With long weekends all summer and vacations being planned, ensuring that your pets at home are being taken care of is top of mind for any pet parent. Whether you have a dog, cat, fish, or more exotic animal with special needs, you’ll want to get a friend or professional to check up on them while you’re gone. If you have multiple pets of different kinds, it’s especially important to get every possible base covered – from food type to medicine, to where their favorite toys are. After all, you want to enjoy your vacation without worrying about anything.
In order to be sure that your pets are well taken care of, leave detailed instructions and prepare well for the pet sitter. This helpful list will leave you ready to pack your bags and hit the road, worry-free, all with the help of your Mopria certified printer.
Prepare for Departure
If you know you’re about to head out of town, be sure to have everything ready to go. Is your dog running low on food, or did your cat use the last of their litter? Order more with enough time to arrive before you leave, and include a few treats or toys so the pet sitter has something to get their attention with if need be. In addition, if medications need refilling, do so, and ask your veterinarian if there is anything special that the pet sitter should know beyond when and how much medication should be received. Take care of things you may not think of, like cleaning things around the house so they can’t be chewed on, or closing doors to rooms that you don’t want your pets entering. Leave their favorite toys in plain sight, along with leashes, trash bags, food, and whatever else you want the pet sitter to have readily available.
Leave a Detailed List
Sit down to make a list on your phone and think carefully about every need your pets have throughout the day. With food, note how often they get it and how much they receive. If you have multiple pets, note what food is for who by listing the brands or labeling containers clearly. For medication, write instructions for dosage and leave the number of your vet, along with their address just in case of emergencies. You may also want to leave a list of vaccinations your pet has received and the dates they were given – this can be helpful for anything from going to the dog park to emergency care. If you’ve already written an itinerary for yourself, leave this for the pet sitter as well. Include your departure time, where you’re staying, what number you can be reached at, and when you return. It is a good idea to list several ways to contact you, not just your cell phone. Include hotel names and numbers as well in case you’re unreachable in an emergency. For a pet dog, include how often they need to be walked, routes they enjoy, even photos of dogs that they like, and locations of parks you frequent. Once you have all the important details included, add in fun things like where to find toys and treats, or favorite games and tricks that your pets enjoy.
Once you have your list of details finalized, download the Mopria Print Service app and connect to your printer with ease. Send your list to the printer, and print off a few copies to leave in multiple places around the house. You never know whether your dog will eat the homework you just did!
Checking In and Coming Home
While you’re gone, check in with the pet sitter at least once a day to see how your pet is doing. If you have itinerary updates where you know that you’ll be home early or will be delayed, give them as much notice as you can so that they can plan accordingly. Best of all, you can ask for photos and videos of your beloved pets, so you can remember them while you’re away and make sure that they’re having a good time.
When coming back home from your trip, ask the pet sitter whether they had all the info they needed, or if there was anything that they felt you should include for next time. There may have been something that you forgot, or even something helpful that the pet sitter learned if it was your first time away from home for an extended period.
Once you have a helpful list printed out for your pet sitter, you can relax and enjoy a peaceful vacation knowing that you left detailed instructions for them. You can even use the Mopria Scan Service app to scan in the instructions to send over a digital copy of the instructions, just in case they get lost or misplaced. With these helpful tips in mind, your pets will have just as much fun on vacation as you will!
