Leaving For the Weekend With No Pet Sitter.

[mocha200]

I am leaving this weekend with my parents to take my sister to collage. We will be leaving around noon tomorrow and wont be home until after super on Saturday. That is 48 hours alone! Normally I would as some of our friends to come and check on them if I was gone that long but we just moved and sadly don’t know anyone here yet. We live in the middle of nowhere on a lake and are one of the only ones who live here all year round (other homes are vacation homes). So I do not know anyone to take care of them. Here is my plan if I leave them alone

• Feed them When I get up on Thursday (normally feed them at 12pm and then again around 10-11pm.) and then maybe again right before I leave. Or feed them one big salad before I go.
• Give them LOTS of hay! 
• More water dishes then normal!
• Then feed them when I get home on Saturday night.

I am a little nervous doing that though…. 

Or I could hire a professional pet sitter. I found one online that would come to my house for $15-$25 (I am assuming that’s the daily price) but that scares me to as I don’t know how much she would know about rabbits. She says she will do any kind of animal. I also don’t know if I could show her how to take care of them before hand or not. 

So which should I do? Not sure if my parents will let me hire her or not yet as I haven’t asked them. I would pay for it, but maybe they aren’t comfortable with a stranger coming in. I would need to know soon as I would have to call her ASAP. Not even sure if she would do it last minute. I would think so though.

[Sarita]

I think I would ask my parents about the pet sitter – she should just be able to do the basics for that short time – make sure they have salad, pellets, fresh water and hay – it shouldn’t be too difficult for her.

If not, then I guess I would have plenty of hay and pellets for them while you are gone. It would not be as ideal as a pet sitter though.

[mocha200]

My mom does NOT want me to hire her. She says that She thinks they will be fine as long as I give them plenty of hay and water. She doesn’t want a stranger coming into our home. She says that she will leave it up to my dad though. If he says its ok then she’ll let me.

[RoyalElvira]

I recently went on my honeymoom in Maui for a week and had my sister come watch the rabbits. Royal was fine one morning, eating, drinking, etc. And then when she checked on him again in the evening he was not fine. She had to take him to the emergency vet and it turned out he had a blockage. It was terrifying. I would definitely try to get someone over there to at least check on them and make sure they are acting normal and still have food and water. Maybe you can find someone on here that will do it…?

[mocha200]

Just thought I should give you an update. I talked to my Dad and he said it would be fine for me to hire her. I called her and she said that she loves working with rabbits so that’s good! She came out to our house and I showed her how to do everything and stuff like that. She was very nice and very professional. She had me sign a vet release encase something were to happen. I trust her and I think she will do an awesome job! My mom likes her to! They sat and talked for awhile! She’s going to stop by sometime on Friday afternoon. She just left.
Thanks for your help guys! I feel much better about going now.

[FooFoosMommy2]

I’m glad you were able to find someone. It makes me think that I should probably start looking into teaching my family how to take care of Foo for when I’m on my honeymoon in May. I just assumed someone would take care of her, but knowing me I’d leave it to the last minute to try and find someone.

[MyPets1031]

its good you found someone. Is there a pet sitter site or something on the internet? I never have anyone to watch my bunnies and have to take them with. Its very fortunate you found someone I wish I could find someone rabbit savy to care for my buns when I’m away. Did you just look on craigslist or something?

[mocha200]

Just typed in Pet Sitter in ______ (my city name) And she had her own website that popped up! I found another website that had lists of pet sitters in the area but it looked like anyone could just stick their name and picture in there and I wasn’t comfortable with that. The person I found has a LOT of references and has worked at a vet in the past and has been doing this for almost three years. I don’t think EVERY city will have someone like that but it doesn’t hurt to look! Just try a Google search and also look in the Yellow Pages! The lady I found had a add in there as well and you may have more luck there as it is cheaper for the owner then to run a website! Also remember that it isn’t likely to find someone who knows as much as rabbits as you, or has had rabbits, as that is not very common (yet) but a professional pet sitter will know a lot about animals and have experience with rabbits and will do exactly what you tell them to do (unlike slacking friends and family who think your to picky about how you care for your rabbits so only do what they think is necessary… Grr). I hope that helps! Sorry I am kind of in a rambling mood as it is WAY past my bed time (12:30am… EEeek)! Oh boy. I better go now before I start babbling on about something else!

[Hokankai]

I had to leave mine alone over the weekend once and had no problems *shrug*.

I just gave them two servings of pellets and two days worth of veggies to work on the first day, and then a week’s worth of hay for them to much on as well as several crocks of water.They were annoyed when I got back, but they had a ton of hay left over and were quite fat and happy.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m glad you found a pet sitter you are comfortable with. She sounds professional, making you sign a vet release form. Happy and safe trip to you.

[mocha200]

Thanks LPT!

[MyPets1031]

Thanks

[colleenbunny]

I would contact your local HRS for a referral of rabbit-sitters, that’s what I did.

rabbit.org

[Sarita]

Hi Collenbunny – I am going to lock this thread – we ask that members don’t respond to old posts, but thank you for your good idea.

[Author]

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