- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Catherine's Pet Sitting
Rating Details »
Category: Pet Services [Edit]
Neighborhood: Crestview1914 Piedmont Ave
Austin, TX 78757
(512) 786-3802
10 reviews for Catherine's Pet Sitting
As my work requires that I spend considerable time away from home I am in the position of needing a pet-sitting service on a regular basis.
Shortly after moving to Austin I ran across the reviews for Catherine and her services. I'm happy to confirm that they are 100% correct.
Catherine is simply the best. I think she may even spoil my dogs more than I do! If you're in need of pet-sitting, don't hesitate to contact her. You will be very glad you did.
Wow... we've had pet sitters before, but this was something different! I called Catherine based on the reviews here and she promptly returned my call. She was a little unsure of our location (we live off 1826 on the way to the Salt Lick) but I am happy to say she decided to venture a little further afield than usual. She explained that she specializes in geriatric and aggressive dogs, and had been a vet tech so she's fine with dispensing meds and giving shots. She set up an introductory appointment, and on the designated day I opened the door to a cute and perky 20-something with a mind for business and a way with canines. When my youngest dog Lillie promptly began French kissing her, she handled it with aplomb and seemed to understand that my senior citizen dog was going to be a lot harder to get to know.
She started with a questionnaire about pretty much anything and everything you can think of regarding our pets and our house (since she will bring in mail and water plants as well) and explained her system. She verifies all appointments via email, leaves a detailed journal of her visits and wants you to call her when you return so she knows the dogs are being taken care of (wow, we've never had a pet sitter ask us to do that before!) In this particular case, she also needed to give Lance the geriatric an antibiotic twice a day, which was no problem.
I am very impressed with Catherine! We arrived home to find everything exactly as we wanted and the dogs were happy and healthy. I loved reading the journal she left, and, as it turns out, Lance did eventually give her a kiss - it just wasn't the tonsil-massaging type for which Lillie is famous.
Until recently, I would have been the first in this long line to praise Catherine's Pet Sitting. In fact, I've probably sent her at least a half dozen new clients in the past 3 years with unqualified praise for her dependability and pet adeptness. Recent events, though, have led me to believe that something radical must have changed in her life, or else I've only now had the opportunity to have the fur yanked cruelly from my eyes.
The scenario: I have used Catherine's Pet Sitting five or six times and always had a pleasant experience. So, as usual, I emailed her a month before Christmas, requesting two weeks of service. After a week, I finally got an email back confirming her availability - while the delay raised an eyebrow, I thought it uncharacteristic of her and chalked it up to the flurry of the holiday season. Some friends of mine who routinely use Catherine did the same, and were confirmed to her schedule.
These friends wanted to meet with her to discuss their cats, as they have been fighting a lot recently and require different treatment than in previous visits. They had great difficulty scheduling a time with her. From their fleeting communiqués, my friends were able to glean that she was a. by her own admission, very hard to schedule for a 10 minute appointment, and b. she had the flu. Understandably, we questioned to ourselves whether this would have any bearing on her ability to care for our pets later in the week.
By this point, we were all a little worried that something was going on with either her life or health, but again, I gave her the benefit of the doubt, blaming everything on temporary dilemmas and/or miscommuniciation. However, when I received an incorrect invoice, which was missing one week of service, I felt like I needed to touch base with her. The invoice explicitly said that if there were any problems with the order, to contact her immediately, as it was the last notice before she began service. So I sent her an email, asking her to confirm the original service dates. I also said that my friends mentioned she had been having scheduling problems, so I wanted to make sure she was still available to sit for our cats. It was a totally friendly and professional email - one of those "just checking in!" types.
I expected to hear back with a reassuring, "yes, everything is still good!" responses. Instead, I got an extremely frosty and condescending answer to my question about the invoice, which concluded with her saying that she was "insulted" that my friends and I questioned her commitment and that she thought we should find a new petsitter. This is TWO DAYS before I am leaving for the holiday break.
So, despite being completely shocked at the unprofessional response, I, AGAIN, excuse everything ("She's probably just sick and not herself"), and write her back immediately, apologizing profusely for any insult I may have caused her, begging her to stay on as my petsitter. I explained that I genuinely just wanted to check in on her health and her business, for peace of mind [Ed. Note: and, stupidly, ACTUAL CONCERN FOR HER] before leaving town. She didn't respond, but instead wrote my friends a completely passive aggressive and rude email, saying that in the future they should contact someone else for pet sitting, because they had talked about her behind her back to another client (SERIOUSLY?!?!). My friends called, emailed, and called her again, to no avail. 24 hours later, she hadn't answered my email, either, and I had only one day to scramble and find petcare for the holiday season on no notice.
I wouldn't expect this kind of vindictiveness and avoidance from a junior high cheerleader, much less from a professional who is in the business of customer service. I am completely appalled that someone whose business is completely built on trust could have what I would consider such a violently unstable and unprofessional reaction to a confirmation email. When you hire a petsitter, you are completely vulnerable to them - they have a key to your house, come in while you are out of town, and are the primary caretakers to animals you care a lot about. I think what bothers me most is that I had put such a level of faith in Catherine, even when ample evidence was accruing to suggest something was amiss. It appears this trust was severely misplaced. It really sucks, because she seemed like a cool person and a really reliable petsitter, but after this I have to unequivocally revoke my recommendations to her.
This review is long overdue. Catherine, woah, she ROCKS!
I am a freelancer with 3 large dogs and a diabetic cat. My husband and I hadn't had a vacation in years, so when we finally had the opportunity to go somewhere I thought I would search for a pet sitter. My quest for a pet sitter was how I found Yelp. The reviews here won me over and I called Catherine up.
I will admit, that I was at first very hesitant about leaving my "kids." I have never left them before, not by choice but circumstances. When I met Catherine for the first time, it was instant peace of mind. Her professionalism was very obvious, but I had that gut feeling that she could handle anything. She has a ton of experience and absolutely loves what she does.
I was a little nervous about how my Rottie mutt was going to be with a new person, but she took to Catherine so fast! Plus we didn't have to worry about our dogs and cat getting their meds at the right time. Now, when ever we plan a trip, I tell my girls that they are "going to see Catherine!" Their ears instantly perk up the same way they do when I say the words "lets go for a walk" (yes, I am a total dork.)
Chris and I can actually go somewhere and relax and enjoy ourselves. Plus someone responsible looking after the abode is such a comfort. We have hired Catherine several times now and our experience has always been equally as great. We get home, the dogs and cat are chilling out to the stereo, fed, happy, and excited to see mom and dad. Catherine always leaves these wonderful little notes of what they did together. Its such a nice touch!
Ok... so I have a confession to make. And please don't tell anyone... don't want to hurt my newly found "yelp cred" (am I supposed to say "yo" after using the "word" "cred?")
I haven't actually used Catherine's service. However, my best friend adopted his dog from her and so I met her a couple of times...
In my book, the CHARACTER of someone providing a PERSONAL service (like caring for your kids, your house, your dog, stuff like that) is VERY important. And I have nothing but good things to say about her. She works very hard and loves animals... has a few herself. She was at one point going to "dog pounds" (or whatever the PC term is these days) in surrounding areas and rescuing dogs that were about to be put to sleep. Then on her own time she would set up outside of local pet shops and try to get them adopted.
She's just really one of those rare amazing people that we happen across from time-to-time... not the type that wear their "good deeds" like badges (I dated one of those... they suck) but one that you have to get to know before you realize what a truly good person they are.
I'd turn my house and kids (well I don't have any of those, but I would if I did) and dog and even my favorite cilantro plant over to Catherine and my only worry would be that they would want ME back after spending time with her.
3 thumbs up.
I have a love/hate relationship with Catherine's Pet Sitting.
I love the quality service. I hate how jealous I am of her well-oiled machine of an independent business! Argh! After a brief stint in the corporate world, Catherine (of Catherine's Pet Sitting) decided the suits were not for her and passionately pursued the pet kingdom. She has built a successful at-your-home pet sitting business for the Austin community.
With two cats and ten days of absence, we needed some help. We'd picked up one of Catherine's cards at the vet and gave her a call(see...you can tell she's smart if she's putting business cards in vet waiting rooms...). After locking in our travel dates, Catherine scheduled a time to meet our pets. To make an already long story shorter, we had a great experience. CPS is very thorough - taking care to cover everything. I won't give away her suave business secrets, but I will say this. She asked me questions that I hadn't even started to think about regarding my trip. "No, as a matter of fact, I haven't thought about what I should leave the thermostat on. And no, I haven't considered what lights I'd like to leave on, either!"
Anyway, point being, I would absolutely recommend Catherine's Pet Sitting to anyone. Catherine has loads of experience with cats and dogs and guarantees "playtime" with your pet. So at the very least, you know Fido or Boots is getting some attention.
Although Catherine's Pet Sitting has a physical address, I would recommend calling instead. (512) 786-3802.
I wish they had Catherine's People Sitting.
What can I say that hasn't been said. Catherine is the most thorough and professional dog sitter I've ever seen. On her initial visit, she takes a comprehensive history of your dog and it's health, how your house works, dog food, medicine, etc.
She has watched my dog at least 5 or 6 times now while I was traveling. Upon my neurotic request, she text msgs me EVERY time she comes to take the dog out and gives me a full report of how it went. And that is three times day. She is great with doggie medicine, if that need to be given. She even watered the plants and brought the mail in.
Don't even hesitate to call her if you need a pet sitter. Oh and your dog will love her too : )
Catherine is the pet sitter of our dreams.
Early in 2007, I stumbled upon the lovely reviews below for Catherine's Pet Sitting services and upon further research, I gave her a call to watch my two little chihuahua pound puppy monsters.
In our initial phone call, she asked my availability to have her over to check our home setting, the pups and ask a few questions. I believe she came over later that day - very prompt!
She's the Austin Dog Wisperer.
My little monsters calmed down within moments of Catherine's arrival.
She's a life saver.
She recently watched the pups for the third time when my husband and I left the country for 12 days. We sent her a text message as soon as we dropped our luggage to tell her how thankful we were for her taking care of our littles.
We have been completely comfortable with turning over our keys to Catherine and we're very thankful that she services the Brentwood/Crestview neighborhoods.
Catherine checked on my three cats over Thanksgiving weekend. Two of them are cranky and difficult to love, but she handled them beautifully. She was unfazed when one of them swatted her and understood that the cat just wanted her to keep up the petting. Catherine has a natural rapport with animals and made me feel well at ease about leaving them in her care. She was well organized and offered to do non-pet related things, like bring in the mail and take out the trash so that it would appear we were home. I really appreciated her service and would recommend her to anyone.
I found out about Catherine's Pet Sitting through Yelp and thought I would give her a try and I'm so glad that I did!
Catherine is so thorough in the questions that she asks (things I would never think to tell someone about my animals). She also helped me out with one of my cats that had an ear problem that the vet couldn't resolve. So far, it looks like he's doing well and won't have to go back to the vet. Talk about service! As mentioned in other reviews, she will also water your plants, pick up your mail, etc. Also, I absolutely LOVED the notes she left behind regarding the two visits she made! They were personalized and I could tell that she truly loves what she does and that she loves my animals as much as I do!
I would recommend her to anyone that has a pet sitting need. She has thought of absolutely everything! I trusted her to be in my home and around my animals and she didn't disappoint! I will definitely do business with her again!
