Husky News

Linda Boonstra is all about cats.

She talks about them with such enthusiasm - for her own and for others - that it’s more than easy to believe her when she proclaims, “I’m definitely the type of woman who will pay big bucks to take care of her cats.”
“My whole family is a cat family,” said Boonstra, a Rehoboth resident. “We grew up with cats and all we do when we get together is talk about cats.”

Several years ago, when she was host to five pet felines, her trips to DeWitt Animal Hospital in Plainville became so frequent that she started thinking she might as well work there. So she did. But her tendency to be emotional didn’t go well with the job.

“People would come in with sad, scrunched faces, and you just knew why they were there,” she said. “It got to the point where I was crying a lot.”

And then came the idea that eventually would lead her to start her own business, Linda’s Pet Sitting Service.

Yup, she’s a pet sitter. And she’s far from the only one.

Pet Sitters International, a network of professional pet sitters, boasts 7,600 individual members and reports online sitter searches in excess of 30,000 per month, an indication that making a living babysitting other people’s pets - and wanting someone to do it for you - isn’t as unusual as it sounds.

“There’s a lot of us out there,” Boonstra, 57, said.

Pet sitters are exactly what they sound like; people who provide care for your pet when you’re not at home.

This can be when you’re on vacation or at work. Pet sitters pop in and out of your house or they stay with your pet over your holiday getaway. They can simply feed your cats or walk your dog, or they might sit and play with your pets, give them medicine, or take them to grooming appointments.

Whatever service you need, you probably can get it from a pet sitter.

And the benefits, the sitters say, are obvious.

Pets get daily walks or company when their owners are at work, and when they’re on vacation the pets get to stay in their own homes, a comfort for owners and the animals - not to mention the avoidance of kennel costs.

But what about the sitters? Can they make a living doing this? What is the job appeal?

For one thing, it’s a personality fit.

“I’ve always loved animals,” said Renee Davidow, who is going into her third year running Paws R’ Walkin in Attleboro. “In life we’re always looking for our thing. I’m very emotional, so I didn’t want to be a vet or animal technician.”

Davidow, 37, went it on her own from the beginning, figuring that if others could successfully run a pet-sitting business, she’d have luck as well.

Melissa Bensen, who has run Angel Cat Care in North Attleboro for nine years, also started out on her own. She first decided to open her own business, then having been an animal lover as well, decided to test the waters.

“It just seemed like the easiest thing, like something I could do,” Bensen said. “I was going to just do cats, but I quickly found out you don’t make much money that way. Now I do everything. Well, I haven’t done any tarantulas. But I haven’t gotten any calls for tarantulas.”

A willingness to take on almost any job is a must.

Boonstra’s business - which grew after working for a friend for several years - is almost exclusively cats.

Though she was doing much better financially when she did dog walks, she quickly became aware of a very disconcerting job hazard.

“I had a client, a beagle named Emily, and one day, out of nowhere, a German shepherd charged at both us,” Boonstra said. “He had Emily by her throat. She wiggled out of her collar and ran home, and she had bite wounds, but that was it. I was a mess. From that day on, I was constantly looking over my shoulder. I had to make that decision, to not do dog walks, for my own health.”

Chris and Kathy Raymond, a mother-daughter team who run Kathy’s Pet Sitting Service in North Attleboro, are willing and able to take care of almost any animal, and do at-home stays for vacation clients.

Chris Raymond just picked up a part-time job for medical benefits, and admits that being clogged up during the middle of the day makes supplementing her income quite difficult.

“Everybody wants their dogs out between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.,” she said. “But the clients are so happy to have someone come so that when they come home, the dogs are wiped out.”

Davidow, who is married and does not have any children, said the schedule isn’t for everyone.

“I don’t think you’d be able to do it with children,” she said. “I try to cater to people’s schedules, so it could be 5 in the morning or 10 at night. It would be tough.”

The sitters juggle anywhere from 10 to 100 clients at a time, but no job is ever really guaranteed.

Any struggles are greatly outweighed, however, by the job benefits, the sitters say.

Boonstra said she never thought she’d be doing this. Working for herself - after dabbling in several careers - was never in the plan.

“But I love what I do, and it’s such a great job,” she said. “What a great feeling.”

Chris Raymond said working for herself - with her daughter, of course - perfectly suits them.

“If you’re late, with pets, nobody complains,” she said. “An extra cookie and a pat on the head, and they’re always happy to see you. And they don’t talk back.”

Davidow once had a dog stung by a bee, and just last week a Siberian husky she was walking knocked her in the nose.

“The worst part about it is if something happens,” she said. “But they’re all so amusing to hang out with. It’s a great job.”

Source: The Sun Chronicle