For The Love Of Pets

Rescued Dog

Why do some pet owners seeking pet sitters identify their domestic feline, canine or other members of the animal kingdom as a ‘rescue’? Are they under the impression that we, the pet sitter, will love them more?

According to animal psychologists, “It will always be a mystery to us precisely how our [pets] think of us and what their relationships with us mean to them.” ~ Psychology Today

Guess what I'm thinking now

Humans have the capacity to consider the past, be in the here and now, and contemplate the future. An animal lives in the flash, instant by second. They are instinctive and are moment by moment thinkers. 

As pet sitters, our duty is to care for the cat or dog or bird. Some of the advertisements for pet sitters we’ve read online put up a number of insecure requests and we sometimes roll our eyes at the demands expected of us. 

Some ads are enticing and encouraging, while others are unappealing and uninspiring.

See if you can tell the difference.

• Must love dogs
• Pet sitter needed for our rescue cat
• One horse requires meds daily, by mouth
• Must allow our dogs to sleep with you on our bed
• Pet sitter must be alpha or dog will disrespect you

Kitten's instinct is that a human's mouth may contain food

In the case of the must love dogs advertisement, we will care for your dog, cat, bird or horse, but we can't say that we will love them the same way you do. We take dispensing of love very seriously. We humans love each other, for example. We can look into each other's eyes and receive acknowledgment and reciprocation verbally, physically and spiritually. The animal you love stares back at you but it is likely waiting for a command or better yet, a food reward.

Carla Safina says Life is very vivid to animals. In many cases, they know who they are. They know who their friends are and who their rivals are. They have ambitions for higher status.  They compete. Their lives follow the arc of a career like ours do. We both try to stay alive, get food and shelter, and raise some young for the next generation. Animals are no different from us in that regard and I think that their presence here on Earth is tremendously enriching.