Mature professional female with >30yrs experience of house/pet-sitting

About this sitter

Mature reliable professional Irish-British female - currently based in Portugal - with more than 30 years of house/pet-sitting experience all over Europe for dogs, cats, horses, etc., including animals with additional health needs. Please note that I can no longer sit for indoor-only cats due to a recently-developed allergy (I'm OK with cats that go outdoors).

I am fully-insured, and in the process of getting a new police-check (which is unfortunately a very slow process in Portugal). I have unfortunately lost all of my previous testimonials after having to de-register from Mind My House (and Trusted Housesitters) for a few years due to work-pressures and ill-health. Where I still have the owners' contact details I am re-contacting them to re-add their reviews to this new profile.

I'm looking for house- and pet-sits for responsible owners with well-behaved & trained pets, who want to be assured that their homes & pets will be cared for properly, and will be happy & relaxed when they return.

Please note that:

- I hold a full clean UK driving licence but don't have a car, so for rural sits I can only accept them if you provide transport & required insurance
- I won't accept sits where the sitter is expected to contribute to cost of utilities, heating fuel, maintenance, animal feed, etc)
- for short notice sits, and sits outside of Europe, I will only accept them if the home/pet-owner pays for the full costs of travel.

Why they want to house sit

I have always loved animals, and had pets all throughout my childhood, such as dogs (including high-energy working dogs), cats, horses, and a golden pheasant which my father found injured & I helped nurse back to health, that we tried to release but kept coming back! I started pet-sitting for friends & their families back in the early-1990s, and that quickly evolved into house- and pet-sitting (way before the internet and sites like Mind My House existed!). Alas it hasn't been possible for me to have my own pets as an adult, due to a career involving lots of travel and not having family to help out when I'm away.

I love meeting new animals friends (and their owners), and experiencing new scenery & cultures through them. I also like the fact that by caring for an animal in its home environment is much less stressful for them than being put in a kennel/cattery/etc, and removes all associated risk of emotional upset, anxiety and ill-health.

Their experience

I have over 30 years of house- and pet-sitting experience in many different countries across Europe, in cities and in the countryside. My career has taken me to live & work in many countries, so I am used to adapting quickly to new environments & cultures. I speak English, French, Spanish and a little Portuguese, but I can usually pick up sufficient words & phrases in other languages quite quickly to be able to communicate.

I'm experienced at caring for lots of different animals, including dogs, cats, horses, goats, fish, chickens, etc., including animals with additional health needs (eg. medication, sight issues). Please note I can't sit for cats which only live indoors now, as I've developed an allergy recently to some indoor-only cats: the allergy is fine if the cats spend time outdoors.

Please note: I took a health-related break from house- and pet-sitting for a few years and de-registered from Mind My House and Trusted Housesitters: unfortunately as a result I lost all of the prior testimonials I had on both sites. I am trying to re-contact the owners, although I no longer have all of the contact details for many of them.

What can they bring to the assignment

As mentioned above, I am well-travelled, adaptable & reliable and speak several languages. You can be assured that your pets will be happy, relaxed and calm when you return, and your house clean & tidy and in full working order.

I've renovated 3 properties in 2 different countries, so have pretty good DIY skills. If a problem does arise during the sit, I'm very calm and organised: in my 30 years of house/pet-sitting I've successfully dealt with a number of property & animal emergencies, including storm damage, heating/power issues, illness and injuries.

I don't have my own car, but have a full clean driving licence held since 1988, so if you have a vehicle I can use, it is an option for you to insure me to use it whilst you are away.