Will I need to look after the pets?
Before you start your first live-in carer assignment, there are some questions you may want to ask. Here’s one of them. Should I have to look after the pets? And if so, how much looking after is needed?
This is a good question. The answer is that it varies from client to client. You may have said that you don’t mind going to a client with a pet, but it pays to be more specific when you give your agency your profile.
While you may find it hard to believe, you will occasionally come across a client who has an odd pet. There are clients who have cats and dogs, birds and fish, but there are also clients who have horses and chickens, koi carp and other different pets.
Recently, I heard of a carer who was asked to take care of the owls and hawks. The lady used to fly them until she no longer could. The birds could not simply be released so they were all in cages and all needed to be fed daily. While this may not seem an issue, they had to be fed dead chicks each morning! So, for a carer who is a little squeamish about pushing dead chicks through into cages containing huge owls an hawks, this may not have been an ideal booking.
This may be more the exception than the rule, but you should tell your agency if you have a fear of horses or birds – or any other pets, and have no wish to take care of them. You may not like being anywhere near to chickens, so a booking where you head out to collect the eggs first thing in the morning may not be your idea of fun!
Walking the dog can be as nice or horrid as you make it. Obviously, you will need to take a poop bag with you – just in case, but if you look at walking the dog as a way for your own exercise and fresh air, it will seem less like a chore and more like an extended break.
Will you get paid more to look after the pets? Possibly not. Clients have a way of including this into your ‘duties’, although you could dispute this if you like. If you really do not enjoy looking after animals, then it is in your own interest to let your agency know so that they don’t send you to a client with pets. As sure as nuts grow on trees, you will find yourself being asked to feed the cat or walk the dog.
How much more you are involved with caring for the pets is entirely up to you. ‘Pet people’ will relish the idea of having a cat snuggle up on their feet at night, while other people will not be happy at this.
What is important in this situation is that you are open with your agency about your preferences so that they can match you with a client with similar likes and dislikes as you have.
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