My boyfriend and I have an unusually large pet family with a variety of special needs. We have two cranky chihuahuas, two senior big dogs, several indoor cats, a small flock of backyard chickens and a fish pond. Needless to say, it is hard to find someone to take care of the brood, so we RARELY leave town for more than 1-2 nights.  I actually hadn’t been home to visit my family in 10 years because I was sure nobody could manage our home for any kind of extended time period. Our pets need a lot of help– special diets, multiple medications, immaculate litterboxes, potty problems, lots of houseplants, etc.
I met Colleen through my vet office and decided to have Woof-Purr come for some day visits for the kiddos to break up our long work hours first before I planned anything extravagant like a trip… The initial meeting was fun and professional.  My pets took to Colleen and Sheri right away and you could tell that the feeling was mutual. The ladies came in and sat on our floor, letting the boys lick their faces, even though their breath is…um…unsavory at best.  I was immediately impressed.

We decided that on the days my BF and I both worked long shifts, we’d have either Sheri or Sarah come over to take the dogs out and give everyone else some TLC. What a treat for everyone in our family that from  the very first day, not a detail is missed!  Water and food bowls are cleaned and replenished. Mail brought in, plants watered and the porchlight turned on when I get home. My oldest cat who doesn’t groom herself much anymore looks like a beauty queen (well, for her at least)– she gets brushed!  Litterboxes are thoroughly cleaned and the floor swept.  Each morning’s new chicken eggs rest comfortably in the fridge, even though I told Colleen and Sheri they could absolutely take them home (because there is nothing like fresh eggs from happy hens!).  No potty accidents on the floor, which is wonderful!! This is definitely a luxury our kids deserve when I know we will both be pulling long shifts simultaneously.

And so after several months of day visits, we decided it was time for us to take a real vacation at the beginning of this year.  The perfect opportunity was there– my grandmother was celebrating her 90th birthday in St. Louis. This we could not miss, and by boyfriend would be meeting her for the first time in our 4 years together!  Although I was nervous about leaving for FIVE WHOLE NIGHTS, I was much more nervous about the nightmare I’d come back to at work, the costs involved with traveling, the stress of flying, the worry that my back would be killing me from sleeping in a strange bed, and that I would pack wrong.  I was confident that our pet family would be in good hands.  Although I would miss them (and vice-versa?) I was surprised that I was comfortable that they would be OK while we were away. (Is this how parents feel when kids go away to summer camp?)

Anyway, our trip went off without any major problems and we actually had a very nice time.  We got text pictures from Colleen, Sheri and Sarah of the kids having fun without us nearly every day!  We had run out of renal supplement for Albert who has kidney disease because it was on backorder at the vet, but Colleen picked it up from them when it came in. When we got home, the kids were clean and happy, we had a grip of eggs in the fridge, none of our plants were dead or even sad looking.  The mail was neatly stacked on the side-table as we requested.  Nothing was out of place.  NOTHING.

Even though I forgot to pack enough pants for this trip and work was indeed chaotic when I returned to the office, I think we could take a vacation once or twice a year without too much stress.  Who knew that hiring a pet sitting service would be kinda like therapy.  I feel so much more zen about leaving town and realize now that my love of my pets had created a kind of phobia about traveling. No more! We are actually going on another trip in June and feel quite good about it! Thank you, Woof-Purr, for being so awesome!

Effie B.