FAQs

Many veterinarians and pet experts believe that keeping pets in their familiar surroundings helps to alleviate the stress imposed when their owners have to leave home. Pets can then maintain their diet and exercise routine and enjoy the personal attention provided by a pet sitter. This also eliminates the trauma of being transported and minimizes their exposure to illnesses of other animals

Many veterinarians and pet experts believe that keeping pets in their familiar surroundings helps to alleviate the stress imposed when their owners have to leave home. Pets can then maintain their diet and exercise routine and enjoy the personal attention provided by a pet sitter. This also eliminates the trauma of being transported and minimizes their exposure to illnesses of other animals

Best-In-Class Pet Sitting provides in-home pet care, meaning we travel to clients’ homes to care for their pets. I provide service for whatever they need; travel, long work hours; a late meeting, recovering from surgery, working from home but not enough time to walk the dog, and not trusting the kids to care for the animals properly. My clients are mostly cat and dog owners, but we also visit rabbits, birds, frogs, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, iguanas, etc.

My clients can customize how long they would like me to visit with their pets. If you are going away for consecutive days, we will also bring in the mail, take out the trash, rotate the lights, and open and close the curtains to give the home a lived-in look. I also offer a variety of premium services that our clients can schedule to complement their pet and house care routines.

No. At this time, we provide in-home care

The “Morning” time slot is between 7 & 9 AM.
The “Late Morning” time slot is between 9 & 11 AM.
The “Mid Day” time slot is between 11 & 1 PM.
The “Early Afternoon” time slot is between 1 & 3 PM.
The “Early Evening” time slot is between 3 & 6 PM.
The “Late Evening” time slot is between 6 and 8 PM.

We can visit the client’s homes up to 4 times per day.

No longer than 12 hours ever go in-between visits. For example, if your pooch were visited at 8 pm, the sitter would arrive at your home no later than 8 am the following morning. We offer 15-minute, 30-minute, 45-minute, and 60-minute visits. The client chooses the duration of the visits and can mix and match them to design the best plan for his or her pet.

For clients looking for longer nighttime visits, we provide a “Tuck-In” service that is two hours long, usually from 7 pm to 9 pm. We spend the first hour playing with your pet or taking your dog for a longer walk. The second hour is focused on settling in for the evening.

We consider the following major annual holidays: New Years Day, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Christmas Eve Day, and New Year’s Eve. There is a surcharge plus the standard charge for the service being provided on these dates, and 100% of these fees are paid to the sitters.

Absolutely! All clients are provided with unique login information to their secure BICPS account. From this gateway, they can schedule service, check their service calendar, update their billing information, and update their password. It’s a handy little tool! All scheduling requests are confirmed during our regular business hours, 9 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday.

We are more than happy to schedule pet care for last-minute needs; however, cannot guarantee that a sitter/dog walker will be available on short notice. Please note: we can only schedule last-minute services during regular business hours (9 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday). I charge a late booking charge for visits scheduled without 24-hours notice. I must confirm a service request and you will receive an email with the confirmation.

For the safety of our client’s pets, all visits MUST be scheduled through the BICPS office or directly through the application. We use a high-tech scheduling program, which ensures that “no pet is left behind.” If a client schedules through their sitter and the sitter forgets to inform the office, that takes us out of the loop and, therefore, is unable to follow up with the sitter to make sure that the pet has been seen. BICPS will not be held liable for visits scheduled without the offices’ knowledge.

We prefer the keys stay in the control of the owner. Many clients use lockboxes to keep the key secure on the property. If you don’t have a lockbox, we have a small number of lockboxes you can purchase. We also have a convenient key pickup and dropoff service. You can schedule a day and time for your sitter to pick up the key prior to your departure and drop off your key upon your return.

The fees for the lockbox purchase and key pickup/dropoff will be added to your invoice.

We have a few options for key exchange. My personal favorite is using a lockbox. It makes it so easy and is super safe! When their BICPS sitter arrives, they remove the key and the lockbox from the door and hold onto both for the duration of the assignment. Then at the last visit, the sitter returns the lockbox with the key inside back to the door. The client can then remove it when they return home.

If the lockbox isn’t a good fit for them, they can also leave a key hidden in a predetermined location or schedule the key pick-up and drop-off service.

A dishonesty bond gives you peace of mind that you will be reimbursed if anything was stolen from your home. Anyone that has workers enter their home should be sure that they have a dishonesty bond. We also carry a liability insurance policy that protects from financial loss in the event that we are liable for accidents that occur while caring for our client’s pets.

Any responsible, professional business should carry liability insurance. We are happy to provide our clients with proof of insurance and our bond, and we can easily email them a copy of our certificates.

We accept payment by PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, or Discover Card. You can pay electronically directly from the emailed invoice you receive. We also have a Venmo account under the name “@bicps.”

If the pet has aggressively bitten someone in the past, then no, we cannot provide service. That is too much of a liability issue. If the pet is skittish and maybe just growls around those he doesn’t know, then we will be happy to work with the client to see if a pet care plan can be designed that works.

Our sitter will interview the client and the pet to determine if this is possible. If additional visits are necessary to socialize the pet with our pet care provider, then the client needs to be present at all visits and pay the standard service fee until their pet is socialized. If at any time our pet sitter or pet owner feels that it is unsafe to perform a service, we will reserve the right to discontinue service without notice.

Due to the stress on the animal, we strongly urge you to administer all medications to your pet. However, when that is not possible, and your pet needs its medicine, we will attempt to administer it.

Best-In-Class Pet Sitting believes in positive reinforcement ONLY for the pets in our care. We will never hit, spank, slap, yank the leash, yell, shock, or grab your pet. If there is a disciplinary problem, i.e., toilet training issues, running away, etc., we inform our client of the incident(s), and together we work out a solution.

If we suspect that something is wrong with a pet, we will call you at the emergency phone numbers on file. If the client believes the veterinarian should see the pet, we will transport him to the veterinarian’s office for examination and treatment. If we cannot reach the client, we will decide if the veterinarian should see your pet. If necessary, we will take your pet for treatment. You will be billed for any extra time we spend for these services.

We have implemented a flexible cancellation policy since we understand what it’s like to have a busy and ever-changing schedule. We require a 24-hour minimum notice for cancellation prior to the scheduled visit, and you will not be charged. If the cancellation is less than 24 hours prior to the visit, then you will be charged.

All are welcome to call or email the office with their questions. The office # is 508- 659-2345 and the email is admin@bestinclasspetsitting.com or andrea@bestinclasspetsitting.com. When they’re ready to start, we have a simple registration process that will be explained to them. We can get started as soon as the registration meeting has taken place.

The most significant result is peace of mind. Our clients can travel, work or leave their homes for whatever reason, guilt-free because they know that their pets and their homes are in the best possible hands. Their pets will receive top-notch care; they’re going to be relaxed, comfortable, well-exercised, and loved. Their houses are going to be safeguarded and kept neat and tidy. They are going to have happy and healthy pets.

Yes! And I am excited for it to grow and expand. The best part about it is that the more successful Best-In-Class Pet Sitting becomes, the more opportunities I have to make the service even more extraordinary for my awesome clients!