Little Mitzi When John and I applied for a six week house sit in New York with www.trustedhousesitters.com we were absolutely thrilled, not to mention a little excited, when the home owners selected us. Located on 5th Avenue, Manhattan, the apartment was a short walk from the shops on Madison and Park Avenues. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park just 100 yards away. Starbucks on the corner, I know hardly a novelty, there's a Starbucks on every corner in every city but we usually have to drive five miles to find one.
Our home away from home, a veritable townies paradise, no car needed, either walk, catch a bus, metro, taxi or get anything and everything delivered. I do wonder why everyone, including Mums, nannies and chauffeurs on school runs, need massive SUVs. Must be more Cadillac Escalades in Manhattan than the entire State of New York and there's not a muddy hill in sight!
To complete our stay we would be caring for Alfie, a gorgeous Golden-doodle, Mitzi a sweet senior Dachshund and Sabrina a affectionate senior Norwegian Forest cat. “The Manhattan Gang's” owners made us aware, from the start, that both Mitzi and Sabrina had major health issues and needed daily medicating, no one could have foreseen how much worse little Mitzi would get.
There's a well know storage company in NY who's slogan is "If you have enough space in New York City you're either very wealthy or very small" Just had to throw that in, although I think it applies to every large city on the planet. The apartment was a very comfortable size but all dogs need regular exercise, Alfie loved Central Park and his walks three times a day, regardless of the weather. Not something to be taken on if walking isn’t your thing, especially during a bad New York winter. We have experience of living with dogs in apartment, in Bombay with our Springer Spaniel Holly who's idea of apartment living was a three acre field with a river running through but we only had Bombay beach, not 834 acres of Central Park and no way of saying “Not today Holly”
Three weeks into our sit Mitzi started with bouts of distressful coughing I made an appointment with her vet. As with a lot of elderly dogs she had many lumps and bumps but there were two, either side of her throat, that gave me cause for concern. The vet took samples for analysis when the results came back sadly it wasn't good news, Mitzi had grade four lymphoma. She was very poorly and reacted badly to the medication given to relieve her cough, refused to eat fortunately some scrambled eggs mixed with pumpkin tempted her. Between the vet and I we worked on adjusting the medicine dosage until she was comfortable and after a week took her back to the vet for a cortisone injection, the goal was to keep her stable until the owners return, it certainly worked, her tail started to wag again! Bless her she needed lots of nursing and TLC, I've was in constant contact with the vet and her owners reassuring them her tail will still be wagging when they got home, although there were days when I began to worry I wouldn't be able to keep that promise...... I did and she was, just for another week.
Discussing owners wishes, regarding their pets care is so important. I've cared for many pets, this was the first time I've had to deal with something so serious,. Minor accidents happen, Alfie cut his paw on the ice which needed a trip to the vet, he was given a rather smart Manhattan type boot to wear. When I was looking after Snook another lovely old soul, in his eagerness to greet me he ripped a nail out of his paw, which bled profusely and it was late in the evening, luckily my daughter is a vet ..... “Put the paw in a bag of flour mother, it'll stop the bleeding until you can get him to the vet in the morning” it did and she didn't charge me for the advice.
Would I look after senior animals again of course and here's why, if I were leaving my pets I would want them safe and secure at home with a trustedhousesitter just like me. It really is ALL about the pets.
Our home away from home, a veritable townies paradise, no car needed, either walk, catch a bus, metro, taxi or get anything and everything delivered. I do wonder why everyone, including Mums, nannies and chauffeurs on school runs, need massive SUVs. Must be more Cadillac Escalades in Manhattan than the entire State of New York and there's not a muddy hill in sight!
To complete our stay we would be caring for Alfie, a gorgeous Golden-doodle, Mitzi a sweet senior Dachshund and Sabrina a affectionate senior Norwegian Forest cat. “The Manhattan Gang's” owners made us aware, from the start, that both Mitzi and Sabrina had major health issues and needed daily medicating, no one could have foreseen how much worse little Mitzi would get.
There's a well know storage company in NY who's slogan is "If you have enough space in New York City you're either very wealthy or very small" Just had to throw that in, although I think it applies to every large city on the planet. The apartment was a very comfortable size but all dogs need regular exercise, Alfie loved Central Park and his walks three times a day, regardless of the weather. Not something to be taken on if walking isn’t your thing, especially during a bad New York winter. We have experience of living with dogs in apartment, in Bombay with our Springer Spaniel Holly who's idea of apartment living was a three acre field with a river running through but we only had Bombay beach, not 834 acres of Central Park and no way of saying “Not today Holly”
Three weeks into our sit Mitzi started with bouts of distressful coughing I made an appointment with her vet. As with a lot of elderly dogs she had many lumps and bumps but there were two, either side of her throat, that gave me cause for concern. The vet took samples for analysis when the results came back sadly it wasn't good news, Mitzi had grade four lymphoma. She was very poorly and reacted badly to the medication given to relieve her cough, refused to eat fortunately some scrambled eggs mixed with pumpkin tempted her. Between the vet and I we worked on adjusting the medicine dosage until she was comfortable and after a week took her back to the vet for a cortisone injection, the goal was to keep her stable until the owners return, it certainly worked, her tail started to wag again! Bless her she needed lots of nursing and TLC, I've was in constant contact with the vet and her owners reassuring them her tail will still be wagging when they got home, although there were days when I began to worry I wouldn't be able to keep that promise...... I did and she was, just for another week.
Discussing owners wishes, regarding their pets care is so important. I've cared for many pets, this was the first time I've had to deal with something so serious,. Minor accidents happen, Alfie cut his paw on the ice which needed a trip to the vet, he was given a rather smart Manhattan type boot to wear. When I was looking after Snook another lovely old soul, in his eagerness to greet me he ripped a nail out of his paw, which bled profusely and it was late in the evening, luckily my daughter is a vet ..... “Put the paw in a bag of flour mother, it'll stop the bleeding until you can get him to the vet in the morning” it did and she didn't charge me for the advice.
Would I look after senior animals again of course and here's why, if I were leaving my pets I would want them safe and secure at home with a trustedhousesitter just like me. It really is ALL about the pets.
