rest, downtime and eating healthier). My family and friends also deserve better than what I have been giving to them lately. Speaking of obligations to family and friends, I have not yet decided whether I am working over the holidays. I need to make that decision asap because I have already received inquiries!
To be completly honest with you all, over the next few months, I will be deciding whether to (1) shut down the business completely and try to find a more "normal" job where I'll have "normal" hours and probably much better pay, (2) continue the business, but scale back the service area and number of visits per day, and probably stop most overnight visits, or (3) continue the business and hire employees. I feel just awful that some of my decisions and actions with respect to the business over the past few months have been inconvenient, and in some cases inconsiderate or unprofessional, to my clients (not to mention family and friends). I hope you all know that I am doing the best I can. I never dreamed I would be so fortunate to have this much business 1.5 years after starting! Had I known this, I probably would have done a lot of things differently from the beginning and spared us all some trouble. But anyway, it has been and still is a lot of fun and I never knew I had so much room in my heart to love so many animals as I do now (and to grieve those that you and I have lost). I hope you will all continue to be patient with me as I figure things out. Please comment or e-mail me if you have any wisdom to share. I am always welcome to your thoughts and advice.
Best,
Melissa
We recently got a kitten. His name is JoJo and he has already earned several nicknames, one of which is Rambo and which was given because he is RAM-BUNC-TIOUS. Wow, he's a little terror. And I love him so much! He's the cutest little bugger you've ever seen, especially when he's asleep! ;) I'll post a photo of him asap.
JoJo was nice enough to bring a virus into the house, we think, so Muffin and Little Man have been sick. Little Man lost his voice and Muffin got icky, white pus in her eyes. They're both taking Clavamox now and feeling a little better. Muffin's "rodent ulcers" (more properly known as eosinophilic granulomas) have struck again, this time in the roof of her mouth. Poor girl. We've increased her Leukeran back to once per day instead of every other day to see if that will help. (I don't recall if I told the whole story before on here, but Muffin has had chronic skin issues, previously on her lips and paws. We tried gazillions of different medications - first steroids, which notified us of her heart condition in a very scary way - and Leukeran, a chemotherapy drug for humans, was the only drug that finally helped. Fascinating.) I think the Clavamox is helping with the rawness/redness of the ulcers, but they are still there and still look very painful and icky. Lily has fought off the virus so far, knock on wood, and JoJo is totally healthy, too, except for some lingering ear mites that are hopefully on their way out the door.
As for the social acclimation amongst the group...well, it's moving along slowly. Little JoJo thinks he owns the house and is right now sleeping peacefully on a bed that had previously been Little Man's "territory." Muffin, Little Man and Lily all smack, hiss and growl at him and he jumps right back up, completely unphased. Heh. I feel bad for the big cats, but they'll get over it. There have been moments where I thought Little Man might have been having fun smacking the little guy away. :)
I haven't had much time lately for anything other than caring for client pets. I think I mentioned that in an earlier post. I was going to hire employees to help me, but I got very overwhelmed with that process and what it entailed so I put that on hold. I have made a few changes, such as increasing my rates, trying very hard to stick to a daily maximum number of visits, and only accepting new clients close to home. But, I'm sad to say that I think more changes are probably in order. For now, I think the best thing for me to do is to continue to reign in my service area. Therefore some of you may be receiving messages from me in the near future saying that you will no longer be in my service area as of some near future date. It kills me to do this because I love all of the pets so much. But I love my pets, my husband and my home, too, and I need to see them more. And I need to love myself a little bit more, too, by taking care of my mental and physical health (including rest, downtime and eating healthier). My family and friends also deserve better than what I have been giving to them lately. Speaking of obligations to family and friends, I have not yet decided whether I am working over the holidays. I need to make that decision asap because I have already received inquiries!
To be completly honest with you all, over the next few months, I will be deciding whether to (1) shut down the business completely and try to find a more "normal" job where I'll have "normal" hours and probably much better pay, (2) continue the business, but scale back the service area and number of visits per day, and probably stop most overnight visits, or (3) continue the business and hire employees. I feel just awful that some of my decisions and actions with respect to the business over the past few months have been inconvenient, and in some cases inconsiderate or unprofessional, to my clients (not to mention family and friends). I hope you all know that I am doing the best I can. I never dreamed I would be so fortunate to have this much business 1.5 years after starting! Had I known this, I probably would have done a lot of things differently from the beginning and spared us all some trouble. But anyway, it has been and still is a lot of fun and I never knew I had so much room in my heart to love so many animals as I do now (and to grieve those that you and I have lost). I hope you will all continue to be patient with me as I figure things out. Please comment or e-mail me if you have any wisdom to share. I am always welcome to your thoughts and advice.
Best,
Melissa
Notification of Slight Rates Change
Please note that, effective as of August 10, 2010, rates will be as now reflected on the Services and Rates page. (These rates are the same as those effective July 15, except that I slightly decreased the rate for the "short" visits because I think I increased it too much in July!)
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you again for your business!
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you again for your business!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Notification of Rates Increase
Please note that, effective as of July 15, 2010, rates will be as now reflected on the Services and Rates page.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you again for your business!
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you again for your business!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Please Pardon Our Dust
I was going to title this post "Where the Heck Have You Been???", but then I saw a sign at Barracks Road today that said "Please Pardon Our Dust" and I thought it fitting for what Buggledoo is going through as well.
Buggledoo has been blessed with so much business lately that it is having some growing pains. I've been so busy taking care of pets that I have barely had time for my own kitties, myself, my husband, sleep, friends, family, paperwork, accounting, hobbies (reading, writing, making jewelry, working on jigsaw puzzles, learning to sew, you get the idea) - and sadly no time for posting pictures. I have been busy sending pictures of pets from my camera phone, but the quality of those photos is not as good as the quality of photos from my camera (though I recognize that my point-and-click camera creates photos of a pretty pitiful quality if compared to "real" photography!) I have met and cared for so many doggies and kitties that I want to show off on here (Penny and Dexter come to mind immediately!), but have not been able to yet. It appears that I have gotten too busy with actual visits to sit at a computer and upload photos, which is probably why more pet sitters have not pursued this brilliant idea! :)
Thus, the company is making some changes (some temporary and some permanent) and has a bit of resulting "dust" that may, unfortunately, make things inconvenient for its wonderful clients for a little while. Here are some of those changes (the ones I can think of at the moment!):
1 - Some of my rates will be increasing as of July 15th (but not the rate for overnight visits, which was increased earlier in the year). More information on this to follow.
2 - I am looking for one or more employees to help me. If you are interested in becoming an employee of Buggledoo Pet Sitting or know anyone that might be, please e-mail me (the sooner the better!!) The only requirement for any such employee(s) is that he or she absolutely, whole-heartedly, unquestionably adore, love, worship and practically live for animals. Oh, and they also need their own car.
3 - I am taking a break from all midday dog walks (except those that are part of a series of vacation visits) until I have an employee (or at least until I catch up on all of those things that I mentioned I haven't had time for recently!)
4 - I am already booked for overnight visits for the next few months and therefore cannot take any overnight clients or reservations and also have limited availability for vacation dog visits (due to the usual need for early morning and late night visits) during this time. Since cat visits tend to be a little more flexible, I am still taking new kitty clients and reservations for kitty visits during this time.
5 - I probably will not be posting photos to the blog for a little while. I may, on occasion, find some time and energy to add some photos, but, for now, I will probably only be able to send you photos from my phone to your phone or e-mail account.
I apologize for any inconvenience this causes any of my current or future clients and, if I am not able to help you at this time, I hope that you will check back with me at a later time after I have found some wonderful people to join the company and help with pet visits. Thank you all so much for your business and especially for your patience as the company changes and grows. The company is working diligently to remove the "dust" as soon as possible so that it can again fulfill all of your requests.
If it is not clear from the foregoing whether I will be able to fulfill your request, please contact me! (E-mail is easiest for me!)
Buggledoo has been blessed with so much business lately that it is having some growing pains. I've been so busy taking care of pets that I have barely had time for my own kitties, myself, my husband, sleep, friends, family, paperwork, accounting, hobbies (reading, writing, making jewelry, working on jigsaw puzzles, learning to sew, you get the idea) - and sadly no time for posting pictures. I have been busy sending pictures of pets from my camera phone, but the quality of those photos is not as good as the quality of photos from my camera (though I recognize that my point-and-click camera creates photos of a pretty pitiful quality if compared to "real" photography!) I have met and cared for so many doggies and kitties that I want to show off on here (Penny and Dexter come to mind immediately!), but have not been able to yet. It appears that I have gotten too busy with actual visits to sit at a computer and upload photos, which is probably why more pet sitters have not pursued this brilliant idea! :)
Thus, the company is making some changes (some temporary and some permanent) and has a bit of resulting "dust" that may, unfortunately, make things inconvenient for its wonderful clients for a little while. Here are some of those changes (the ones I can think of at the moment!):
1 - Some of my rates will be increasing as of July 15th (but not the rate for overnight visits, which was increased earlier in the year). More information on this to follow.
2 - I am looking for one or more employees to help me. If you are interested in becoming an employee of Buggledoo Pet Sitting or know anyone that might be, please e-mail me (the sooner the better!!) The only requirement for any such employee(s) is that he or she absolutely, whole-heartedly, unquestionably adore, love, worship and practically live for animals. Oh, and they also need their own car.
3 - I am taking a break from all midday dog walks (except those that are part of a series of vacation visits) until I have an employee (or at least until I catch up on all of those things that I mentioned I haven't had time for recently!)
4 - I am already booked for overnight visits for the next few months and therefore cannot take any overnight clients or reservations and also have limited availability for vacation dog visits (due to the usual need for early morning and late night visits) during this time. Since cat visits tend to be a little more flexible, I am still taking new kitty clients and reservations for kitty visits during this time.
5 - I probably will not be posting photos to the blog for a little while. I may, on occasion, find some time and energy to add some photos, but, for now, I will probably only be able to send you photos from my phone to your phone or e-mail account.
I apologize for any inconvenience this causes any of my current or future clients and, if I am not able to help you at this time, I hope that you will check back with me at a later time after I have found some wonderful people to join the company and help with pet visits. Thank you all so much for your business and especially for your patience as the company changes and grows. The company is working diligently to remove the "dust" as soon as possible so that it can again fulfill all of your requests.
If it is not clear from the foregoing whether I will be able to fulfill your request, please contact me! (E-mail is easiest for me!)
Friday, May 14, 2010
On the Catwalk, Yea!
Don't they just look like little models walking on the catwalk? They're both so pretty and dainty!
Tick Tock
Sitting up on her tree, switching her tail back and forth, Ana looked like one of those cat clocks with the tail hanging down and swinging to tick tock the seconds away! Ha!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Vicious Little Hunters
"New water! Wooooo-hoooooo!"
"Me, vicious?? Look how sweet I am!" "Auntie Mel, your pants smell like doggies and kitties."
"I'm just going to sit here on my favorite toy looking pretty while Paco acts foolish over those silly mice." Paco on the prowl for his catch.
Action shot! Sher Kahn can't resist watching. Caught one!
Doh! Lost it under the fridge! Sher Kahn, still pretending to not be interested.
"Okay, fine, I'll catch a mouse! But only if it's fuzzy!"
"Me, vicious?? Look how sweet I am!" "Auntie Mel, your pants smell like doggies and kitties."
"I'm just going to sit here on my favorite toy looking pretty while Paco acts foolish over those silly mice." Paco on the prowl for his catch.
Action shot! Sher Kahn can't resist watching. Caught one!
Doh! Lost it under the fridge! Sher Kahn, still pretending to not be interested.
"Okay, fine, I'll catch a mouse! But only if it's fuzzy!"
Having a Ball!!
Lucy and Emma had a blast playing with the 2 red balls!
Oh my goodness, look at those pretty faces!
The ball's view! Scary!
Wally wasn't so much into playing ball, but he was a total cuddlebug!!!
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