Photo credit: paul+photos=moody
With a large animal shelter and dog park presence we think it’s safe to say that there are a lot of pet owners in the Knoxville area. Some let Fido and/or Garfield roam the house during the day and some keep them stowed away in a pet crate. But others use pet sitting or daycare services which may sound crazy at first, but our research indicates there are a lot of businesses in our area that provide such services.
If you use a pet sitter or take your animal to a daycare service, who do you use and what has your experience been?
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We take our dog to PetSafe Village for day camp from time to time. It’s also where we board her when we’re out of town. She doesn’t go every day, not even every week. But it’s a great resource to be able to drop her off for the day knowing that she’s going to be tired the rest of the night after running around with all her fur buddies.
I take my dog to Happy Yap Doggy Day Camp. He goes once a week and we board him there too. Its a great place for active dogs to socialize and run around all day. I have a Brittany so he loves it! Christine the owner is so great and we love the barn/farm he gets to play in!
My Ellie Mae LOVES the Tiny Tot camp at PetSafe Village! Especially when her friend Sadie is there! She also gets baths there too. Even though she is not too happy about the baths, I sure am! =)
Before we moved from West Knox we could take Tinny to Diane’s Canine School of Charm, where she could play all day with other dogs for just $5!! She always came home filthy, but exhausted. Sometimes we’d add a bath, which I think was also just $5. Such a deal!
My dog goes to day camp at the PetSafe Village. She has a blast playing with other pups her size. They give me this super cute report card for her, which I love to read. She can’t wait to get to camp and she is always tired after a day of playing.
Check out Catatoga Kennels at 1737 N. Campbell Station Rd.. Boarding and daycare! Staff is great and the kennel is in a great country setting! You’ll wanna stay there yourself.
http://www.catatoga.com
Catatoga is where we have always taken our pups.
Pet sitting is no longer the kid down the street taking care of your pets while you go on vacation! Most reputable pet sitting companies are now insured and bonded, certified in pet first aid/CPR, members of professional pet sitting organizations, and have a business website. When I opened my pet sitting company Waggy Tails of Knoxville in January of ’09 it was just myself and a couple of clients. In a little over a year we have already grown to having a team of 4 pet sitters to cover the needs of pets all around Knoxville!
I take my dogs to Petsafe Village about 3 days a week. They seem to have a good time; it is one of the few places that Major and Raiden actually want to get out of the car for. The staff there is very personable and I have full trust in their ability to care for their guests.
We have used Petsafe Village and it was fine but our Golden didn’t seem to care for it. We now use ZooMommy. They come by our house everyday to let our dogs out or go on walks. They best thing is they give them the love and attention we would give. We could not recommend ZooMommy enough
K9 Camp Pet Sitting and Training caters to pets of all kinds. We provide daily dog walking, overnights, potty breaks, cuddle time, feeding, meds and one on one attention. Reasonably priced with no extra fees for multiple pets, med admin, or key delivery. Obedience training of all levels by an AKC canine good citizen evaluator. Elite Pet Sitting with over 18 yrs exp in Knoxville animal care industry. 865-705-5515
I was disappointed with Zoomommy when I used them to watch my cat while I traveled. A lot of superficial service, and while my cat cannot talk, there was a sense that he had been neglected: he was way too needy. he had been left before with another sitter in another city, several times and he was usually pretty cool about it.
This time, his wet food bowl had dried up food in it: it had either been re-used or they hadn’t stopped by. Dry food bowl almost empty. But I couldn’t be sure and it could have been a bad week or something.
Then the second time I used them, the caretaker stopped by just after we arrived home, in the afternoon, when we had requested mornings. His water bowl was empty, the food bowl empty and just the sense no one had been by in over 48 hours…also I had NOT requested a stop on the day of our return.
This suggested scheduling chaos.
Finally, the second sitter came by with her 3 very young kids–all a mess. She looked harrassed and rather horrified to run into us. The kids ran right into my house with too much familiarity and it was just weird. Clearly this woman was not in control of her day. The cat would not come out, which is unlike him.
Well, whatever–my kitty can’t tell me, but I got a not great vibe overall.
Also, they charged for mileage and it added up very quickly.
Overall not worth it.
I know use a GREAT woman named Angie. She emails me every day I am gone, my cat seems very happy when I get back (almost disappointed) and she does not charge mileage. She has a service, is bonded, etc. but I don’t have that info on me right now.
As a co-owner of Zoo Mommy Pet Care I was very sorry to hear about the issues you chose to share through this forum. This certainly doesn’t meet our level of service nor show the love we have for being a team of caring pet professionals!
As a business that started 4 years ago here in Knoxville we absolutely love and enjoy our roles in caring for cats, dogs, horses, and many other animals in and around Knoxville. With our expansion to Chattanooga we are fortunate to be able to share our pet care standards and approach there as well.
I would love to hear more from you so please consider emailing me directly at jack@zoomommy.com with your concerns. Specifically, please let me know when this happened as I need to address this with our team member. No one on sour taff has three small children so I am very interested to hear back from you about this.
Our standard operating practices include always cleaning out dishes on each visit, top off all food, refresh water, clean up litterboxes, as well as other important chores. On our last visits we also sweep or vacuum areas in a home that we have possibly left messy, including around litter boxes and food dishes. We believe in very high standards and want you to return to a home that you can relax back in after being away from home. In addition, we email your requested schedule as soon as you book our service and a few days before you live with our complete schedule to ensure we have all your dates and visit times correct. Our online reservation and tracking system helps to ensure we leave nothing to chance and keeps our team members schedule organized as well as available to our clients and staff.
Please consider this our sincere apology and I hope you will take the opportunity to touch base with me directly. We very much value all types of feedback and strive to grow as pet professionals from both positive and negative experiences.
Thank you Lizzie for your time,
Jack Harvey
The first visit was weird, but I stuck with you guys. The second visit just provided evidence that I was right the first time.
Maybe the sitter was doing double duty, and baby sitting some kids while she made her rounds, late, on the wrong day, after we got back to a neglected cat.
Also, given that you must have other customers in Sequoyah, the mileage charges seemed rigged to make a profit off what the rest of us do for ourselves without charging others: DRIVING to WORK.
All the shiny facades in the world–which ZM has down pat–cannot compensate for the breach of trust involved in a business where customers give you the keys and full access to their homes, in order to care for helpless creatures whom the customers love.
The great website, online schedules and reports all mean NOTHING if the pet is found neglected upon one’s return. Pets can’t talk, so it is possible people don’t notice. If it had not been for the sitter’s poor timing that day, I might still be an oblivious customer.
L.
I wanted to add that , since posting the comments above, I also wrote to Jack off-site and he replied with a really nice note back apologizing for my experience.
Does anyone have recommendations for a private dog sitter for vacations and/or occasional day care? I would be interested in either taking the dog to someone (who is keeping no more than a few other dogs at one time) or having someone come to the house for several visits or stay overnight during a vacation.
Author
Dee – there are a lot of great suggestions in the comments here. Give each of them a call. I wish I had experience with one of them so I could make a solid recommendation but I don’t. Good luck and let us know if you find a good match for your pets.
Furry Friends Pet Sitting is a professional pet sitting and dog walking service for Knoxville pet owners. We care for dogs, cats, birds, fish, caged pets, exotic pets and special needs pets.
We provide pet sitter care in your home, dog walking, potty breaks, excercise/playtime, physical therapy, administering medications (including injections and sub-q therapy), pet transportation and house sitting services.
Insured, bonded, licensed.
What clients are saying about Furry Friends Pet Sitting:
Yahoo local: http://tinyurl.com/2dddtrv
Google local: http://tinyurl.com/2bvrot4
Upon a recommendation when I moved here, I have used Blue Grass Animal Hospital and have been very pleased for our dog and 2 cats. They have great facilities and very caring staff who know them by name each time we visit. I have never had a bad experience and have now used them in the double digits for boarding. They have 5 outside separated play areas for the dogs and match up who they think will play well together. Upon returning we even get a cute card with their picture on it and the activities they got to be involved with and they often have special stories about something funny they did when we were gone. We feel blessed our animals can go there and get such special attention. Here is their website if you want to check them out on your own. http://www.bluegrassanimalhospital.com
This is a wonderful facility! You have so much to offer. I found you on the web when I was designing my own dog care program for the friendly dogs of Hampton, NH and the surronding NH Seacoast communities. I am a small home operated dog daycare and dog day camp provider and dog walking service. Thanks for the great role model! Rose at For the Dogs, NH
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Thanks for the post. Altamont Kennel provides boarding service where your pet will cure properly.
altamontkennels.com
Having started this business from nothing to now over a 1000+ customers, the Farm is a cage-free way using the Pack mentality to help dogs regain their since of Nature. While we offer extended stay, daycare, etc. we find that most dogs need the opportunity to be taught how to be a “team player” before just be dumped in and hoping for the best. Folks are welcome to use the Farm to get them started, then have their options opened up to any daycare in town. Social dogs are the best part of a community of dog lovers–dogs we can all enjoy in any environment.
I love the workers….s
o wonderfull with my puppy. And he always has a fulfilling day at the farm. My thoughts would be 5 star dooggie retreat. The bakery has treats that my boy drools too.
PLF is awesome! My troublesome rescue dog became a member of the family thanks to Sona’s training help. Both my dogs love going to daycare and come home tired and happy.