Pet sitting!

[mocha200]

I am leaving for Florida on Saturday and will be gone for two weeks. My sister will be taking care of the bunnies but she isn’t very willing about it. She doesn’t really like them and is scared of Lulu ( Lulu has a habit on biting peoples feet when she doesn’t get what she wants). So I need your guys help me make it as easy as possible for her to take care of them. 

Here is the list I started making but I couldn’t seem to explain myself very well. If any one could fix it or help me fix it up that would be great!

the words in red are my questions.

 

Bunny Sitting

Schedule

Every day

Clean up any messes/accidents such as: tipped water, pee outside of box etc.

Give one treat to each bunny. Treats are on the book shelf.

12pm or before: give veggies, refill hay, and rinse/refill water

 

9pm or after: give veggies, refill hay , rinse/refill water

 

Instructions

 

Veggies

Buy veggies on the 16th (Thursday) and the 23rd (Thursday)

Buy five different kinds of veggies

Shopping List:

• Red leaf lettuce
• Green leaf lettuce
• Romain lettuce
• Italian parsley
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Collard Greens
• Bok Choy
• Endive
• Escarole

 Salad: Not sure how to explain how to make one. Should I make a video of me making a salad for her?

Hay

If the hay bin runs out of hay refill it with the hay in the big blue bin in the garage.

Litter boxes

What should I tell her to do? Should I expect her to clean the litter boxes every 2-4 days like I do? If they don’t get cleaned that often the litter stops absorbing the pee. She would be SO mad if she has to clean them

Cage

Should I expect her to be able to vacuum the cage? I vacuum it every 2-4 days and even by then it is extremely hairy and has a lot of poo and hay. I don’t think it would be healthy for the bunnies to go 2 weeks with out it cleaned!

 

 

 

[FrankieFlash]

I would ask her to do things and tell her so. If your sister cares about them in the slightest, IMO she’ll do them.

As for litterbox, Maybe you can have her just add new litter on top of the old? As a quick fix. But two weeks without having the litterbox change would be pretty bad. If you litterbox is big enough (contemplate bigger one or adding another), it might be able to go a week so she’d only have to change it once.

I hope this helps. I’ve never had to leave my bun that long but you are giving me things to think about.
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And correct me if I’m wrong but you haven’t listed pellets. Do yours still eat them? if so you might wanna make sure you have something in their pellet container with correct measurement so it’s easy. I’ve done a lot of pet sitting and that is the hardest thing to do is feed food without measurement of some kind- and not easy to find the measuring cup is pretty frustrating too.

[Isabelle]

Making the salad: Why don’t you invite her over and actually show her how to make one by watching you prepare it? And she can help as well. Simple written instructions would be fine, she could refer to it, I don’t think a video is necessary.

Litterboxes: If she really doesn’t want to clean them, perhaps you could buy a few extras and prepare them, then every 3/4 days she could just switch them out and put the old ones in the garage or somewhere the smell would be contained until you could clean them when you get back.

Cage: I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask her to give it a quick vaccum once or twice, maybe halfway through the stay. You can just ask her to get the bigger piles of mess, not ask her to deep clean.

[mocha200]

Thanks Guys!

FrankieFlash:

And correct me if I’m wrong but you haven’t listed pellets. Do yours still eat them?

No, they don’t eat pellets.

Isabelle:

Making the salad: Why don’t you invite her over and actually show her how to make one by watching you prepare it? And she can help as well. Simple written instructions would be fine, she could refer to it, I don’t think a video is necessary.

She lives at home so it is easy to show her, but last time I showed her how to take care of the bunnies she was only half listening and didn’t seem to care. Hopefully this time will be different.

Litterboxes: If she really doesn’t want to clean them, perhaps you could buy a few extras and prepare them, then every 3/4 days she could just switch them out and put the old ones in the garage or somewhere the smell would be contained until you could clean them when you get back.

I was thinking of doing that but I only have 1 set of spare litter boxes so I didn’t think it would work, but I guess if she dumps some litter on the top they will each last a week.

[Mr.Buck]

So find another rabbit owner like you who would be willing to take on the challenge maybe? When I move out, I’m going to look for someone to buddy up with, and trade rabbit babysitting. It’s so much different than other pets as they aren’t low maintenance. Good luck, and remember your sister can always call you if she needs.

[Elrohwen]

I would make the veggie shopping easier – just pick a couple of veggies, easy ones like romaine or something, and tell her to stock up on those. For amounts per salad, do you have a salad spinner or a bowl that fits about one portion? We more or less fill up the salad spinner each meal so it’s easy for a pet sitter to give approximately the same.

Do you have any extra litter boxes or tupperware things that could work as a litter box? Maybe you could set them up in advance with clean litter and tell her to switch them out on a certain day. I go a week between cleanings with my pair (they have two boxes) and it’s honestly fine – I don’t smell it at all until I’m dumping it out. I’m sure they’ll be fine if their litter isn’t cleaned as much as it usually is. When we leave the buns with a sitter we prepackage litter in ziplock bags. All they have to do is dump out the old litter, pour in the new, and it’s ready to go.

I don’t think she’d necessarily need to clean the cage either. You could maybe ask her to sweep it once while you’re gone, but the bunnies will be just fine with a couple extra poos and some hay scattered around.

I try to make things as easy as possible on my friends when they pet sit, even if it means things aren’t 100% the same for the bunnies. As long as they are being fed properly and not living in total squalor, I’m sure they’ll be fine for 2 weeks.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Elrohwen on 02/07/2012 03:07 PM
I would make the veggie shopping easier – just pick a couple of veggies, easy ones like romaine or something, and tell her to stock up on those. For amounts per salad, do you have a salad spinner or a bowl that fits about one portion? We more or less fill up the salad spinner each meal so it’s easy for a pet sitter to give approximately the same.

Do you have any extra litter boxes or tupperware things that could work as a litter box? Maybe you could set them up in advance with clean litter and tell her to switch them out on a certain day. I go a week between cleanings with my pair (they have two boxes) and it’s honestly fine – I don’t smell it at all until I’m dumping it out. I’m sure they’ll be fine if their litter isn’t cleaned as much as it usually is. When we leave the buns with a sitter we prepackage litter in ziplock bags. All they have to do is dump out the old litter, pour in the new, and it’s ready to go.

I don’t think she’d necessarily need to clean the cage either. You could maybe ask her to sweep it once while you’re gone, but the bunnies will be just fine with a couple extra poos and some hay scattered around.

I try to make things as easy as possible on my friends when they pet sit, even if it means things aren’t 100% the same for the bunnies. As long as they are being fed properly and not living in total squalor, I’m sure they’ll be fine for 2 weeks.

Agreed with all of this.  Make it as easy and foolproof as possible;
 

– Get a bigger litterbox, or add another one, so it doesn’t have to be cleaned as often.

– Make sure there’s enough space for hay (not sure if you use a rack, if so, get a bigger one) so hay doesn’t have to be filled as often.

– Get a larger crock for water so it doesn’t have to be filled as often.

– Simplify the salad.  Maybe just 2 or 3 different kinds.  The few times my parents have fed my buns for me (I was visiting home and went out for an errand during mealtime or something), I just had them feed romaine.  Much easier!

[mocha200]

Thanks guys! My bunnies have to have two letter boxes in their cage at a time because of behavior problems and I have a pair of big litter boxes and a pair of little litter boxes. I could start them with the big ones and if they start to get full before I get home she can switch them with the smaller ones. As for veggies, my vet told me to take them off pellets because of health reasons so I have increased their veggie intake and started getting them different kinds of veggies so they can get what they need. Maybe I will give her this list instead and tell her to get every thing on it.
. Romain lettuce
. Green leaf lettuce
. Red leaf lettuce
. Collard Greens
. Bok Choy

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