Scottsdale Pet Expert

Archive for December, 2009

Happy Holidays from Bella’s House & Pet Sitting.

You wouldn’t believe the things that happen when you make being a pet sitter your fill time professional job. This Christmas week has been bursting with interesting stories that I just had to write about. For some, I even have pictures. This is part one of a three part series.

We have one of the most incredible and sweetest chow’s that we are caring for named Missy.

Missy the Chow....cute, huh?

Her brother, Butters is a pretty exciting cat and always seems to be playing with something. I actually have taken out three different pens over the course of the week for my care notes because Butters keeps using then as toys. Too cute! He is very smart. Unknown to many…cats have a very keen sense of smell. I have been taking a few pieces of the “junk mail” and crumbling them into a ball for him to bat around.

Lovin the attention from Bella's!

One visit, after it had rained, I opened the garage to see a puddle of water IN the garage. Uh oh…. LONG story short our client had been having some trouble with a toilet upstairs and the tank began to overflow causing the leak to drip on the tile, through the floor, insulation, ceiling, releasing a fluorescent light in the garage to leave it hanging on only one end…

Uh oh....

We were able to catch this disaster early on before the damage got TOO bad and have made ourselves available to the contractor (meeting him three separate times) so that we can assist in the process of fixing the problem. Imagine if our client didn’t have a professional pet sitter to help her out? It could have been days until she was home and water can do a lot of damage. We protect our clients pets AND homes providing an invaluable service.

As I was writing this…one of our overnight sitters was outside with three of our canine clients and the door locked behind her. She was locked outside at night with the pups in the 40’ weather. Brrr! She called me and I got the spare key (we always require two copies of the house key) and went over to unlock the door.

THINGS HAPPEN.

When things like this happen (a handful of them each year) Bella’s House & Pet Sitting is there to step up and act on the clients behalf. Since 2002 we have assisted in:

• Meet with workers to assist in a bug infestation because the kids left out sugar cereal.
• AC sparking a fire in the units outside
• AC units going off on a house with pets inside when it is 110 outside
• Sprinkler leaks from the ceiling.
• Pets pee-ing blood. We noticed and took them to the vet to find out it was the early stages of cancer.
• …and more.

We take on these emergencies for FREE to our clients because we are a full service professional company. Rest assured, if you do not have a service provider for any of these unforeseen circumstances, Bella’s Concierge Program can most usually recommend a company due to the extensive networking we do in the Scottsdale community.

How can you afford NOT to have the built in insurance policy of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting to make sure that your pets are still healthy and your house isn’t damaged while you are out of town?

This information has been provided to you by Bella, Pack Leader for Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. Please contact her at: (480)330-4552 or http://www.BellasHouseAndPets.com for any of your pet sitting needs.

According to the American Diabetes Association, 24 million children and adults in the United States live with diabetes. Another 57 million Americans are at risk for type 2 diabetes. With trends like these one out of every three children born today will face a future with diabetes. It’s a very serious disease that leads to potentially life threatening complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation.

What many might not realize is that our companion animals, such as dogs and cats, are suffering from this debilitating disease as well. Diabetes is one of the most common endocrine (hormonal) diseases of cats. Catching the disease early is crucial for the health of pets. Some of the symptoms to look for include increased thirst (polydipsia) and increased urination (polyuria). Other signs may include weight loss despite an increase in appetite. In order to diagnose the disease accurately, diagnostic tests should be run to determine the underlying cause of the diabetes. These tests will also be used to exclude other diseases and help guide subsequent treatment recommendations. With long-term treatment and dedication diabetes is a treatable condition.

Prevention of diabetes is the best course of action and should start with regular veterinary check-ups, proper weight management and diagnostic testing.

Dr. Judy Karnia, a leading cat practitioner from the Scottsdale Cat Clinic regularly diagnoses the condition: “We find diabetes in many older overweight cats. Treatment can be very successful if the disorder is diagnosed early in the course of the disease and the cat’s owner is very careful with the insulin given and food offered. Some cats will even have their diabetes go into remission and no longer require insulin injections. We try to prevent the development of diabetes in our patients by working closely with all clients on proper nutrition, weight loss, and wellness blood testing.”

This blog is taken from: http://scottsdalecatclinic.blogspot.com/

We recommend you follow this blow or subscribe to the  RSS feed if you have a kitty at home

This information has been provided to you by Bella, Pack Leader for Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. Please contact her at: (480)330-4552 or http://www.BellasHouseAndPets.com for any of your pet sitting needs.