Helping professional cat sitters become the cat care specialist that everyone wants to hire
Today, I’m talking about ways to optimize a cat’s environment and how sharing this information with your clients makes you indispensable to them. How do you help your clients build an environment that allows their cats to experience their instincts as much as possible? The more dialed you are to a cat’s particular desires and needs, the happier and healthier the cat will be. Setting this idea into your own mind will help to make you an indispensable resource to your clients, as well. Just by having a solid understanding of the best tweaks and tips to create a happy cat space. Because a healthy and happy cat will have far fewer behavior problems. The link between chronic stress in a cat’s environment and health problems are well known by veterinary behavior researchers Here are some of the products mentioned in this episode. I am an Amazon associate which means I get paid a small commission if you make a purchase from one of those links. There is no extra cost to you and helps me keep this podcast going. zoom groom Cat food puzzle board Pill pockets for cats Please note that the information presented in this audio blog is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice.
Are you worn out by the countless decisions that you must make every day? Is it a strain just to keep everything running smoothly and efficiently? Dealing with too many decisions in a short space of time can have serious consequences. And wow, 2020 has sure complicated that problem. For many, the stress of this year has compounded a condition known as Decision fatigue. This is what happens when we are forced to make numerous decisions within a space of time. I’m going to discuss how this affects you and ways you can deal with it effectively. Get the book here: Atomic Habits If you buy from this link, I will receive a tiny payment at no extra cost to you. Here is a link to James' Blog: James Clear Articles
#22 - When you need to give a client's cat medication. In this episode, I talk about tips for giving medications that keep both you and the cat stress-free. Here are some links mentioned in the show. Slow Blink Paper How To Give A Cat Liquid Medication Video How To Give A Cat Eye Medication How To Give A Cat A Pill Here are my amazon associate links to some of the useful products mentioned in the show. Pill Pockets For Cats Empty Gelatin Capsules Visit my website at Procatsitter
#21 - When The Cat Won't Play ProCatsitter website
Episode #20 Today’s episode is about a subject that’s kind of scary, redirected aggression in cats. If you’ve ever personally witnessed a genuine case of this happening, as I have, you know how shocking and frightening it can be for cats and people alike. Perhaps you’ve witnessed it with your own cats are maybe even client’s cats. Or heard about it while compiling your cat profile for new clients. But before we get into our discussion of that, I want to start the show with a couple of cat trivia questions. If you’re like me, you love cat trivia so I thought it would be a little fun to throw in a couple of interesting tidbits here. I’ll read them and let you think about them before I give you the answers at the end of this episode. The first one comes from an article in Catwatch magazine. Which is a cool digest-type magazine put out by The Feline Health Center at Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. And in this article, they ask: What are the 10 most expensive cat breeds? The second question comes from a book called The Behavior of the domestic cat 2nd edition by John Bradshaw, Rachel Casey, and Sarah Brown. Why do cat’s whiskers fan forward when they pounce on prey? Answers coming up at the end. REDIRECTED AGGRESSION So, I talked about Aggressive behavior in cats in last week’s episode. If you missed that episode you might want to check it out because I talk about Pam Johnson-bennet’s book Cat vs Cat. Today, I want to talk about a specific type of aggression, called redirected aggression. It is an interesting topic because it can be so frightening. Because it can seemingly come out of nowhere. Redirected aggression occurs when a cat becomes highly agitated or frightened by a stimulus in their environment. This could be anything, such as a neighbor cat walking through the yard. Or, after the cat experiences a frightening incident, like a stack of dishes falling on the floor with a loud crash. The cat becomes extremely aroused and frustrated because it can’t release its stress on the target. The cat then redirects that aggression on a substitute, often a nearby cat. Sadly, this can occur between cats that were once close friends and can permanently damage the relationship. Before I get into what can be done to prevent it let me tell you about my experience with it. THE STORY OF CASPER Casper was just a little grey kitten when I first met him. I’ve probably talked about him before in this podcast. I was a residential care aid in a group home for adults with disabilities for 25 years. I drove a large van that could accommodate wheelchairs. And, on this day, I was taking a couple of people to dentist appointments. Luckily, I spotted the little grey fluff, Just as we pulled into the parking lot. He strolled along towards the moving van. When you’re driving a large vehicle with people sitting in wheelchairs you can’t make any fast stops. I learned to be a very observant and careful driver because of that job! I slowed to a stop and he walked right under us. I couldn’t see him anymore. My co-worker jumped out and picked him up. She carried him into the van so we could park. Then I finally got a good look at him. He had big green eyes and the loudest purr. It turned out he belonged to someone in the neighborhood who no longer wanted him. I have no idea why because he was gorgeous and incredibly sweet! So, he joined our family. We named our new fur baby, Casper, and he was quickly accepted by our 4 other cats. He was playful, and fun to be around. A KITTEN WITH A BAD HABIT He did have one annoying habit; I think it came from his time having to fight for food in a busy household full of kids. Casper used to rip into bread bags like a maniac. I think he enjoyed the feeling of popping his teeth into the plastic. When you came home with groceries, all bags of bread, buns, or other bakery items had to be put away immediately. If you left an item like that on the counter, it would be shredded within minutes. Other than that, he was the sweetest cat in the world, not a tough guy by any means. In fact, he was more middle ranking. And he deferred to the two bigger male cats of the house. So, it was a surprise to me to witness two episodes of fierce aggression involving our sweet Casper. CASPER'S FIRST VICTIM Casper was a couple of years old the first time it happened. We had been caring for a foster cat in our spare bathroom. The foster was isolated from the other cats. But there was just enough space under the door for them to smell him. One day, Casper caught just a brief glimpse of the foster cat before I could close the door. That’s all it took. Casper was now staring silently at the closed door when Aussie, one of our younger cats, innocently moved up alongside him. Unbeknownst to Aussie and me, Casper was wound up like a spring, glaring at the door. In a flash, Austin was on his back and Casper was on top biting, scratching screeching. It was unbelievable. It lasted no more than 5 seconds. And then it was over. But the damage was done. No one needed medical attention. But Austin was reluctant to go near Casper after that. Casper seemed completely oblivious to what had happened. He carried on as if nothing had occurred at all. He never attacked Austin again. But 5 years later, there was another incident. CASPER'S SECOND VICTIM This time the trigger was a neighbor cat who had strayed too close to the outside cat enclosure. Casper spotted the cat standing a few feet away. He glared at him, body stiff, tail half lowered. The victim this time was Dodge, a good buddy of Casper’s. Dodge was trying to get a look at what Casper was staring at. He brushed past him and lightly touched Casper’s back. Then bang, Casper exploded into full attack mode. Throwing the much larger Dodge onto his back, biting, scratching pulling fur, both cats were screaming, and I could see the shock in Dodge’s eyes. And just as quickly as it had started, it was over. Casper walked away while Dodge stood their glaring at him, eyes wide in disbelief. Like before, Casper appeared to have no idea anything had happened. And we never saw another incident like this happen again. Fortunately, as shocked and angry as Dodge was, his relationship with Casper seemed to return to normal after a while. In Casper’s mind, it wasn’t his friend he had taken down, it was the cat on the other side of the enclosure fence. That was the real target of his aggression. END OF A FRIENDSHIP Another time I heard about a serious case of redirected aggression, it involved a client’s cats. And the experience left her traumatized. The two cats were closely bonded siblings. There were no other cats or other pets in the house. These cats were well looked after, and their every need met. They slept together; played together and ate next to each other. They were a pair of happy brothers. I looked after them for years without problems. Then one day I realized that I hadn’t heard from the client in a long time. I sent an email asking how she and the boys were doing. She replied, recounting what had transpired. The boys had a terrible fight. One brother had suddenly attacked the other for “no reason” she said. The attack left them both bleeding and terrified. It sounded like it had carried on for much longer than just a brief fight. And their relationship was ruined. My client was shocked and heartbroken. Scared that it would happen again. I asked what happened just before the fight. The client had seen a strange cat walking passed the patio window around the time of the incident. So that must have been the trigger for the attack. One brother became highly aroused and enraged at the sight of the strange cat. When his anxiety could not be relieved it was redirected at what was available, his brother. This can happen to anyone nearby when a cat in this state. A dog or even a human. PREVENTION AND REPAIR So, what can be done to help clients prevent or repair damage to relationships between the cats? Any cat involved in a sudden and severe fight should be checked by a veterinarian. In the meantime, separate the cats temporarily until everyone calms down. But DO NOT PICK THEM UP! Doing so could trigger an attack on you. Keep your demeanor low key and positive so no one feels that they're being punished. Try to determine what triggered the reaction. Did the cat see another cat or raccoon outside? Is it possible to cover the window through which the animal could be seen? When the cats are together again, observe them carefully for any sign of ongoing fear or aggression. Sometimes the attacking cat will continue to see the other cat as the source of his fear and rage, triggering more attacks. If this happens, you may have to separate the cats for a longer period and go through a reintroduction. Pam Johnson-Bennett outlines the steps of reintroduction in her book, Cat vs Cat If the problem persists, contact a veterinarian. The vet may want to prescribe medications that could help get the problem under control until the relationship can be repaired. As frightening as these attacks can be, being a keen observer of cat body language and what’s going on in the environment will help prevent reoccurrence. Because prevention is so much better than dealing with a ruined feline friendship. Ask your client to keep a Diary of their cats’ behavior, including exactly where it happened and who was involved. Including the frequency. Try to pinpoint what the target was if not identified at the time of the attack. If a fight seems imminent, distract, and separate before anything happens. Try to control your own emotions and reactions, too. Keep everything as calm as possible. ANSWERS TO TRIVIA QUESTIONS The first question was, what cat breed is the most expensive? According to an article in Catwatch Magazine, who got this list from a website called therichest.com Starting from least expensive to most expensive 10 Ragdoll 9 Peterbald 8 Maine Coon - my favorites! 7 Egyptian Mau 6 Siberian Forest Cat 5 Scottish Fold 4 Bengal Cat 3 Khao Manee, an exotic white cat from Thailand. 2 Savannah Cat And finally, number 1, the most expensive cat in the world is listed as the Ashera Cat. They’ve listed the price for the Ashera Cat at $125,000. That must be from the most prestigious cattery around. Because I’ve seen these cats selling for $22,000 in ads. Still, that's a very expensive cat! And for the second trivia question: Why do cat's whiskers fan forward when they pounce on prey? And the answer comes from THE BEHAVIOR OF THE DOMESTIC CAT I’ll give you a hint. Have you ever put a treat down right in front of a cat and wondered why they don’t seem to see it? That’s because they can’t. It’s presumed that whiskers move forward to compensate for the cat’s poor eyesight at close range. In other words, cats are seeing their prey with their whiskers. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a tiny amount when you purchase from my link. The good news is that it helps me at no extra cost to you! Well, that’s it for this episode. If you would like to hear more of this podcast, please subscribe and leave me a review wherever you are listening to it. Thanks for spending some time with me! Until next week, Happy cat sitting! Just a reminder, the information in this podcast is general cat care advice and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional care from a veterinarian or qualified behaviorist. If you have any concerns regarding a cat’s health, please seek the advice of a veterinarian.
This episode is all about multi-cat households and how they can cause trouble if not managed well. Cats are incredibly good at hiding their stress and we may not notice something serious is brewing in their minds until the stress reaches a critical stage. By the time we start to see the negative results in the cat’s behavior and health, it has been going on for some time. Here is my Amazon Affiliate Link: Make sure to select the new edition now available! CAT VS. CAT Cat vs Cat was first published in 2004 but was completely updated and reissued in 2020 so if you’ve read it before, as I have, you will want to read it again!
Please note that the information presented in this podcast is for general information only and is not intended for medical advice. Please refer to the CDC website for updates. CDC Coronavirus and animals info For the book, here is my Amazon link: DECODING YOUR CAT For Pet Sitters International's Course: PSI COVID CERTIFICATION
In this episode, I talk about cat breeds and how knowing more about specific breed characteristics can alert you to issues that can affect the behavior and health of the cats in your care. Whether you have a client who has a special breed already or one who asks your advice on what kind of cat would be most suitable for them. I’ll give you some ideas about alternative sources where your clients might find the characteristics they’re looking for. And, if you stick around to the end, I’ll give you some resources and references that will make studying different cat breeds quicker and easier. If you’re looking for a handy reference a book called “The Complete Cat Breed Book: Choose The Perfect Cat For You”, published in 2013 is a good one. Here is my Amazon Affiliate link to get it The Complete Book Of Cat Breeds Some of the top international associations are: The international cat association. www.Tica.org Cat Fanciers Association www.cfa.org Fédération Internationale Féline www.fifeweb.org Some Regional registries: The World Cat Congress is an organization that seeks cooperation in the cat fancy world when it comes to cats and registries: https://www.worldcatcongress.org/ Here is a purebred cat rescue organization: https://www.purebredcatrescue.org/choosing-the-right-breed/sphynx-rex/ Read more about International Cat Care here: https://icatcare.org/about/our-history/ https://icatcare.org/our-campaigns/first-do-no-harm-breeding-of-pedigree-cats/
Well hello Procatsitters, you’re listening to Procatsitter Today, episode #16 Today’s podcast is about building resilience into your cat business and your life. The world may look pretty bleak right now, fortunately, it’s not forever. Those of us in the pet care business need to be ready for the rebound. And there’s plenty we can do right now to prepare. Let me start by saying, if you or someone you love has this terrible virus or if you’ve lost someone to it, my heart goes out to you. To be worried about your financial future is one thing, to be grieving or afraid for loved ones at the same time is unimaginable. My own father is in a care home after suffering a massive stroke. Even though he gets good care, I’m still concerned about his safety all the time. He is in one of the most vulnerable groups. The fear and anxiety I’m feeling about him and other family members affect all aspects of my life right now. Our routines have also been completely uprooted and replaced with this new reality - just like that. We’re all grieving the loss of structure and income from our pet care businesses. And to make matters worse, we’re confined to our homes. Under these circumstances, it’s easy to fall prey to hopelessness and despair. Cats and Stress I think we can take a lesson from cats here. Cats live in the moment. They don’t worry about next week or even the next hour. They do their best to adapt to the moment they’re living at any given time. Cats thrive on routine. The more predictable their environment is, the healthier they are. The same is true for humans. We have 6 senior cats who love their well-established routine. Every morning, they gather in the kitchen waiting for one of us to get up and start making their breakfast. It’s like they all have their own watches! The same routine plays out at the end of the day for dinner. My oldest cat, Skylar, will sit at my office door meowing loudly if I’m late for his dinner routine. During the rest of the day, they all have their favorite spots to relax and play. And this is all tied to our regular routines. As cat sitters, we know that keeping a cat’s routine as close to normal as possible leads to much smoother visits. These routines are something they depend on to keep comfortable and stress-free. Cats become stressed fast if their routine is changed. If reliable sources of food and water or safe places to sleep, play and relax, are not there, cats can become stressed very quickly. Under those circumstances, a cat can develop bad habits like overgrooming, aggression, or other destructive behavior as they try to adapt to stressful changes. Just like cats, when we’re without stable routines and rituals, it can feel like we have no control over anything in our life. leaving us feeling helpless. Keep Your Vision - Change Your Habits You can’t control what happens in the world or thoughts that pop into your head, but you can control how you respond to these things. Remember, this isn’t about changing your vision for your business, it’s about changing your strategy to get there. There will be good days and bad days. Sometimes you’ll feel strong and sometimes not so much. Now is the time to be very gentle with yourself. Give yourself time to adapt to this new environment. Build predictability into your routine with good, productive habits and you will be thriving on the other side of this. I’m not trying to diminish your concerns These are terrible times, but they don’t have to be catastrophic. It’s essential to take steps that will keep your health and your business resilient. Focus on what you can control. Taking care of your health during these scary times is not just about handwashing and social distancing. Now more than ever it’s important to avoid falling into destructive habits. Good habits will keep you physically, mentally and financially resilient. It’s easy to turn to solutions that are unhealthy when we’re anxious. Over drinking or overeating, can put our body and mind under tremendous stress. We do this because we’re seeking comfort. But in ways that won’t help us. And when we have unlimited time to indulge in them, they can cause harm. Drinking too much every night, mindlessly watching Netflix, oversleeping or undersleeping can lead to more bad habits. When we feel anxious and afraid, alcohol intensifies these feelings. It can make us feel more isolated and unproductive because alcohol is a depressant. I’m not telling you not to drink. I’m just saying you should be aware of the amount and frequency of your drinking. Once you’re in deep with these harmful habits, it’s harder to break free of them. Watch out for sharp increases in what you consume. And if it’s becoming a problem for you. Try to keep it out of your environment as much as possible. Keep A Reasonable Schedule An enormous amount of research has shown that just following a regular schedule keeps you healthy and well equipped to face stressful times. This schedule should include work as well as time for yourself to play and relax. Decide when your workday will start and when it will end, then stick to it. Instead of worrying all day about what could go wrong in the future, Schedule time to problem solve each week. Scheduling when you’ll deal with stressful things, like paying monthly bills, makes it possible for you to relax and take a break from stress for the rest of the week. Monday morning is when I tackle all bill issues. When it comes to listening to the news stay informed but avoid letting negative news consume your entire day. My news time is 6 p.m. Not too close to bedtime, but late enough that it won’t drain the creativity and motivation I need earlier in the day. It’s not just your mind that needs to stay on schedule during this time. You’ve got to keep your body moving as well. Since you’re likely not moving around as much as you normally would, you’re missing out on vital exercise that keeps your mood stable. Create a great playlist of music then put on some comfy clothes and just start moving for 10 to 15 minutes. This really helps me shake off the stress of the day. I just want to make it clear, though, I am not an expert on mental health. If you are experiencing uncontrolled anxiety which is seriously affecting your ability to do even ordinary things like eating and sleeping, please don’t suffer in silence. Ask your doctor for a referral to a qualified professional. Business Resilience Businesses and charities are scrambling to make the best of a bad situation and are rolling out virtual events and activities to stay connected with their clients and donors. That’s good news for the cat sitting business. For example, let’s look at an industry that is closely tied to the cat sitting business: The travel business. They’re spending a lot of money to keep their clients thinking of them. And they’ll continue to spend until it’s safe to travel again and beyond. For example, a travel company named Zegrahms Expeditions has launched its “Armchair Exploration” series that allows people to get a virtual experience of an adventure they’ve been craving. Another example is the Divi resorts in Aruba. With all the hotels closed, they’ve come up with some creative ways to keep themselves top of mind with their past and future clients. They call it #DiviDoseofParadise Their updated website has lots of ideas to give people a virtual feel of laying in a hammock on the beach at their resort. They even include a playlist of Caribbean music, called “The sounds of Aruba.” They also feature recipes so clients can get a taste of Aruba-inspired dishes from the resort’s kitchens. Or mix themselves an Aruban cocktail served just as it would be at one of the beach bars. Visitors also get a list of Aruba themed books and movies to keep the travel feeling alive and well. The idea is to create an atmosphere of being in Aruba using as many of the senses as possible. This keeps their clients contemplating future vacations at the Divi resort. It also gives their people a break from the same four walls of worry and boredom they’ve been staring at for weeks. But it’s not just the travel industry finding ways to engage with clients, charities are also getting creative to stay connected with their donors. Our local cat shelter, which I’ve supported for years, has had to cancel all their spring and summer fundraising events. These seasonal fundraisers are a vital part of their overall fundraising plan. So, they’ve gone to virtual events such as a cat photo calendar contest and similar things. You too can come up with ways to give current and future clients a taste of the love, professionalism, and peace of mind that comes with using your service. Maybe you could feature a weekly photo contest asking people to send in pictures of their cats enjoying extra family time? Or have people submit photos of their favorite vacation destinations. Or a photo of them taking part in their favorite vacation activity, golf, swimming, zip-lining, etc. People are on their computers in record numbers now, so reach out and stay engaged not just with current clients but also with future clients. Invite potential clients to contact you to learn about your services before they need it. Then when the world gets moving again, your name will be the first one that comes to mind. There’s no reason to stop building your client list now. And every reason to build it even more. But what if you can’t stay focused on business projects because of stress and new responsibilities at home? Your best strategy is to put good habits in place that will become easier and more resilient as you practice them. Determine your best, most creative time of day, and start there. Get up every morning as if you’re going to work. Get dressed, shower, brush your teeth, and get settled in a comfortable workplace. Get to work on all those administrative projects and tasks you’ve gotten behind on. Identify a specific goal or task you want to accomplish each day. Will you be working on your monthly newsletter? Or create a photo challenge for your social media followers? Write your daily goal down and do it. This will keep you moving forward. When was the last time you had a chance to update client files? Email clients you haven’t heard from in a while and ask how they’re doing. Other business-related work could be practicing cat photography with your own cats. Hone your skills to create a catalog of appealing cat photos that you can use for your social media posts. Plan and schedule photo shoots using props you find around the house. Find a quiet, comfortable space to work with your cat. With patience and planning, you will soon have a lot of great images. Remember, keep the sessions relaxed and fun for the cats. And stop before they lose interest. Schedule time to increase your skills on a free design tool like Canva to create branded social media templates and posts. The more you practice skills like copywriting, photography, live video, and design, the more prepared you’ll be when the lockdowns start to lighten up and it’s safe to travel again. Find ways to make others feel better with uplifting and encouraging posts. Remember, many of your clients are sad and worried, too. Here are some other ideas: Review and update all your consultation and contract forms. Do they reflect your current policies? What about cancellations? Have you discovered some weaknesses there that could be improved due to this current crisis? Organize and clean your workspace. Set boundaries to protect your work schedule. Your family should be aware when you are working and when you are available. New Habits Take Time Creating productive habits will keep you resilient now and when things get back to normal. But this won’t happen all at once It takes time, practice, and planning Give yourself time to build these new habits. Because this crisis will come to an end. You will survive this. And I want to do everything in my power to help you come out of this strong and prepared to rebuild your business and your life. A really good book to learn more about the power of building good habits is called “Atomic Habits: An Easy And Proven Way To Build Good Habits And Beak Bad Ones.” By James Clear. In it, James explains how little changes make the biggest difference. And how the environment you create matters more than willpower and motivation. By creating small, consistent habits in our environment we can affect the biggest changes in our life and business. So, what books or activities are you finding helpful or inspiring for the times? Let me know, I’m always looking for more ideas! Well that’s it for this episode I know you have a lot on your mind and I want you to know I’m here for you. Do you have a question, a vent, or just want to chat? Or, maybe you’d like an accountability partner for a new habit you’re trying to implement? Send me an email through my website, procatsitter.com. Message me on Facebook @Cathyhamm or Instagram @Procatsittercathy, anytime. Until next time Take care
IS YOUR CLIENT A HOARDER? Many years ago, a local newspaper reported a story about a lady whose home had been raided by animal welfare authorities. She was an elderly woman, whom the paper described as a hoarder. A neighbor had phoned about a house with an overwhelming smell drifting down the street. The medium-sized home, located in a large subdivision, was overrun with cats. The walls, draperies floors, and furniture were shredded and covered with urine. Cat waste had accumulated everywhere. While none of the cats had died, many of them had ear mites, fleas and untreated sores. The woman herself, was too ill to care for them. The cats were removed and brought to local shelters. The home was condemned, and the owner was taken into long term care. The story was gut-wrenching, especially since I knew the woman. She had been a of client of mine many years earlier. HOARDERS Animal hoarding is a sad topic. It’s also on the rise according to some experts. Hoarding is something that cat sitters may have encountered in the past or will encounter in the future. For that reason, I think it’s a topic that needs to be addressed. Animal hoarding causes immense suffering to animals, and cats are frequently its victims. I’m going to tell you a little bit more of my experience with a hoarder in a minute. But first, let's look at what cat hoarding is and what it isn’t. I like to be very clear on what I’m talking about before using terms that can easily be misinterpreted. Hoarding can mean different things to different people. The word hoarder is used to describe a range of behaviors. And it’s important to note that experts who study hoarders categorize them into different groups: What I’m talking about here is the officially accepted definition of animal hoarder. And it does not mean anyone who keeps multiple cats. Just because someone has multiple cats, doesn’t make them a hoarder. At one time my husband and I had 12 cats in our house. Mostly fosters with some of our own. All our cats were well cared for. We had the means to care for them. And had no problem returning cats once ready for adoption. Although we did adopt a couple of them over the years, mostly special needs cats. We knew our limits. And I’m aware of how age can affect one’s ability to provide proper care. I no longer foster but I do support the cat shelter in other ways. Currently, we have 6 healthy senior cats living with us. So, what is the “official” definition then? HARC: THE HOARDING OF ANIMALS RESEARCH CONSORTIUM HARC is a group of researchers, joined to study the problem of animal hoarding and how it affects both animals and people from 1997 through 2000. The task of raising awareness of this complex disorder is being continued by veterinary epidemiologist, Dr. Gary Patronek and social worker Jane N. Nathanson. If you’re interested in reading more about HARC and their research, you will find the link to the Cummings School of Veterinary medicine at Tufts University below. https://vet.tufts.edu/hoarding/ As this is where much of the information in this blog comes from. HARC provides a definition of an animal hoarder as: Having more than the typical number of companion animals. Failing to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care, with this neglect often resulting in illness and death from starvation, spread of infectious disease, and untreated injury or medical condition. Denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household and human occupants of the dwelling. Persistence, despite this failure, in accumulating and controlling animals. So basically, a hoarder is someone who has more animals than they can care for, denies that fact while continuing to acquire more. There are hoarders who accumulate inanimate objects. Often what others consider junk, which is by far the most common type of hoarding. These collectors are often found living in conditions that make it impossible to move around inside their homes. People who hoard animals share similar traits with other types of hoarders. But what they do causes much suffering. Animal hoarders and the cats they are housing often end up living in perilous squalor. Early in my business, and this was a long time ago, I knew little about people who hoarded pets. I didn’t know the typical signs of hoarding. There were few people that did since this is an extremely difficult segment of the population to study. I’ve heard estimates of more than 3 million compulsive hoarders in the US. Not taking into account Canada and other parts of the world where this is also a growing problem. The three types that Dr. Patronek identifies are: Rescue hoarders, exploitive hoarders and overwhelmed caregiver hoarders. And they come in all genders, income levels, races, and cultures. The secretiveness of animal hoarders makes them difficult to study. Despite that, Dr. Patronek was able to put together an analysis of 54 hoarding cases documented through various animal rescue organizations. THIS IS WHAT THEY FOUND 76% were female 46% were 60 years or older 50% were single 59% of hoarding cases were repeat investigations The recidivism rate is the scariest thing of all. Many hoarders move on to repeat this behavior. This is concerning to those of us who love animals and are interested in preventing this kind of animal cruelty from happening. The most frequent species hoarded were cats, dogs, farm animals and birds. He also put the possible number of animal hoarding cases at somewhere between 700 and 2000 cases per year in the USA. But I’ve read higher estimates from other studies. So, when you figure in Canada and other areas around the world, you can see the numbers are staggering. The expense of intervention when these severe cases are discovered is extremely high. Overwhelming local shelters, like the one where I volunteered for years. The animals rescued from these situations are frequently sick and unsocialized. So back to my story from years ago. A woman I will call Janice, not her real name, contacted me. She said she ran an animal rescue and was looking for cat care when she went to hospital for a medical procedure. I was just starting out in business and involved in cat rescue myself. So, I wanted to help her as much as I could. Our conversations were friendly. But she wouldn’t tell me exactly how many cats she had. She told me the number varied due to adoptions and intake. In hindsight, I now recognize her reluctance to be upfront as the first red flag. She also wouldn’t let me come to her house for a visit. She was getting new floors put in and wanted to wait until everything was in order. Second red flag. Janice said she was worried about getting help. She told me she had “a few more” cats in her house than the city allows, and was afraid she would be turned in. Third red flag. As someone with foster cats myself, the story seemed plausible. She needed cat care twice a day while she was in the hospital for a week. Then another week during her recovery. I spoke with Janice over the phone several times before we met. We talked about our mutual love of cats and exchanged stories about the cats we had cared for. BY THE TIME SHE ALLOWED ME TO SEE THE CATS, I HAD PRETTY MUCH AGREED TO DO THE JOB FOR HER Since my business was new and not busy, I could afford the time. I still didn’t know exactly how many cats she had. When I arrived, I found a very normal looking home. All seemed well both inside and out. I was expecting to see maybe a dozen cats. As I walked through the house, more cats appeared. There were cats in every room. I counted approximately 22. I worried about the cats’ stress level living in the same space together. But the house was relatively clean and organized so I was not overly alarmed. There was no overpowering smell. Their fur was brushed and healthy. There was medication for those that needed it. And all the cats were adults who were spayed/neutered and vaccinated. The cats were not fighting. But of course, we know that cats are very good at hiding their stress. There were clean litter boxes in appropriate places throughout. Everything seemed so organized and in control. I asked Janice about litter disposal. She had a friend who came once a week to take the litter to the landfill. The garage where the used litter was kept, was completely empty except for one garbage bag in the corner, as the friend had just done a pickup the day before. While I was concerned about the number of cats, I was still buying the story they were being fostered for the purpose of adoption. The cats I could see were in healthy and clean condition. Janice even had a small outdoor enclosure so the cats could have access to fresh air. But cats are notorious for hiding stress. And there were undoubtably cats in that house that I couldn’t see probably hiding from us and the other cats. I had no idea that Janice was not adopting these cats out to good homes. Or that she had no intention of doing so. Even if someone suitable showed interest in one. She believed that she was the only one who could care for them. A classic trait of someone who hoards animals. I know that now. As you’ll see, this experience completely changed my policies for my cat sitting business. ANIMAL RESCUE GROUPS HAVE LEARNED HOW CATS SHOULD BE HOUSED TO MAXIMIZE THEIR WELLBEING Great improvement in cat care has been done due to new research in cat health and behavior. But the study of the hoarders themselves was largely neglected for a long time. Dr. Petronek’s research suggests a strong tendency of hoarders to alienate friends and family. While Janice had people around her when I was hired, it was obvious that she’d isolated herself from everyone who tried to intervene in the end. Hoarders are typically suspicious of others. They shut people out of their lives, concealing details of their situation. All in fear of being reported to authorities. They strongly believe they are helping the cats and no one else can look after them. They won’t tell you the number of animals they have. And they often don’t know themselves. There is no doubt in my mind that Janice loved these cats and believed she was giving them the best chance. HOARDING: A MENTAL ILLNESS HIGHLY RESISTANT TO REASON You can not simply talk someone out of a mental illness. A search of YouTube produces a long list of videos showing horrendous examples of extreme animal hoarding. Animal Rescue groups are shown removing cages of sick and terrified animals. And in the most severe cases, deceased animals are found. The house owner is often in denial and can even seem downright belligerent. Insisting the animals are cared for when they’re clearly not. I saw none of that Janice’s home. I didn’t like that she had so many cats housed together but I didn’t want to leave her without help because I had promised. Like many cat sitters, I have a strong desire to help people and their cats. Ours is a nurturing profession. Janice seemed to have many family and friends who could help and was in regular contact with them. She also had help from another lady who brought her litter, food and other supplies for the cats. At that point, she was able to afford medications and vet care for all the cats. I’m not sure when it all changed. As far as the work went, I’ve learned that any job caring for multiple cats is going to take you longer than you think. At any given time, someone could become sick. Obviously, this was a concern for timing my visits and maintaining cleaning standards to prevent spread of disease to my other cats. For that reason alone, I would turn the job down now. I got through the two weeks without incident. I got into a comfortable routine of cleaning boxes, changing food and water and giving medications. But it was time-consuming. I was glad to see it come to an end. Again, it’s not just the number. EVEN SOMEONE WITH ONE CAT CAN BE NEGLECTFUL The question is can the person provide care for the cats in their care, and in Janice’s case, in the foreseeable future? As they get older, what will happen to their cats? It’s now accepted that animal hoarding is a mental illness produced by both genetic and developmental variables. Hoarders frequently hold the misbelief that only they can help the cats they’ve acquired. And will demonstrate extreme anxiety at the thought of having their animals removed. Hoarders do not admit the harm they’re doing and even deny the suffering the animals are enduring. To the outside observer, the animals are obviously neglected and malnourished. They have fleas, open sores and severe matting. In rare cases, animals have died in these homes. Astonishingly, this is not recognized by the hoarder. THESE LIVING CONDITIONS CAN LEAD TO BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS EVEN AFTER THE CATS ARE RESCUED AND REHOMED A situation that adds huge financial strain to the cat shelters who must scramble to provide care and rehabilitation for them. Most shelters operate at maximum capacity with little resources to take on these large numbers of cats. None of these signs were present in Janice’s home at the time I worked for her. But I was concerned about the future. How is this situation sustainable? What are things going to look like down the road? Janice’s house and situation were seemingly under control. But somewhere between the last time I saw her and the raid years later, all had changed. I hadn’t heard from her in a long time. Although she did call me occasionally to keep in touch. EVERYTHING SEEMED UNDER CONTROL. BUT IT WASN’T. Experts in animal hoarding have also found that there’s a difference between types of hoarders There are hoarders who actively seek and collect more animals, and a type that passively accumulates cats. Passive accumulation is often a slower process. And that’s what I believe occurred in Janice’s case. Another type of hoarder recognized by researchers is what they call the “exploiter”. This hoarder accumulates animals without empathy for them and doesn’t care about the suffering they cause. These can be found in cases of “backyard” breeders. As I said before, Janice undoubtedly believed she was doing good for the cats. I know she loved them. But cats need more than love and a desire to help. In the years since I knew her, she had accumulated a lot more cats. And with her declining health, things spiraled out of control. Thankfully, none of the cats died but it breaks my heart to think of how their living conditions must have deteriorated. Janice had apparently pushed everyone away. She became ill and had ran out of money to care for the cats. Heartbroken, I drove past her house. It looked nothing like it once did. The manicured garden was overgrown. The windows were yellow and the upholstered chair in the window was shredded. The blinds were torn and broken. And the door was boarded up and bore a sign saying, “Condemned.” Sometimes I wonder, what if I’d called the authorities back then? But I honestly think given the good condition at that time that they wouldn’t have done anything. Since that time, I have set a limit on the number of cats I will care for in any one house. I must complete a detailed cat care plan for every cat I’ll be caring for before service. And I require a preliminary meeting to establish if we’re all a good fit. But what about situations where a client mental state deteriorates over time? What if each time you come there are more animals? Where do you draw the line? IT HELPS TO KEEP IN MIND THE “FIVE FREEDOMS” OF ANIMAL CARE ADOPTED BY MANY ORGANIZATIONS Freedom from Hunger and Thirst– there should always be fresh food and water available. Freedom from Discomfort– the environment should be safe and comfortable. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease– either by prevention of disease and injury or quick veterinary care as needed. Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour - by providing enough space with an enriched, stress-free environment. Freedom from Fear and Distress- by ensuring conditions and handling which avoid mental suffering. Ask questions and be upfront about the number of cats your policy allows. Don’t be afraid to tell a client when conditions in the home are getting out of control or detrimental to the cats. Know what your local laws are and identify who exactly needs to be notified in case of hoarding situations. Be prepared to contact relatives or others known to the client and could help. We should all look out for our neighbors. And be aware that these situations can crop up anywhere and our ultimate responsibility is to the welfare of cats. Well, that’s it for this episode. Let me know if you’ve encountered any situations like this. If you would like to talk to me about cats and the cat care business, reach out to me at Procatsitter.com, or on Facebook @cathyhamm. I’m also on Instagram @procatsittercathy. Until next time, Happy cat sitting!
In this episode, I continue with part 2 of my review of Dr. Sophia Yin’s book. Low-stress handling, restraint and behavior modification of dogs and cats. If you missed last week’s episode where I talked about recognizing fear in cats, you might want to go back and check that out first. Dr. Yin was a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, author, and lecturer. Her book was written in 2009 as a training guide for veterinary procedures. There are plenty of techniques that cat sitters can take from this book as well. Because proper handling of cats is essential to building trust and developing a bond with the cats in our care. Dr. Yin was one of the pioneers in the low-stress movement which has moved even further into the fear-free handling since her tragic death in 2014. While some of the terminology might seem outdated in light of new research into animal behavior and learning, she makes it clear that handling should reduce stress and promote positive emotional states in animals. And the tips and ideas in this book shouldn’t be overlooked. Dr. Yin’s progression away from old school dominance-based training, which was all that was available at the time, to a leading advocate for positive reinforcement, was amazing. And the reason I chose to talk about this book. Here’s a quote from her book. “at home and in specific training sessions, the category that generally works best for humans interacting with animals is positive reinforcement…we should focus…on how to reinforce an alternate appropriate behavior and how to avoid reinforcing the undesirable behavior” This is where training and handling of cats is finally going; more and more into positive reinforcement. And creating a stress-free and force-free learning environment. This is a movement that rejects punishment and embraces positive reinforcement. Because this model has been shown scientifically to be more efficient in behavior modification.This book is just one from a giant stack of books on my desk. I freely admit that I’m a book geek. Especially when it comes to behaviorology, cats, and business. In college, I studied biology and animal behavior because I’m fascinated with these subjects. So, I guess I’ve put all my favorite things into my business and my podcast. I’m so grateful for this movement to fear-free training and handling because it was very different when I was younger. Where cats were thought of as untrainable and they suffered a lot of abuse because of that. Now we have tools that we can use and share with our clients to keep everyone safe and happy.I’ve been a pet sitter for 16 years and in that time, I’ve learned a lot about cats. as I said before, research into animal behavior and care is always evolving. And that’s why I study these subjects a lot! I’m sure you’ve found in your work with cats many learning experiences that caused you to change how you behave. Like the one I had with a little cat named, Cara. Cara was a sweet little cat. All black except for a cute patch of white on her face and four adorable white paws. She loved her playtime with me, so she was one of my favorite clients and I cared for her for years. Her people went away every year for Christmas. And every December I looked forward to the gift box filled with delicious home-baked cookies and squares they left for me. Don’t you just love being a cat sitter at Christmas time! Cara visits were always fun. After the first time I looked after Cara, I wanted to do something special for her so I bought her a wand toy as a gift. She loved it and we had a blast playing together with me pulling it around and Cara batting at it with those little white feet. Sometimes she would roll over on her back and paw at it as I dangled it above her. It was a time she was doing just that when everything went wrong. I was holding the wand loosely in my hand. Cara reached up, grabbed the feather and yanked the wand right out of my hand. Not only did the wand hit poor little Cara hard in the tummy, it bounced away and went clattering along the wood floor. Stunned, I stepped back and kicked a recycling box filled with tins. Adding to the horrendous noise. She was up and gone in a flash! I stood there calling after her, “Sorry, Cara!” “Sorry baby. It’s okay!” But she had disappeared. It took me half an hour to find her crouched far under the bed in the master bedroom. I lifted the corner of the bedspread and there she was, staring at me like I was the creature from the black lagoon. She refused to come out for the rest of that visit. And the next. I was heartbroken. She hates me now, I thought. Nothing I did could coax her out. Not her favorite foods or treats. I kept the wand stashed in my car; no way was I bringing that back inside. Happily, her appetite was still good. But she waited for me to leave before she would eat. And I was hired to visit her twice a day. I felt terrible. But I kept talking to her gently while I kneeled on the floor. On the evening visit of the second day, she finally came out and let me cuddle her. I kept my movements slow and quiet. We only played with familiar toys after that. She eventually returned to the normal fun-loving Cara. But it sure taught me to keep a tight hold on those wands. And how to rebuild trust afterward.It also hammered home how far-reaching a negative experience can be for a cat. And how these negative experiences can easily be associated with something or someone that happened to be there in the same time and space. For Cara, seeing me standing there was a possibility of very scary things. Thankfully, I saw what happened. And took steps to repair the damage by removing the toy and changing my own behavior around Cara. Sometimes, we do things that leave a cat with a negative experience unintentionally. They suddenly disappear or peer at you suspiciously from behind a chair. Since they were fine just a minute ago, you’re left wondering what caused the reaction. In her book, Sophia gives an example of classical conditioning in the story of a cat with a liver shunt which makes her feel sick when she eats. So, the poor cat now associates food with nausea and avoids it. You’ve probably heard of Pavlov and his experiments with dogs. He used the dog’s unconditioned response to salivate at the sight of food and paired it with the sound of the bell. Each time the dogs were presented with food, a bell was rung until the sound of the bell alone could cause the dogs to salivate. Salivating on hearing a bell became a conditioned response. This is called classical conditioning. Cats are constantly making these kinds of associations with everything in their environment. And that’s an important thing to keep in mind. We all know what happens when we stand in the kitchen opening a tin of cat food. Or any other kind of tin for that matter. My own cat, Teeny, was disabled with a condition called Cerebellar hypoplasia. This means his brain didn’t develop properly in the womb, leaving him wobbly and slow. But he would get up from wherever he was in the house and start making his way downstairs to the kitchen whenever he heard the can opener. I’ve was impressed with his range of hearing. It was stunning. What Teeny lacked physically, he made up for in personality. Let me tell you! Cats’ reacting to can openers is well-known, but many of these associations are quietly emerging all the time. This is a source of confusion for people trying to guess why a cat is behaving the way she is.We often get it wrong when we don’t understand the function of the behavior. Because behind every behavior there’s a reason. For instance, cats can suddenly start refusing to use their litter boxes. Once all medical causes are ruled out, you can ask your clients some questions that might shed light on the behavior. One of the most common reasons that I’ve seen for cats not using their box is conflict with another cat who is stalking and attacking them in and around the box. Unless you directly observe it, you wouldn’t know the cause. Which makes it difficult because you’re not there when this activity is going on. And cats can intimidate each other in very subtle ways. Such as one being stretched out across the only pathway to the box, looking innocent. The victim gets the message, but we humans may not. Making it even more difficult to determine the cause. If you have a client with house soiling problems and the cat has been cleared of possible medical reasons you could ask your clients to keep an eye out for any signs of intimidation going on around the box. Furthermore, we don’t know if the client is making things worse with their own reactions. Chronic house soiling can be a very frustrating problem. And sometimes people react angrily. For instance, someone in the house screams and throws a shoe at a cat who they see peeing on the new rug. The cat might develop a fear of that specific person rather than making a connection between the punishment and soiling the rug. And that fear can develop into an aggressive reaction toward the shoe thrower in future interactions. From the cat’s perspective, the presence of the person means scary noise and pain. And of course, the poor cat gets labeled a bad cat. Worst of all, once these associations are formed, they are harder to eliminate. And they don’t usually go away on their own. If you can’t prevent them in the first place, you will need to find a way to replace them. Through methods such as desensitization and classical counterconditioning. In Cara’s case, she had long associated me with fun and treats. So, it was easier for me to reverse that unfortunate experience and regain her trust. But if she’d been a new client, and this was her first experience with me, that would have been very bad indeed. Operant conditioning is the other major mechanism for learning. To put it simply, a behavior is either strengthened, weakened or suppressed based on the consequence of the behavior. For instance, a cat bats at a lever that opens a door to a room he wants to enter. The lever moves down and the cat gets access to the room. Batting the handle behavior is more likely to increase now. This is also known as learning by trial and error and Sophia talks about this type of learning in chapter 4 of her book. I’m not going to dive too deeply into the learning theory in this episode, because I’m just trying to give you an overview of the book. So, I’ll just briefly review what’s covered in the remaining sections. Operant conditioning has four categories: positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement; positive punishment; negative punishment. When talking about positive and negative it’s important to understand that we do not mean good and bad. The common meanings of these words can cause confusion when you’re thinking of animal behavior. In behaviorology we use the terms added or subtracted instead of positive and negative which makes it clear what is actually happening and reduces confusion. Positive means something is being added and negative means something is being removed.When you encounter undesirable behavior in a cat, you try to determine what’s causing it so we can avoid unintentionally reinforcing it. Then try to find an alternative behavior that is more desirable. For example, a cat begins scratching the corners of a client’s antique cabinet. Since scratching is a way to maintain her toenails and leaves her scent mark in the environment, the behavior is highly reinforcing. Knowing that we can train the cat to get these benefits from scratching something else, such as a vertical piece of driftwood instead. Then arranging the environment in such a way to make the driftwood more accessible and desirable, perhaps with some catnip spray. Each time the cat chooses the driftwood over the cabinet, this behavior should be reinforced with treats, toys or praise until this behavior is well established. Understanding that every behavior has a reason behind it helps us find a solution. Unfortunately, many people think that cats misbehave out of spite or anger, but that isn’t the case. Their behavior is meeting a need. Sophia stresses the importance of good communication when training animals. And the need for consistency with our verbal and visual cues to avoid confusing and frustrating the cat. For instance, say a woman is having a dinner party and wants to set a plate of food down on the counter when the cat jumps on the counter, too. Frustrated, because the guests will be arriving any minute, the woman starts pointing to the ground saying “get down, get down” but the cat just gives her a blank stare. So, she picks him up and puts him on the floor only to have him jump right back up. Now she is really annoyed and tempted to yell at him. But what if she had taken the time beforehand to train her cat to jump down and go to his mat on command? Then she would never have to stand there begging her cat to get off the counter again. And she won’t have to listen to her mother in law complaining about her “bad” cat. The point is that we must be mindful of our actions and observant of the cats’ responses to our actions. This is demonstrated in the videos showing examples of how animals care more about your actions than what you say. The important takeaway here is that training a cat properly needs to be done correctly, using modern, fear-free methods in order to clearly communicate what you want. So why should you as a cat sitter be interested in the training of client’s cats? You might think that training seems complicated or too time-consuming and I’m only there for a half-hour a day. I get that, I felt that way too at first. But by expanding my education about cat behavior and fear-free training, I vastly improved my service to my cat clients. If you hone these skills in your business, it will be noticed, and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts. With more clients and income. Being knowledgeable about how cats learn to behave and misbehave gives you an advantage. This will benefit you, the cat and your business. Getting your clients on board can save the cat from being surrendered and, in some cases, from being euthanized. So yeah, it’s worth it. If you want some basic cat training tips for beginners, a good little book called Clicker Training for Cats, by Karen Pryor is an excellent starter guide for cat training. But back to Sophia’s book, Section 2 finishes up with a discussion on habituation, which is the gradual decrease in response to a stimulus that once caused fear. Habituation has two categories: flooding, which involves full exposure to something the cat finds frightening. Such as forcing a cat to be in a room full of barking dogs at the vet clinic. The cat is in a carrier and can’t escape being flooded with all kinds of scary stimuli. The other type of habituation is desensitization. This involves gradual exposure to fearful things without allowing the fear response to arise until the cat longer reacts to it. Many trainers see this as a better way to change a cat’s response to something they fear and it’s even better when it’s combined with counterconditioning. Counterconditioning gives the cat a positive association with the once feared stimulus. For instance, if you have a cat that needs liquid medication, but he’s terrified of the syringe. You could counter condition his response by using the end of the syringe to scoop up some tasty soft food and let him eat it. Another counterconditioning method is to leave a towel with a spray of Feliway, dash of catnip or treats hidden in the folds on the cat’s bed or perch. When you need to wrap her in it, it will be a lot less stressful for her. Section 3 of Dr. Yin’s book gives tips on how to crate train a cat to reduce her stress when you need to transport her to the vet. I’ve taken many cats to different vet clinics over the years. Some places are far better than others when it comes to being cat-friendly. Or not. Sadly, I’ve come across clinics that were downright terrible for cats in terms of handling and care. I don’t hesitate to steer clients away from them. And recommend clinics who do right by cats. I’ve learned that towels are a cat sitters’ best friend. I carry clean towels in my car to gently bundle a cat or cover a crate if necessary. Keeping the crate covered helps the cat feel hidden from snoopy dog noses and curious kid fingers poking through the holes. And that’s safer for all involved. When the cat is on the exam table, I use a towel or the cat’s own blanket to wrap them in. This creates a feeling of security for the same reason. Nothing is sadder than a scared cat sitting on a cold metal table in a strange environment.The better you make this experience for the cat, the fewer problems you and your clients will have bringing him back for future visits. Before you ever need to take a client’s cat to the vet, you should get yourself comfortable with the crate too. Take it out of its dusty storage place in the basement, letting the client know what you are doing, of course. Make sure it’s clean and free of cat smells. Sometimes people don’t notice the cat threw up or peed in there the last time they were at the vet. The cat is not going to be comfortable traveling with those little mementos. Make sure there are no harsh cleanser odors in there either. Get familiar with opening and closing the door and removing the top, if possible. You want to make sure it’s in good repair and usable before an emergency. Like the time I had to rush Max, a long-haired black cat to the vet. I’d discovered a burst abscess on his backside which the elderly client hadn’t noticed before she left. I also discovered, at the worst possible time, that the door to his carrier didn’t close properly.It was Christmas eve and the clinic was closing in an hour. There was also a foot of snow on the ground. So, there I was, slogging my way through the parking lot trying to keep my balance on the ice and snow while desperately trying to prevent Max from busting out. Some pet sitters keep an extra carrier in their car in case of an emergency. Which is great. But nothing compares to having the cat’s own carrier. One that can be left out before vet visits. This allows the cat to climb into and relax with catnip, treats, and toys. If you are unfamiliar with the area in which the cat lives or the location of his vet, map out your route before starting visits. Drive over there to get an idea what traffic is like. Believe me, its much better doing this in a non-emergency. It even gives you another networking opportunity to pop into the clinic. Tell them who you are and why you’re there. This is the best way to set yourself up for a stress-free vet visit, as well! Section 4 is all about low-stress restraint techniques. Many are photos of dogs in clinic settings for various medical procedures. But there are lots of demonstrations of cat handling in the book and in the videos that would be of interest to cat sitters, too. Including tips for giving cats injections and sub-q fluids which many cat sitters offer as a service add-on. Just know that you don’t have to do any of those things. It’s your business and your choice. Only you know your comfort and skill level. This section also gives some alternatives to scruffing cats which Sophia advises should not be used as an automatic method of restraint. Because scruffing causes fear and anxiety in some cats and can even cause an aggressive response. This increases the chances of a cat and the handler becoming injured. Many experts working in the veterinary field are moving even further away from scruffing now because of the distress it can cause. Even towel wrapping should be individualized. Most cats are perfectly fine with it and find it calming. But it’s not intended to be a straitjacket restraint to hold an agitated, hissing cat struggling to get out. Some cats are completely calm just having a towel draped over their head to feel hidden and safe. Practicing how to wrap a cat in a towel to make him feel secure is worth the effort. The point of this section and the book overall is to go with what is the least stressful for each individual cat. I found that many cats like to sit in a box of some kind when they get their pills. Even the bottom half of the carrier can be used. Give high-value treats if you can. Having a supply of Feliway spray for towels and boxes you use will help. This section includes a chapter on handling difficult cats. In other words, cats that have had previous bad experiences with handling. The last chapter of the book is titled “Preventive Behavioral Health for Kittens”. This is where it all needs to start. Get kittens used to everything they’ll encounter in the future. Being handled for medications, toenail clipping, harnesses, leashes, and more. Adult cats can certainly be counter conditioned, but it’s much easier if they’re prepared properly in the first place. It’s a big job getting people to change their ways. You can encourage clients by giving them easy step-by-step guidance to improve the lives of their cats. The book isn’t cheap because it’s a reference textbook, but for the cat sitter who likes to have a well-stocked resource library, it’s good to have. You can find a copy of this book at my amazon affiliate page which I will post in the show notes here. Well, that’s it for this episode. Please note that the information in this podcast is presented for educational purposes only and listeners should seek professional advice for all specific cases. If you have any questions for me about this podcast or any other topics about cat care and the cat care business, reach out to me at Procatsitter.com or my Facebook page, @cathyhamm. I’m also on Instagram @procatsittercathy Until next time Thanks for listening And I hope you have a puuurfect day!
This episode will be an in-depth look at a book written by the late Dr. Sophia Yin called low-stress handling, restraint and behavior modification of dogs and cats. But I’ll only be looking at each section as it relates to cats. Dr. Yin was a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, author and lecturer. Her book is a training guide for veterinary staff with a large part focused on handling pets for medical treatment. But, as cat sitters, the proper handling of sometimes very frightened cats, is a big cause of stress for both the cat and the sitter. So, the need to work on building trust and developing a bond with the cats in our care is essential. Let me start with a story that happened to me many years ago when I first opened my business. I knew that giving a cat lots of space to get to know you on their own terms was important for creating a good first impression. But I mistakenly believed that all cat people knew that. I had a arranged a meeting with a new client to set up visits for her cat who required medications twice a day. The client was afraid that no one would be able to medicate her cat. But I had given many cats their medications and assured her it would be fine. Well, I was stunned when I walked in the front door. The owner ushered me in then suddenly spun around, reached into the hallway closet, and began dragging out a terrified grey cat as he clawed at the coats, trying to get away. Before I could say anything, she swung back around and thrust her horrified cat towards me. “take him and see if he likes you,” she said. The poor cat’s eyes were huge, and he was kicking with his back legs struggling to dislodge himself from the death grip that held him. Trying not to be rude I said, “oh, maybe we should just set him down and let him…” I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence because that cat had reached the limit of his tolerance. With a yowl, he leaped from her arms and raced down into the dark safety of the basement. We both stood silent, our mouths open, listening to him crashing through basement junk as he made his escape. “Wow, I can’t believe how badly he reacted!” she said, clearly having no idea of what she had done. She’d put her cat into the worst possible position. Dragging him from his hiding place and thrusting him at a stranger who had just walked in the door. I knew it would take time to undo the damage that she’d done to any future relationship. All in less than 30 seconds. As it turned out, I never got a chance to undo it anyway. We finished the meeting after touring the rest of the house and filling out my cat profile and forms. But she phoned me later to say she wasn’t going on vacation after all because she was afraid her cat would never let me give him his medications. She thought the cat’s reaction was to me, but we’d never had the chance to be properly introduced. Again, there was no insight into what she had done. Because of that incident, I took steps to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. I discuss proper cat introductions with my clients so that they let their cat approach me on their own. I’ve not had a problem like that since. Current research concerning cat behavior shows the power of reducing stress through small adjustments to their environment and the way they’re handled. I’ve studied a lot of this research over the years and a great book on the subject is Dr. Yin’s book on low-stress handling of cats and dogs. As Veterinarian Dr. Bonnie Beaver put it in the forward “this book is a pictorial guide into the world of what to do and, as importantly, what not to do, to reduce dogs and cats fear of encounters with humans.” Some of you have been in business for a long time and have developed your own methods of low-stress handling and greeting cats. I think that learning from each other and sharing our experiences with cats is the best way to improve their lives in general. It also increases our own satisfaction with our work. We have a lonely job sometimes, and this podcast is a way for me to reach out and share with other cat care specialists. As a cat sitter and volunteer at my local cat shelter for two decades I’ve learned a lot about handling cats. I took training to become a cat behaviorist because I know that learning is never done. There are always things we can do to make ourselves better cat sitters. Dr. Yin’s book was written back in 2009 and it was revolutionary in the sense that it called into question how many in the veterinary and animal training world were handling cats and dogs. Her advocacy for low-stress handling has helped to change that treatment of animals. From a strong-armed dominance view to one of reducing the stress of animals that were otherwise terrified to enter clinics and training facilities. Our situation is a little different in that we’re in the cat’s territory, so the stress is already less intense than if the cat was being brought to our home or to the vet clinic. But as we all know, when it comes to giving a pill or eye drops to a cat, especially one who may not know you very well, we can be in for a challenge. When you’re standing there with a drool-soaked pill on the floor, a bleeding gash on your hand and a terrified cat staring at you from under the couch. You know you’re in for a bad day. Trying to strong-arm a cat into taking her medication only escalates her fear. which leaves a negative association with you and any future handling. There are many things we can do to avoid this catastrophe and make this part of our service easier and more efficient. Practicing safe, low-stress handling techniques greatly improves the quality of our service. And, as I said before, it increases our professional satisfaction as well. There’s also a great need to improve how cats are approached and handled when it comes to veterinary visits. One of the greatest barriers to cats getting their necessary vet check-ups is the fear people have of transporting their cats there. So, I’m going to be looking at the book as it applies to cat sitters and breaking it down into a series of 3 or 4 parts. I’m not sure of the number yet because I want to make certain I cover everything in the book that’s relevant to our business. This book is big and comprehensive so chunking it down will give me a chance to talk about it in greater detail than the other books I’ve reviewed. I think everyone who works with cats should own this book. It includes a DVD with videos that give you an expanded view of the techniques Dr. Sophia has written about. Her hope was that people would read the text, study the photos and then watch the videos to get the clearest picture of these concepts. Her research is meticulously detailed. She took thousands of photos and some of them give good depictions of the cat’s perspective when humans approach them. We think we look normal, towering over and smiling down at them. But from the pet’s point of view we’re a dangerous monster. Sophia Yin was one of the greatest promoters of force-free training and low-stress handling of pets. She was an extraordinary woman who died under tragic circumstances in 2014. I’ll talk more about that in a moment. She was very honest about her early years with dog handling. As a teenager, she was eager to train her beloved Boxer, Max. Regrettably, she was taught in the old school model of dominance training. Which, she discovered, only made things worse. Sophia refers to these years, which occurred 2 decades before she wrote this book, as her “caveman days”. Max’s behavior was so out of control she was told she might have to put him down by the veterinarians she worked for. But none of them had any solutions for her. She diligently followed the instructions of her trainer which included yanking on Max’s choke chain abruptly when he ignored her. “By the sixth yank”, Sophia wrote, “Max was aggressively growling and climbing up the leash after me to prevent the impending punishment.” She went through 10 trainers who all held this same philosophy. As she describes “like the alpha wolf, I had to remind max of his lower rank by frequently standing over him and bullying him.” The escalation of force was always progressive no matter what the cause of the behavior. She eventually recognized that these fear-based training methods only increased Max’s aggressive behavior. It was years before she finally found trainers who understood the science of behavior and the power of positive training. But as she lamented in the book, “max and I never reached our full potential – in the obedience ring or at home.” At that time, no one knew how to deal with Max’s learned aggression. Everyone still saw force as a last resort for bad behavior they couldn’t control. A 2012 documentary in which she was interviewed called, “Tough love: a meditation on dominance and dogs, reveals the profound sadness she felt when discussing these early mistakes she made with Max. The documentary is an interesting exploration of the motivating events that led to Sophia’s fight for change in the training of animals to more humane methods. I’ll link to that in the show notes. https://youtu.be/OIjMBfhyNDE It was her deep sorrow about what had happened with Max that pushed her forward. And her research into resolving problem behavior by replacing it with good behavior in a systematic way became a driving force for change. She also realized that behavior problems were the leading cause of euthanasia of cats and dogs. When it came to felines she said, “punishment and force were a puny arsenal for dealing with difficult cats.” Add to that a huge number of veterinary staff and pet owners were getting bitten and scratched due to poor training and handling. And it was all completely unnecessary. She saw a huge need for improvement. She dove full time into educating herself about the problem and its solution. This steered her into working with a variety of animals including horses and livestock. She volunteered every spare moment she could. Her dedication and work ethic were unstoppable. All this fieldwork was combined with a master’s degree in animal science at the University of California Davis, with a focus on animal behavior. Sophia embraced the scientific method which she implemented to create behavior modification protocols. She knew that if you want to learn why behavior happens you must devise experiments to test hypotheses. She could see her colleagues succeeding using positive reinforcement with a variety of species. Just as important, she began to see the adverse effects of force and punishment. These revelations breathed new life into her work, she could now clearly see that improper handling and training was the cause of so-called bad behavior and how dominance theory, which called for the use of force to show an animal whose boss, only made things worse. Punishment generates fear of being handled and all the associations that go with it. But the saddest part of all is how these intense behavior problems lead to needless animal surrenders and euthanasia. Sophia went on to teach veterinary staff and animal trainers how to use positive reinforcement and counterconditioning techniques. And when implemented, they saw dramatic changes in behavior. Some of the benefits of these techniques are outlined in her book. I’ve modified them here to suit cat sitters. increased efficiency in getting the medications and treatments done increase in our personal safety increased client satisfaction with our service better relationships with our clients and the cats in our care During her research, Sophia observed even the most devoted cat lovers and experienced cat handlers making mistakes that led to increased stress in cats. And she emphasized the importance of being mindful of how our own behavior and actions affect cats. For instance, I’ve noticed that many cats hate the sound that my Nylon raincoat makes when I put it on or take it off. I’ve had cats happily running to the door to greet me then tearing off again as I removed my Nylon coat. Sometimes, it took a few minutes for them to come back. But they didn’t react the same way to coats made with other materials. I assume it’s the distinctive hissing-like sound of rubbing nylon that’s the problem. Come to think of it, I don’t like the sound either! So, if I have to wear a nylon raincoat to a cat’s house I simply avoid taking it off in front of them. This book is intended to help those who work with animals professionally to better understand how the environment and handling impact their behavior. We have an even greater challenge as cat sitters. Because cats know every inch of their own homes including all the best hiding spots. And they can sit there for hours, waiting for you to leave. The first section of the book, and what I’m going to be looking at in this segment is all about recognizing signs of early problems and fear. The book is enhanced with some very interesting and creative photos that demonstrate how we can inadvertently scare the cats in our care. Cats in fear are stressed cats. And this stress negatively affects their health and emotional state which can lead to serious aggressive behavior. Preventing fear and stress and implementing counterconditioning techniques, which I’ll cover in the next episode, leads to safe and pleasant cat visits. But as Sophia makes clear, in order to prevent fear, one must first recognize it. She discusses early developmental stages of animals, and how they are more resilient to scary things when young. This is crucial during that all-important socialization period of kittens. As kittens age, they become more and more afraid of new people and objects. I read somewhere else that Sophia taught kittens to accept getting pills by first training them to get tasty treats from pill poppers. This promoted early positive associations with being handled and medicated. Speaking of kittens. Just a little interjection, here. If you want to get your hands on a fantastic kitten guide, Hannah Shaw’s book Tiny But Mighty: Kitten Lady’s Guide to Saving The Most Vulnerable Felines is a must-read. This is my affiliate link to that book as well. From the example that I gave in my introduction, it’s clear that a lot of cat owners, as much as they love their cats, don’t always recognize how their own actions affect the behavior of their cats. We’ve all seen videos of cats charging strangers at the front door. Or, sometimes, disappearing seemingly without a trace. They can even freeze on the spot when they realize someone has just walked in. Fight, flight or freeze are the three natural responses to fear. Sometimes we think that we are clearly communicating our friendly intentions. But we’re giving the opposite message when we continue to walk toward a cat who believes he’s distinctly telling you to back off. Even when a loving hand is holding a toy or treat. The cat may only see danger. It’s our responsibility to ensure we are communicating clearly and building the cat’s trust. It important to be a keen observer. Moving slowly. Not hovering over the cat. Try the famous slow eye blink to communicate your non-threatening intent and see if she responds in kind. The important thing is to leave lots of space and a route of escape if the cat needs it. Assume the cat is feeling stress and go from there. Because if the greeting goes badly as it did in my introduction, the cat can easily become aggressive and difficult to handle. While cats are not as thoroughly domesticated as dogs. They’re not independent untrainable loners either. Far from it. Their behavior is often just misunderstood. Thanks to science we know a lot more about why cats behave the way they do and how to modify problem behavior. We must keep in mind, too, that what we call problem behavior is normal behavior to a cat. The only reason we want to eliminate behavior we find undesirable is so we can all live together peacefully. The idea of low-stress handling and training needs to be spread far and wide to cat owners. Because there are people out there, maybe some of your own clients, that are on the verge of rehoming or euthanizing their cat because of outdated beliefs. Or maybe you are thinking of dropping a client or dread entering a house with a cat that has become unmanageably aggressive. This is where you and I can work together to confront these problems and improve the lives of our feline clients. There was a time when I was unsure what to do with a cat that hissed and swatted as soon as I came near. Changing the way I work with cats has changed how I approach cats and my relationship with them. Not only does it increase the chances of our cat clients being able to stay in their homes and enjoy a long happy life, it also gives us a chance to maintain a client we might have lost. Achieving a lasting bond with a once misunderstood feline is the greatest joy a cat sitter can have! What are the consequences when you use punishment to modify a cat’s behavior? Punishment can easily cause a negative association with objects, people or sounds. Let’s say a cat guardian slams a book down on the table when the cat jumps up. The cat will jump down again. But is the behavior eliminated or is it just suppressed until the guardian is not around? What has the cat learned? To be afraid of the guardian, not jumping on the table. Punishment can also cause aggression. Say a person uses her hand to forcefully push a cat away who has cornered another cat. The stimulus that evoked the aggressive behavior might then be transferred to the person in a very painful way. Finally, Punishment must occur at the same time as the behavior. For punishment to work, it must be immediate and delivered with enough intensity to override the stimulus that caused the behavior in the first place. Spraying a cat with a small water bottle to keep him away from the fish tank would have to be done as soon as he committed the deed. But some cats become accustomed to being sprayed. The punishment loses the power it once had, especially if the evocative stimulus is extremely strong. To the cat, the reward is worth a little spray. So, you end up with that old escalation effect again. You’ll need more and more water to stop the behavior. Eventually, both the cat and your living room are now drenched? This continuous escalating battle can get out of control over time. Furthermore, cats whose behavior is reinforced even occasionally, such as sneaking a piece of pizza from the counter, are more likely to do it again in the future. Just like putting money into a slot machine. Yeah, you lose most of the time but every once in awhile, JACKPOT! It’s that occasional jackpot that compels us to carry on putting our money into the machine. Science shows that positive reinforcement is a much more enduring method for managing behavior. It also won’t leave you with an unhappy cat, a wet house and a tainted relationship. Once that distrust has been established, it’s much harder to walk it back and rebuild it. We can do many things as cat sitters to help our clients with unwanted feline behaviors. And to spread the word that we can avoid aversive methods entirely with a little planning and effort. Because we know that punishment doesn’t even begin to show the cat how he should behave. Teach him a replacement behavior and reinforce that instead. And more good news, the proper use of positive training absolutely does not mean we must give an endless supply of treats to keep it up. In fact, long-lasting behavior change requires a variable schedule of reinforcement, to become well established. This means that once the desired behavior is reliably performed, we can start reducing the reinforcer until it is only given occasionally. Remember the slot machine example I just talked about. The behavior is reinforced even when the jackpots are few and far between. To wrap up, I’m going to read another quote from Dr. Yin’s book, “humans can choose to try to influence behavior through force, like a dictator or a bully. Or we can choose to gain leadership by rewarding desirable behavior…. now, rather than complying out of fear, pets can choose to follow human direction” Our reward for this effort? A close relationship with our cats and less unwanted behaviors. And all without the nerve-racking battle of wills. Sadly, Dr. Sophia Yin committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 48. Her death shocked the veterinary and animal behavior world. While I can’t know the reasons why she made that choice, it has become well known over the past few years that suicide among veterinarians is the highest of any other profession. She was a relentless advocate for low-stress handling of pets in the pet care industry. Her legacy lives on in books such as this one and a growing community of supporters who continue her work. You can find a copy of this book at my amazon affiliate page here: LOW-STRESS HANDLING Well, that’s it for this episode. Next week I continue my mini-series with an analysis of sections 2 and 3 of Dr. Yin’s book. And I’ll be combining more of my own experiences with the concepts presented. Section 2 deals with “how (cats) learn to behave and misbehave.” And section 3 is all about planning for a visit to the vet clinic. So there’s lots of good stuff that you can bring to your clients to make everyone’s life easier. Please note that the information in this podcast is presented for educational purposes only and listeners should seek professional advice for specific cases. If you have any questions for me about this podcast or any other topics about cat care and the cat care business, reach out to me at Procatsitter.com or my Facebook page, @cathyhamm. I’m also on Instagram @procatsittercathy Until next time Thanks for listening And I hope you have a puuurfect day!
In this episode, I’m talking about Superfans for Catsitters. What are Superfans? They’re your most enthusiastic fans, the ones who know that their cats are in the best care with you. So how do superfans help your pet sitting business? A few years ago, when my cat sitting business was getting very busy, a client of mine told me about a lunch she had with two of her friends. They’re all cat lovers and the topic eventually turned to vacations. Then one of the ladies complained that she was having trouble finding someone she could trust to care for her beloved cats. My client piped up straight away saying she had the best cat sitter; one she uses all the time. The other friend said she used a cat sitter too. And that her cat sitter was fantastic and has taken excellent care of her cats for years. When the friend asked for the names of these two pet sitters so she could see for herself, they both came out with my name at the same time! It turns out that two of them were my clients and hadn’t known it until the moment. I discovered this when the new client told me the story. All three of these clients have gone on to send many other referrals my way, which leads to even more clients. This was my first experience with the power of superfans, clients that love the way you do business and care for their cats and can’t wait to tell the world about you. And if you have been in business for a while, I guarantee that you have these superfans amongst your clients, too. These hardcore superfans frequently refer your business to others, and they will defend you against unfair reviews and internet haters. They’re your immunity against the competition, setbacks in the economy and the whims of social media and search engine algorithms. In short, superfans sell your business for you. Every pet sitting business needs to attract them. While most of your superfans will come from the ranks of your most satisfied clients, superfans do not necessarily have to be your clients. They could be future clients or cat lovers who don’t travel or need a cat sitter but love your business brand and are happy to refer you to friends and family who do need a cat sitter. These are the people you want to stay highly engaged with. But how do you find and cultivate superfans? In the beginning, you may feel like you’re in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there, but I’m going to give you some ideas on how to shed a little light on that room. I just finished reading a book by a popular podcaster and entrepreneur, Pat Flynn. You can find his book through my affiliate link below: Superfans: The Easy Way To Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, And Build A Successful Business. While Pat’s business is to help entrepreneurs build online businesses, his ideas easily apply to the pet sitting business as well. As I was reading the book, I realized that many of the concepts Pat is talking about, are spot on with things that happened in my own business. Pat’s experience with superfans can help you build a solid foundation under your business that will stand the test of time despite changes in the economy. The basic idea behind superfans can be visualized in the shape of a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid, you have causal fans, who know about you but don’t necessarily interact with you. The next section up is your active fans, these are people that know about you and actively participate in your social media platforms, such as making regular comments on your Facebook or Instagram posts. Moving up to the next level you have your connected community of active fans. These people are active fans that interact with each other as an interconnected group. Finally, at the very tip of the pyramid, you have a smaller group of superfans who are highly engaged with your social media platforms. They speak very highly of you and will defend you against unfair comments from random commentators. They’re also a rich source of referrals and glowing testimonials. I understand the concept of superfans, not only from having the privilege of experiencing them myself, but I am superfan, as well. I am a superfan of the local cat shelter in my community. Because I admire and appreciate the work they do for the cats where I live and work. I have volunteered for them, run fundraisers for them, wrote, produced and published their monthly newsletter. I’ve also been a strong defender of them when it came to fee for service funding from the city. Writing letters to the newspapers and helping them with press releases. I am one of their superfans for sure! I know that many of you are similar superfans of your own local shelters. The main reason, of course, is our love of animals and that we strongly support the quality care and treatment of animals. There are many types of brands that create superfans. Think when your favorite restaurant, veterinarian or musician gets an unfair review. Would you defend them? The same idea applies to your cat care business. And I’m going to share with you three concepts from Pat’s book and from my own experience with that can help you build your own group of superfans. STEP ONE: Get very clear about your client’s biggest fears. Now it may sound terrible to suggest focusing on negatives, but you can’t help someone if you have no idea what sort of issues they worry about when it comes to the care of their cats. They want to know they’ve found a business that understands them, that they can identify with and they can trust implicitly with their pets and their homes. As Pat says in the book, “you don’t need to change the entire world to build a successful business; you just need to change someone’s world”. Imagine giving a senior lady the peace of mind she needs to finally take a vacation knowing her cat is loved and cared for. That’s an amazing gift to give someone. Show potential clients how you can add value to their lives. People become your superfan because of how you make them feel. No one buys a Harley Davidson because it’s a motorbike that gets them around town. They buy it because of how owning a Harley makes them feel. In the book, Pat talks about the “superfan journey” and as cat sitters, we need to keep this in mind. Starting with the people at the base of your audience pyramid who’ve found you in some random way. Maybe a local ad or seeing the signage on your vehicle driving around. I know from experience that many people know about you and follow you long before they actually reach out to hire you. They may know of you, but they’re not loyal to you yet, so you want to find ways to keep them interested and thinking of you when they need cat care. Research the words and phrases that will “activate” these casual followers. The language that shows you get them. As Pat points out in Superfans, it's not enough to just know what your audience is concerned about, you also need to find out how they describe their concerns. Search Facebook groups. Type in “cat owners” or “cat-lovers” in the main search bar. There are tons of variations you can look up to find accounts about cats. Find some groups that seem to have large members and ask to join. Please do not spam any of these groups with your business information. Some groups may ban you if you do. And this exercise is just to gather information. Many of the people in the group will not be in your service area, anyway. Although, some might be depending on what group you are researching. Once you’re a member, you can hit the “search this group” field with something like “pet sitter”, or “cat sitter”. You should get lots of results of cat owners talking about their experience with cat sitters. Pay special attention to what concerns them when discussing cat sitters. Keep a notebook to write down these concerns in the language the cat owners are using. You’ll see loads of posts showing a struggle with trust among people asking about cat sitters. Your writing should reflect that you understand by showing how your business has addressed these concerns. Maybe you have a policy to send daily emails or text updates. One-on-one conversations are also a great place to get that language. Invite cat owners to contact you to find out what you do, no obligations, just a chat with you! Your openness to inquires can be expressed on your website and your social media. You never know who might use your services down the road, so be open to all questioners, even if what they think your business is about is incorrect. For instance, I’ve had many clients initially call me about boarding. I then explain what I do and why I look after cats in the comfort of their own home. They may say no thanks at first, but then call me a year or so later to give the service a try. And of course, they’re very happy with it afterward! Once you have a list of keywords and phrases your desired audience uses, then you can practice using those words and phrases in your website copy, your emails and other advertising. STEP TWO: Building a community of engaged followers around your brand. By adding elements of your personality that cat people can relate to, they will follow you and even eventually hire you. At the very least, they might recommend you to others who need cat care. Pat calls it “breaking the ice” by getting comfortable with injecting more personal stuff that will connect with your audience. This could include sharing your thoughts about a good book you’re reading, or a movie you love. Try to avoid controversy, though. This is your business after all. Use your own cats in your social media posts. Post pictures and snippets of funny stories. When people respond to your posts, reply to them using their name. As you get deeper into pat’s book, you will see how important that is. Keep your audience involved by giving them quick wins such as posts about cat problems you’ve solved or inspiring stories you’ve encountered. Give your audience a challenge, like, teaching their cat to sit on a mat or other simple trick. Have them post it. Get the ball rolling with a video of one of your own cats performing an easy trick. Acknowledge everyone that participates with your post. Plan your posts and Facebook lives. They don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to know exactly what your goal is. For example, persuading your audience to post on your page. Create posts that convey what your audience will gain by using your cat care service. Peace of mind sitting on a tropical beach somewhere knowing that they’re returning to healthy happy cats and a safe secure home. The sharper you focus on this image, the more likely you’ll create a fan. You’re simply painting a picture of how they’ll benefit from working with you. Use testimonials that express the joy and relief your clients enjoy after using your service. How their time away was stress-free because you sent them pictures and updates. Remember, your audience is not buying your service, they’re buying how your service makes them feel; comforted, relieved, satisfied, etc. You’re looking for words that potential clients can relate to. Then weave those words into your writing on every platform. Cat owners often use different words than other pet owners. You want to look very closely at what those differences are. Your future clients are where your current clients were before they found you. So, collect stories of positive transformations from your current clients that will appeal to future clients. Ask your clients what it was like before and after they found you. Asking more specific questions like that will generate more words you can use. Ask if you can feature their story in a FB post, with or without names. Respond to everyone who comments on your posts and pages. If someone leaves a nice comment on your site or social media accounts, give them a shout out in a FB live or special post thanking them. Monitor all your social media channels for messages you haven’t responded to yet. Have a system in place to regularly check them at a specific time of day or day of the week. When your audience sees that you respond to others, they’re more likely to engage, too. They need to see that the path to reach you is easy. Brainstorm some questions that will keep your active audience engaged. For example, “How did you introduce your new cat to your resident cat?”, “Did you experience any problems?” Encourage followers to post pictures and stories of their cats on your page. The more engagement you generate, the more you will be rewarded by getting your page seen. Some questions you might post could be: “What breed is this?” accompanied by a photo of an exotic cat. “What would you do if your cat did this….?” “Does your cat meow at the top of his lungs in the middle of the night? Another popular idea is to post a funny cat photo with the challenge: “Caption this!” Be consistent with the schedule of posts so people know what to expect from your page. Have weekly subject categories mapped out so people can go looking for them. Post and share with intention. What do you want your post to do for your audience? You have a fantastic cat sitting business, how do your posts reflect that? As Pat points out, people shout out answers while watching game shows like jeopardy. They do this even when no one can hear them because people love having the right answer. You can ask questions that people can easily find an answer to, like: “Who knows how many teeth an adult cat has?” Accompanied the question with a picture of a cat with his mouth wide open. Give lots of praise and encouragement for participation and remember to always use a person’s name. When you are replying to a post, the poster will get a notification that you replied to them. To make it more personal, I like to leave only the first name in the profile highlighted. It just feels better to see, “Hi Cathy” instead of “Hi Cathy Hamm”. Answer the question a few hours later and give praise to everyone who answered whether wrong or right. Ask for photos of their cat’s teeth. Use this human desire to share to generate more participation. On a side note, it’s important to establish what your rules of engagement will be. Considering the nature of our business, it should be family-friendly. Also, how do you expect your audience to treat one another? Will you discourage political or divisive content? How are the rules to be enforced? Are they posted clearly (i.e., pinned at the top of the page)? Is your page private? Or do people have to join? Private Facebook groups are the best way to ensure that you can manage what goes on in there. Public pages make it easy for anyone to participate but they need to be monitored closely for inappropriate comments and spam. No one can engage with you if they don’t know who you are. So be as transparent and approachable as possible. Let people know exactly what you do and that providing top quality service is your number one priority. Client confidentially is a must. Many pet sitters post pictures of themselves with their client’s cats on social media. That’s great! But make sure you’re not identifying their home in any way. Carefully check each photo or video before uploading. Make sure the cats are looking their best and happy in the post. There are lots of good tips for photographing cats online. Practice how to get the best kinds of angles and lighting to avoid those ‘laser eyes’! Alternatively, you could post photos of your own cats or cats of family and friends. Show your audience the love and care you give them. This is an excellent idea because you have more control to perfect the photo conditions. Lighting, background, and props. Make your own cat your mascot. Your audience will get to know and love them. You can’t get any more relatable to your cat-loving audience than that! There are other ways to show your reliability and dedication, too. This winter we saw daunting snowfalls. In winter, I’ll typically be shoveling my way out of driveways and side roads all over town. Get a few photos of your car out and about. In rain, snow, sleet and hail you go! Pat also suggests organizing special events for your audience. Such as an online workshop, maybe on basic cat grooming or a charity fundraiser for a cat shelter in your community. Be very responsive to all participants and single them out to thank them. If you’re worried about live video just remember, no one expects you to be perfect. But you do need to plan the message you want to convey. Start with a short and sweet tutorial. Create an online event for people to signup. Ask for questions in advance to cover during your call. Mention everyone who asked a question. Once you get the hang of doing these short calls, then you can move on to longer ones. Remember, this is about your community. What are they getting out of it? Another great suggestion Pat has is giving your community a name to make them feel they’re a part of a group. People who are part of a group feel more protective of that identity. Pat gives the example of the star trek series where fans are known as Trekkies. As a united group, these fans keep the brand going. Any name you come up with should be closely aligned with your business. Since my audience is mainly people who work in the cat care business, I see us as pro cat sitters. As pro cat sitters. We know what we do and why we do it. And as a group, we support each other and promote high-quality care for the cats in our care. I can’t think of a simpler and more accurate identity for our group. What potential names can you come up with for your group? People love to feel they are part of something special. Their own community. What’s the name of your town or business? Can you incorporate it into a group name? STEP THREE: Moving your connected, active fans to superfans of your business. Once you identify your active fans, let them shine. You could let them know how much you appreciate them by sending an unexpected message. Send a personalized video or audio you made just for them. To give an example of how this works, I recently went looking online for new houses for our move this year. I signed up to be notified when new listings become available in the area that I’m interested in. After signing up, the real estate agent sent me a personalized video using my name. He thanked me for signing up and wanted me to know that he’s available if I had any questions. The video showed him sitting at a table in his house and I think his dog was even in the background. The message was casual with absolutely no pressure at all. This gesture makes it much more likely that I’ll contact him when it comes time to buy. Listen to your active audience to discover what’s important to them. Remember their names and their cat’s names. Reach out when they post about the joys and grief that goes along with sharing their lives with beloved pets. Create special moments that let them know you value them. As Pat says, “In order to become someone’s ultimate favorite, you have to do the things other people aren’t doing”. It’s worth the extra time it takes to build a loyal and appreciative superfan. Plan your posts and strategies to create a strong connection with your audience. But this doesn’t mean you have to spend all your time online on it. Like you, I’m an active pet sitter. I know how busy it gets. What I’m suggesting is that you set aside a certain time of day where you’re specifically working on your ideas and connecting with your most active followers. Overtime, squeezing in a few minutes each day on this task will result in significant progress. During the busy pet sitting season let your audience know that you won't’ be as active as usual since you’ll be out caring for the kitties. Be genuine and true to your values and never forget that your fans, whether causal, active or superfans are human beings who need to be heard. In no time at all, you’ll see your active fans become superfans. Check out the book here Superfans. Another benefit of superfans, as Pat mentions, is that they could be a pool of potential employees down the road. They know what your standards and values are, and they share them. What experiences do you have with your followers? Can you identify individuals on each of these levels on your Facebook page or other social platforms? Leave a comment on my page at procatsitter.com or on my Facebook page. Well, that’s it for this week. My next episode is about low-stress handling and restraint of cats to administer medications or transport a cat to the vet for treatment. In some cases, this is probably one of the most challenging tasks we can perform. So, make sure you don’t miss it. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. Until next time I hope you have a puuurfect day!
#011. In this episode, I take a look at when a pet sitter’s worst fears are realized. When a client’s cat becomes ill or even dies in our care. Two weeks ago, I learned what it's like to be on the other side of the fence when my own beloved cat, Minsky, passed away while I was thousands of miles away. When a pet in your care suddenly becomes gravely ill and you can't reach the clients, what do you do? Having been there, too, I know how scary and frustrating it can be. In this episode, I discuss some ways to deal with these events. The information in this podcast is provided for educational purposes only.
#010. Today, I’m going to be talking about a different kind of cat care career, and a book called "Claws: Confessions of a professional cat groomer." By Anita Kelsey I know that many of you are getting ready for the big holiday season looking after all those cats. Don’t forget to take care of yourself, too! It’s too easy to get really busy and let nutrition and rest go by the wayside. Its also too easy to say yes to those last-minute, desperate requests because we are natural caregivers, but it is important to work that saying no muscle at this time of year especially. So sit back and relax as we get on with the show The following link is an affiliate. I only review products I use and love. I hope you love it too! Claws: Confessions of a Professional Cat Groomer
Hello Pro cat sitters! Welcome to ProCatSitter today, the podcast for professional cat sitters. You’re listening to episode # 09. This week I’m talking about competition anxiety. When established pet care businesses are making you green with envy and feeling self-doubt. What can you do? I'm going to show you how to turn those feelings around by taking a look at a fantastic book called Blue Ocean Strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant, by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne The name of the game in today’s busy pet sitting world is not to go head-to-head with the big scheduling apps like Rover or Wag, but instead, find success without feeling negative and defeated in your very own blue ocean, a place where they can’t compete with you. So, let’s dive in! The link below is an affiliate link Blue Ocean Strategy
Hello Pro cat sitters! Welcome to ProCatSitter today, the podcast for professional cat sitters. You’re listening to episode # 8. This week I’ll be talking about…. My Book Review for "The Cat Whisperer: Why cats do what they do and how to get them to do what you want." By Mieshelle Nagelschneider. The book was published in 2013 and is a New York Times Bestseller. And, I just want to read for you a couple of snippets from Amazon reviews that capture exactly why I believe in education when it comes to cat behavior. “My cat has been spraying all over my house for the past year. Twice I have made appointments with the vet to have him put down and then changed my mind. This book helped me to discover that I need to change some things that I do,” And another, “I love this book. I bought it cause I thought I needed a much better understanding of cats and how they behave. I had a few issues with my cat, and at some point, I was about to give her away. While seeking help, I found this book and has given me all the necessary tools to solve all her problems!! ” And there are many more reviews like these for this book and other cat behavior books I’ve featured here. The reason I mention these reviews is that they highlight just what’s a stake, here. many cats are rehomed or put to sleep unnecessarily, not for medical reasons but for behavior issues like these. The more we educate ourselves about cat behavior issues, the better equipped we'll be to salvage the relationship between our clients and their cats. This issue is solvable and should be at the core of our work as cat sitters. And it’s a win/win for all involved. You can help to create harmony between cats and their guardians in the households you work. The results will reward you with loyal, life-long clients in the process. And isn’t that what we all want? Here is a link to the book reviewed in this episode: The following link is an affiliate link which means I will be compensated if you purchase from it. There is no extra cost to you whatsoever and it will help me keep this podcast going. Thank You! The Cat Whisperer
Show Notes: This week I cover medication errors, caring for kittens and my Instagram tips of the week. Do you know the “Four Rights” when it comes to giving medications to cats? In my first segment, I’ll be talking about the best way to avoid medication errors. Because medication errors by cat sitters is one of the most common mistakes that can lead to costly insurance claims, injury to pets and very unhappy clients. That’s why I’m going to arm you with some tips on how to help prevent them. Next, it’s kittens, kittens and more kittens with my review of Hannah Shaw’s new book “Tiny But Mighty: Kitten Lady’s Guide To Saving The Most Vulnerable Felines.” This book reveals everything you need to know about saving tiny kittens from newborns and beyond. It just came out this month and it’s already a New York Times bestseller! I’m going to tell you why it is a must-read for cat sitters. Then, I’ll give you my weekly tips for Instagram business. And I have a social media account that I want to tell you about that’s crushing it on Instagram called Girls and their cats. Books or products listed below are affiliate links which means I will get paid if you use them. There is no extra cost to you at all. I only post books or products that I use and love. Tiny but Mighty: Kitten Lady's Guide to Saving The Most Vulnerable Felines Girls And Their Cats
Hello, fellow cat sitters! I have a lot of great stuff today including my review of Wendy Christensen’s book, Outsmarting Cats: How to persuade the felines in your life to do what you want. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a voracious reader and I love showcasing books that I think are of high value to cat sitters. I’ve also got some news about the folks over at fear free happy homes and pets and some changes they have made to their membership. And then, I’m going to discuss some tips on how to post your cat videos and pictures on Instagram that will boost your brand and your business. Fear Free is now Free! Something near and dear to my heart is fear-free care and training for cats. A great website that has been promoting this idea for a few years is called Fear Free Happy Homes. Their website can be found at www.fearfreehappyhomes.com Interestingly, they recently announced that they are going 100 percent free to join. Where they used to have paid memberships to access their resources. So they're also saying that those that already have paid memberships will get a refund. As someone who signed up for a lifetime membership, that’s good news to me. The site describes itself as “Cutting edge content and education to help brighten and enrich your pet’s life to the fullest” and that their content is “100% reviewed by veterinary behaviorists” Also from their website they say that “Fear free has become one of the single most transformative initiatives in the history of companion animal practice, providing unparalleled education on emotional wellbeing, enrichment, and the reduction of fear, anxiety, and stress in pets.” What I love about them most is their dedication to enriching the lives of pets and that shows up crystal clear in their educational videos and articles. Best of all, they offer certification programs for veterinarians and other pet professionals including groomers and trainers. Something very exciting to me as a professional cat sitter is that fear-free plans to develop and begin offering certification programs to pet sitters as well. I’m not sure how that will look right now, but stay tuned because I will keep you updated on that. Currently, they have a directory of fear-free pet professionals and practices, so I assume that there will also be a directory for pet sitters when certification opportunities for us are in place. What a great way to show potential clients what we stand for. So if you want to sign up for the free membership in the meantime, their website is www.fearfreehappyhomes.com The article below may contain some affiliate links. That means I will get compensation if you use them. You will never see an affiliate link that I do not use or wholeheartedly endorse. Affiliate links are no extra cost to you. They simply allow me to keep this podcast/blog going. Outsmarting Cats As a cat care specialist for over 15 years, I’ve collected an extensive library of books on cats and business. I particularly like to read books that I think will be of use to cat sitters. Continuously building your education about cats, behavior, health, and nutrition, will improve and highlight your expertise on all things feline. In turn, you become a resource that serves to improve the relationship between cats and their guardians - your clients. Which is what we all want, as a heartbreakingly large number of cats are surrendered to shelters or abandoned because of behavior problems that are completely solvable. So even someone like me, who has studied cats for a long time, knows the importance of staying on top of new research and staying informed about cats. No one wants a cat sitter who stubbornly holds to old, outdated views. Which brings me to the awesome book that I just finished reading called “Outsmarting Cats: How to persuade the felines in your life to do what you want” by author Wendy Christensen. Now, the book was originally published in 2004 under the title “Outwitting Cats” so it’s been around a while before getting an update in 2013. But it is still a book that every cat sitter should have in their reference library. Now I’m not particularly fond of the words “Outsmarting Cats” in the title of this book, because cats are happy to do what you want, you just have to give them the proper pathway to do it. One of the things I like best about this book is that it affirms positive behavior management and training with cats. As I mentioned in the first segment, fear-free care of cats is essential. The book is full of cat facts from a brief history of cat domestication, basic feline anatomy, vocalization and injuries and illnesses that cats are more prone to. But she also includes loads of practical tips covering everything from litter box issues to fussy eaters and non-behavior issues such as excessive shedding and cleaning up after all sorts of cat messes. Throughout the book, Wendy emphasizes environmental enrichment and fear-free training and handling. She includes some fascinating case studies too. Cats have suffered a great deal due to lack of understanding from their guardians and the general public. You probably have clients that would fit this category. For instance, Wendy rejects the myth, as do I, that cats can’t be trained. Because they can be, and at any age. Also, like me, Wendy promotes positive training. Because positive training is backed by research in behaviorology to be the only method that promotes long term behavior change. She rejects old school punishment models promoting violence, force and yelling. We know that these punishment strategies create far more behavior problems and often the destruction of the bonding relationship between cat and guardian. As I said, we all have clients who continue to hold some of these old ideas and it's worth offering education and encouragement for better cat care. Positive behavior strategies work on people, as well. Which I’ll talk more about in later episodes. So, as you might have guessed, I think Wendy Christensen’s Outsmarting cats is a good book to have in your cat sitting reference library! If you would like to grab a copy of her book, you can find it Here Ever Thought of Creating Your Own Online Course? Before we get into the Instagram segment, I want to let you in on a little news about my business. In a few months, I will be releasing my first online course for cat care specialists. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of learning and I could never have done it without the help of my mentor, the queen of online course creation, Amy Porterfield. I love everything about Amy from her podcast, her online training programs, and her Facebook groups. And I’m excited to announce a new resource she’s giving away called The Ultimate Course Creation Starter Kit. One of the things I’ve learned from following Amy is that everyone has some skill, hobby or expertise that they can put together in a great online course to help others. Are you a cat groomer or dog trainer? Maybe you have a ton of recipes and tips for making homemade pet foods? Perhaps you can create stunning rock paintings of cats (if you can, I would totally buy the course from you!). Or perhaps you have some expertise in something not related to pets at all. Any of these things would make a great course and a great add-on to your business. Amy is the ultimate expert on online course creation and once you learn how to create your own course you will have a permanent asset that could earn you a lot of money over and over. So, if you’ve ever been interested in creating your own online course, you have got to download this resource because it's FREE!!! If you're interested I will leave a link to it in the show notes below. Instagram Hashtags For Cat Sitters Cat sitters are the luckiest business owners of all because we get to post pictures and videos of cats to our hearts content…. legitimately! but you’ve got to be strategic with them to attract the audience you want. If you’re like me, you probably started out Instagram the same way I did, just playing around posting photos and videos of interested to you but you weren’t attracting potential clients. You need to know that Instagram is a fantastic tool for building a loyal fan base. Because you likely have a limited service area, you want to make sure you’re using location tags and relevant hashtags to get noticed by your ideal clients. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have engaging posts that attract people from out of your area. Because Instagram loves engagement. The more engaged your audience is including non-local viewers, the more your target audience will see your posts. You want to be as specific as possible when using hashtags to get them seen and not lost in a massively competitive hashtag. For example, say you are posting a picture of a client’s cat who is a British shorthair (ah, gotta love those britties!) if you post #britishshorthair, which has 4.7 million posts, your post will fall down the grid instantly and seen less then if you post #greybritishshorthair, which has 1000 plus posts. When I’m selecting hashtags, I look for relevant hashtags around one or two hundred thousand posts but not less than 1000. The number of posts to the hashtag appears as soon as you’ve typed it. You will also get suggestions for similar hashtags. By relevant, I mean posting a photo of your grey britty curled up in her cat bed. You could use #greybritishshorthair and #catinbed in your list of hashtags. Hashtags are fun to experiment with; you see your engagement increase by using them properly. Currently, you’re allowed 30 hashtags for each post and you should use at least 10. Keep a note or document on your iPhone with some of your favorite hashtags written out in a list so you can quickly cut and paste them into your posts. And if you want to keep your post neat and tidy you can put your hashtags in the first comment underneath the post instead of in the body of the post. They will work just as well there. The thing about Instagram is the engagement, not the number of followers you have. How do you get engagement? By asking for it. Use stickers in stories to create a quick poll or a question to get feedback. Over the next few weeks, I’m planning to highlight social media accounts that I think do very well with getting their audience engaged. This week, I’m looking at Dr. Andy Roark’s Instagram account. He’s a popular and funny veterinarian who runs training programs for other veterinarians including an annual conference he promotes through his social media accounts. As of today, his account has 1268 posts, 38.1 k followers. What he does well: Lots of cute and funny pictures of him interacting with pets and his staff. He also knows his audience and cares about them. This shows in his many posts about the high prevalence of veterinarian suicides. And how he is promoting ways to prevent it. Knowing your audience and what matters to them most is what needs to be portrayed in your posts. Show them posts that assure them their cats are loved and cared for by someone who is reliable, trustworthy and knowledgeable. Well, that’s it for this week. I’d love to know what you’d like to hear on this podcast so that I can help you build a successful cat care business that you will always love. Reach out in the comments and don’t hesitate to contact me directly whenever you want to chat about my two favorite subjects: cats and the cat care business! Just a reminder that the information in this podcast is strictly for educational purposes and should not be taken as professional advice. Always consult a qualified Professional for individual cases.
Hello, and welcome to Procatsitter Today! I feel a little bad right now as my podcast goals for 2019 have fallen behind the goals I had set for it. The reason for that is family. A little over a year ago, my 80-year-old father suffered a devastating stroke that took his independence and left him unable to communicate properly. He has had a tough year trying to recover and has been experiencing health complications related to that stroke. Since he can no longer communicate easily, I’ve become his voice. He supported me for so many years, now it’s my turn to support him. As much as we lay out plans for our business, when it comes to these pivotal moments in our lives, such as having to care for our aging parents, the business is not foremost in our minds. Fortunately, his health has stabilized, for now, I’ve found some support, and it’s time for me to get back to work creating this podcast. In this episode, I’ll talk about Instagram marketing for cat sitters and how to keep your website and intellectual property legally protected. So let’s dive in! Segment One Instagram and cat sitters So are you like a lot of other business owners? You set up an Instagram account but have just used it for personal stuff with just occasional business related posts? I know when you are busy running your cat sitting business it is very easy to put off doing any promotional work with social media. And sometimes it feels like we’re getting nowhere with it getting sparse engagement and no conversions of new clients for our efforts. That’s because social media is a long game rather than a quick and patchy approach. I know you’ve probably heard this before …. social media success takes persistence, consistence, and patience. But it’s true, that’s how it works. And if you build solid work habits around your social media strategy, it will eventually pay off for you. And you’ve probably also heard, or discovered yourself, that jumping around from one platform to another, never really focusing on one, is an exhausting waste of time. And the reason I think it’s time to go serious about this is that Instagram, which has been around for years, is becoming the number one place to engage with your potential audience. And in the crowded world of pet sitting today, establishing your unique brand is even more important than ever before. Instagram is growing faster and more popular than all other social media platforms. Having been acquired by juggernaut Facebook, its popularity and usefulness have exploded. So if you’ve just dabbled in Instagram before, you might want to revisit this platform as an important part of your overall business strategy. Instagram’s visual appeal and its emphasis on attractive user experience such as Instagram stories and IGTV, makes it worth the time for any business to invest in. When I first started out in business, social media was pretty much a non-entity. Most of my first clients came from my association with a local cat shelter that I did lots of volunteer work for. That volunteer work also gave me lots of access and recognition with local veterinarians that worked with the cat shelter. I still strongly recommend volunteering with cat shelters, especially in the beginning, as a powerful and quick way to become known as a dedicated advocate for cats and a feline specialist. When Facebook first appeared, I became interested in this online opportunity as a way of showcasing my business and services. I also switched to doing a lot of my volunteer work for the shelter online, publishing their newsletter and fundraising events. In fact, Facebook was first launched in the same year that I started my pet sitting business: 2004. It’s hard to believe that Facebook has been around that long but it didn’t become accessible to general audiences until a later and I didn’t really get into Facebook until the middle of 2010 as the platform became more appealing as a place to advertise and engage with potential new clients. Eventually, Facebook opened up to brand pages and it was a great way to build a following and find new clients. However, as you know, Facebook has changed in countless ways since then, and some of those changes haven’t been in the best interest of businesses. Algorithms were changed based on user interests and overnight it was harder to get your posts seen by potential clients without paying for it. As a result, many businesses started looking to other platforms to attract potential clients. And for now, Instagram is an emerging social media rock star. I also really like the platform, and just as with Facebook, I started out being interested in it for personal reasons…. Mainly cute pictures and videos of cats! But as Instagram’s features and algorithms are constantly changing, I’m more intrigued with the opportunities it presents for advertising local cat sitting businesses. My business activities have changed as I’m no longer accepting new clients, (way too busy!) What I want to do now is spend more time creating this podcast specifically to help cat sitters build their businesses. Man, I sure wish I had Instagram when I first started. I’ll continue to use Facebook because it’s still a huge and growing platform and has many attractive features that can be very useful to cat sitters and integrates with Instagram easily. So, I spend most of my time on both. My Instagram account will be changing dramatically this year and it’s because I have been putting a lot more time and research into it. If you’ve just dipped your toes into the Instagram platform and would like to know how you can use this platform to engage more potential clients, then the next couple of episodes are for you. I’m planning a series of podcasts that will dive deep into Instagram marketing for cat sitters over the next few weeks And you’ll want to stick around for all of them because they will be packed with useful information for beginners, intermediates and even more advanced users of Instagram. I also plan to keep a close watch on how Instagram and Facebook evolve over the coming years and to keep you informed on the best practices for advertising your local cat care business on both platforms. If you’re a regular poster on Instagram, there’s info included in this first episode that you might already know. But, please, bear with me as we get into more advanced marketing strategies for cat sitters using Instagram over the next couple of weeks. So let’s look at the basics: There are three types of Instagram accounts. Personal, themes and business. Personal accounts are obviously used to capture your life and interests to show your friends and family. Themed accounts are designed to feature topics or dedicated interests such as classic cars, for instance. What do you want to use IG for? I’m going to assume it is to promote your business to potential clients so that is what I will be dealing with for the most part. It’s important to note that some analytic tools for Instagram are only available to business accounts, as well. You will also be asked to link your IG page to your Facebook business page so make sure you have that setup if you don’t already. Next, you want to pick a good name. And you can change this later if needed, but if you want to be found, you need to choose wisely. Consider your Username versus your Profile name. Your username is the name you see written in bold at the top of your IG profile page. Your profile name is the line just above your bio. Both names should be on point to your brand and should be different. Don’t make your username, again, the name that appears in bold at the top of your account, and your profile name underneath it, the same. This is another small space you don’t want to waste. Use it to tell people what you do here. Sometimes, you can’t use your business name because someone is already using it. You will know by the big red x that shows up when you type it in the field. If that’s the case, then try adding your city or even your first name after the business name. At least, this will get you close to your actual business name. You can also use a website called Namecheckr, spelled without an e before the r, to find out quickly if the name you are trying to use is taken. This tool will tell you whether the name you choose is taken, or not, over all types of different platforms. I’ll put the link for it in the show notes. If you haven’t done so already, you should try to secure the name you want to use for business on all social media platforms, even ones you don’t plan on using at the moment and any new platforms that come out in future. That way, you can secure your name if and when the new platform becomes popular. And it will give you brand recognition across all social media making it easier for you to be found and become known. If you can keep your user name as similar as possible across your social media accounts the easier it will be for people to remember you and find you again when they need cat care services. Next, when it comes to your BIO: Craft this very valuable piece of real estate carefully. Your picture or logo should be 180 x 180 pixels to fit nicely in the circle you are allowed to display. Whatever profile picture you use, make sure it is clear and large enough to fill the circle. And don’t forget, this will be displayed in a very tiny spot when you are posting or engaging so make it stand out as much as possible. When writing your bio, you need to keep in mind this question: Why should people follow your account? What is in it for them? Bio must-haves. Instagram only allows for one link, so use it well, you are most likely going to link back to your website. Colorful symbols and emoji are attention getters. They work. They attract people’s eyes to an otherwise boring list of words. Content: Brevity is key. Internet attention spans are tiny! You can change everything in your bio later Use a caption for every post. Example – Post a picture of a cute Tortie Cat client playing with a pink feather wand toy and caption it: “Jessie is shy and wasn’t going to play today but I coaxed her out with this!” Get clients permission to post pictures of their cats but never post pictures or identifying information about their home or location. Use relevant hashtags. Some people don’t feel hashtags work well for them, but I do notice an increase in engagement when I use the most relevant #hastags. And the nice thing about having a business account is you get the insights feature that actually tells you what number of them came from hashtag searches. Here are some examples #catsitteryourcity, #petsitteryourcity or, #yourbusinessnameyourcity. To add to the consistency of your posts, use the same colors and fonts as you use on your website and other platforms. Build instant recognition of your brand where ever people see it. It's important to be very strategic with your posts. Always keep your goal in mind. Telling potential clients what you do and how well you do it. Consider posting “themes” that you can repeat over and over. Lots of cat themes, for sure, but put some travel themes, too. If you really become dedicated, you can use those first 9 to 12 posts that people see immediately under your bio to have a beautiful collage of your business and what you do. For example, every third post could be a cat care theme. A cat getting fed, cuddled or brushed. Other themes to mix in there are events or pictures of your car out and about, maybe in front of a cat shelter, your city “welcome” signs or a pet store. Are there other prominent views or landmarks in your city that you can photograph yourself in front of? Another theme could be posting about local cat news stories and events. and funny or inspiring cat quotes. Also, keep in mind what is important to your client. Things like security, confidentiality etc. you should be building your dedication to this issue into your brand, everywhere. Make that 9 square grid tell your story! And include the community in which you work in your story. Become a community fixture. The one everyone knows looks after cats and looks after them well, reliably and competently. Upload photos of you wearing a T-shirt with your logo and name visible. Instagram is all about images, and images can be carefully designed to say a lot with one shot. Do you have a regular blog? Link to it on Instagram, better yet, use an automated tool such as Buffer, Hootsuite or Edgar to post your blog to IG. Other themes could be seasonal: Before winter you could post A beautiful tropical beach photo with the caption “don’t forget to book early for the holidays!”. This can act as a good reminder for your clients to book a tropical holiday for themselves! And helps to avoid those late Louie’s, too! Local Connections: How do you connect with potential clients in the first place? Follow local cat Vet clinics, groomers, breeders’ speciality pet food stores. Find out who is who about cats in your community. Don’t forget to follow #yourtown. Check out who is posting and following there. many of them will be cat owners, guaranteed! CTA – don’t forget your call to action. Remember, you want to drive your audience back to your website from IG. Study successful sites. What are they doing right, what content are they consistently posting that is doing well. Which ones are receiving the most likes and comments? One active pet sitter on instagram to check out is NYC Pet Nanny or just search for pet sitter accounts to see what others are doing successfully. Also, don’t forget to check out sites that are not in our field. A couple of good ones are Buffer and Motivationmafia. See how they structure their posts to keep you watching. You can find lots of good inspiration from accounts not related to cat sitting. In the next episode, I will have a pdf checklist for you to download in the show notes so don’t forget to look for “Instagram checklist for cat sitters So don’t miss part two of this Instagram for cat sitters series. Next episode we will talk about IG stories and ads, as well as some more advanced Instagram tips for photos and posting. We’ll talk about using Instagram Analytics to fine tune your content strategy. In the meantime, have fun experimenting with themes and hashtags. Website Legal Must Haves Is one of your goals for 2019 to build a website? Or, if you already have one, have you thought about reviewing the health of your website? Maybe you should think about getting that in shape this year. The vast majority of pet sitters have a website these days. While it’s great to have an active and popular Facebook or Instagram account, it is crucial to understand that these are not actually your property, they belong to other businesses and at their discretion, your connection between your followers and you can be taken away. Sadly, this can and has happened to many businesses who, for knowingly, or unknowingly, violated their terms of services. And your hard work can disappear. These platforms also control exactly who can see your posts. So you can be busy putting your best work out there, but if the algorithm is not right, you could see less views than you expect. But your website is yours, no one can control who can see it but you, and no one can take it away from you and your business. And most potential clients are expecting to find a website to get information about your business. And there are some fantastic websites out there! We are the luckiest business owners in the world because we get to fill our websites with adorable pictures of cats! But a lot of people don’t realise that creating websites today is an entirely different ball game than it was when I first started over a decade and a half ago. While you’re busy creating your copy explaining your services and rates and finding the cutest photos to impress your potential clients, it's easy to forget about the legal stuff. The internet is becoming a huge, busy place. Laws regarding the internet are changing all the time. And the legal aspect of a public website can be incredibly important to your business. And, depending on where your website is viewed, your legal protection can be crucial. So, Have you taken care of your legal pages or given them much thought? Every website should have at least these three policies posted on their website: Number One, the most important, non-optional page is your privacy policy. Two, your website’s terms of use policy and three, your disclaimer policy. You may ask why would a small pet sitting business need all of these things on their website? After all, you’re not selling to an international market. Well, for one thing, if you ever plan on running Facebook ads and use some kind of tracking element on your site, such as a Facebook pixel to track the effectiveness of your ad, you will need to inform any potential readers of your site that some of the information they supply to you will be collected. If you have any kind of analytic software on your site such as google analytics, you are collecting information and that fact needs to be disclosed in your privacy page. Again, your privacy page is not an optional page, but a legal requirement. Your privacy policy let’s your readers know what you plan to do or not do with the information that you collect. In your terms of use page, a visitor to your website can either accept the condition or not use your website at all. Your disclaimer policy is the third essential element. If you publish a blog or other copy that talks about such things as pet health, nutrition, behavior, etc, you need to let people know that you are not presenting the information as an expert. Laws are different depending on where you live and where your website is read. The best thing to do is get help from someone who specializes in these types of things. Because you must have something in place. I am not a lawyer but I found one to help me with my websites’ legal pages. He is a lawyer and online business owner, named Bobby Klink, his website is called your online genius where he talks about the legal requirements for websites for all sorts of situations. Bobby has a membership site that explains in simple, easy to watch videos what the different types of agreements online business owners might require and offers legal templates for everything your business could need. Not just website protection, but also protection of intellectual property if you write a blog and post images. Or, if you have testimonials, employees, independent contractors. Bobby does not work in the pet industry and he is American but much of what is contained in the templates applies universally. All of his templates are customizable to your business, as well. I’m in Canada and I use Bobby’s Templates. It is much easier than trying to do it yourself or paying a lawyer a ton of money to draft one for you. Bobby is also the most friendly and approachable lawyer I know. He is very active in his member’s Facebook group and is always available to answer questions. His tagline is about helping “online entrepreneurs get their legal protection in place quickly, easily, and affordably… so you can focus on building your businesses instead of worrying about the “legal stuff.” So, For a fraction of the price, you can get done-for-you templates that will help keep your website in legal shape for 2019 and beyond. I will link to Bobby’s website in the show notes. Well, that’s it for this week. I’d love to know what you’d like to hear on this podcast in order to making your pet sitting business more rewarding and successful. Reach out in the comments and don’t hesitate to contact me directly whenever you want to chat about my two favorite subjects: cats and the cat care business! Just a reminder that the information in this podcast or for general interest purposes only and should never be taken as professional advice. Always consult a qualified Professional for individual cases. Thanks for listening and may your week be filled with purrs and head bunts! Show Notes: Links and resources mentioned in the show: https://www.namecheckr.com/ https://youronlinegenius.com/
Happy New year! It’s January 2019 and a good opportunity to set aside some time to reassess your business plans for the year. Every year, once a year, I do a major assessment and review of every aspect of my business. Then, once a week, I perform progress reviews to make sure I’m staying on track. This one good habit has changed my business for the better. In this 4th episode of ProCatSitter Today, I’m going to talk about how setting my goals for the year, and putting a strategy in place to achieve them has helped me to create a very successful cat sitting business. And, I am going to talk about how good goal setting habits can help you with your business. I’d love to know what you’d like to hear me talk about on this podcast. How can I help make your pet sitting business more rewarding and successful? Reach out in the comments or contact me directly if you’d like to chat about my two favorite subjects: cats and the cat care business! Just a reminder that the opinions in this podcast or for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice. Thanks for listening and let’s talk again next week! Links mentioned in this podcast: Link to Greek Cat Sanctuary story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/25/nearly-people-applied-run-cat-sanctuary-greek-island/?utm_term=.d2f77a1e1875 Link to ResQCats FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/ResQcats-33623604977/ Link to God's Little People FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/godslittlepeople/
Here is a summary of this week's episode where I give you some practical tips to make talking about money in your business, easier. In my family, money was one of those subjects we didn’t discuss much. In this episode of ProCatSitter Today, I discuss how emotional issues about money can sometimes cause us to lose sight of what we are in business for...to earn a living doing something we love. So, how do we cut through the fear and self-doubt and bring the subject of money out in the open? How can we normalize these discussions? When I first started my cat sitting business, many years ago, I knew I had a valuable service, but I still hated to talk about prices. I was worried that people wouldn’t want to pay. As a result, I set my rates as low as I could. This mistake was hard to overcome once my business got busy. Stating what you’re service is worth and sticking to it consistently, does not make you look greedy or unreasonable. There is research that shows that women are not as good at negotiating for themselves as they are for others. This can be helpful if you have employees to advocate for. But, if you’re a sole proprietor, you might be at a disadvantage. But if you are a sole proprietor, you are at a disadvantage. Here are some ways to overcome that disadvantage.
In this second episode of ProCatSitter Today we talk about attack cats on youtube and how cat sitters can use music to create a calm, relaxing environment for their cat clients. Links to videos and articles mentioned in this podcast: Video of cat attack link original: https://youtu.be/zXWqSZ5ILkc Inside Edition interview with cat owner: https://youtu.be/Asb2Y1FZugs Link to a discussion of feline music preference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4848712/ Link to “Music For Cats”: https://www.musicforcats.com/ Link to Whiskas Cat Radio https://www.catcalmingradio.com/
Welcome to the very first episode of ProCatSitter Today! The place where cat sitters learn how to build their business and become the cat care specialists that everyone wants to hire. This brief introductory episode explains the reason for the show and our goals for future episodes. Each week we'll feature a new topic in cat care as well as tips for branding and marketing your cat care specialist business.
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