Pet Sitter Spotlight: Tori Lattig of Endless Pawsibilities

Sure, anyone can have a friend or neighbor pop over to feed their pet when they are out of town.

But that choice undermines the true skill, training, and education the professional pet care provider has.

We are not merely a commodity to be hired with no regard to the person caring for the pet.

A vast majority of pet business owners invest their hearts into every job, and you can’t put a price tag on that.

Tori Lattig of Endless Pawsibilities in Toms River, NJ, is a prime example of what it means to hire a professional.

Pet Sitter With A Heart of Gold!

We founded our company on providing care to special needs pets; those with medical needs or aggressive behaviors.

This unique niche has given us the opportunity to work with pets who have illnesses ranging from diabetes to seizures to Addison’s disease and the more.

We are used to administering subcutaneous fluids, oral medications, topical medications, injectable medications like insulin and allergy shots and working with feeding tubes.

Providing support to clients who’s beloved pets have fallen ill and helping them manage their pet care at home, through hospice type care is unfortunately another side of the business that is necessary.

To be the one that clients call on for advice and guidance is an amazing opportunity. To be so trusted and so valued is totally humbling.

Since we typically deal with special needs pets who need supportive medical care, imagine my surprise when I spoke with a client about his upcoming vacation and he told me one of his dogs was pregnant and due when they were away!

In an email, he wrote, “Again, we are sorry for the timing, but we have the utmost faith in you and your staff and thank you for taking this job on. Hopefully, you can send us some pictures when the big day arrives!”

Fortunately, mom had the 4 puppies 3 days before they left for vacation. I arrived for the first visit and was happily greeted by mom and dad dogs!

Pet Sitter With A Tremendous Dog Training Background

Mom, Onyx, quickly went back to nursing and I kept an eye on the pups as I went about my “house chores.” The puppies’ dad, Jasper, was my shadow.

Everything was great that day. Jasper and Onyx are great, we spent time outside, the puppies were feeding and sleeping well.

Since the puppies were so young, I required that we provide overnight care so we could monitor everyone and make sure things went well overnight. I was afraid that an overnight stretch of time without someone home would be an invitation something to go wrong.

That first night, I was up almost all night. Onyx had decided that one of the puppies shouldn’t be kept with the other 3. So, she kept moving him from place to place around the living room. I sat and watched her to see what she was going to do.

She would lay with him in one spot for a bit and then leave him and go lay with the other puppies.

I examined him to see if I could find a reason she didn’t want him in the welping box. I monitored his breathing and color. Nothing obvious stood out to me. I called my fiance, who is a Certified Veterinary Technician, at 1am to make sure I wasn’t missing something and

Since puppies can’t maintain their own body heat and leaving him alone for extended time could prove dangerous, I stayed up and made sure to encourage Onyx to lay with him. When she wasn’t with him, I had him wrapped in blankets under my shirt to keep him warm.

First thing in the morning, I called their regular veterinarian and consulted with him and then the client. We were all on the same page – we needed a crate to keep them all together.

I ran home and grabbed a large crate to set up and use as a welping box. Once I got it all nice and cozy, I moved the family in together and Onyx seemed relieved.

I also felt safer because now I knew that when I had to leave them at points during the day, she couldn’t move him somewhere he couldn’t be warm.

I spent the rest of my stay with Onyx, Jasper and their puppies truly enjoying the experience. I weighed them each morning and charted their growth.

I laid a blanket on the floor and would lay the puppies on it to encourage them to move around. I watched them sleep and feed. It was so sweet watching them nuzzle up to Onyx and latch on. She was a perfect mom and took great care of her babies.

Naturally, I took LOTS and LOTS of pictures and videos. It was impossible not to! They were 4 adorable puppies!

Major Adorable Video Alert!

You know those extremely cute doggie videos that go viral? These should be two of them!

Share these with your network to make someone smile today.

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Over To You

Read More: See our complete series on 15 Professional Pet Sitters Spotlight!

As a professional pet business owner, you literally have no knowledge of what your next client request may be.  You only need to be prepared and ready to handle any situation that may come your way.

Tell us, what client request or on-the-job situation caught you by surprise that you needed to step up and save the day?