December 2023 by N
I rarely, if ever, write a negative review (or write this level of detail) about a company or service, but I think it would benefit others to know how our hiring Kylie (the owner and pet sitter for Old Line Pet Sitting) turned out. We hired Kylie for our two cats a couple of times. Our pet sitter for years, who was wonderful, retired and we were looking for a new one, so we wanted to try using Kylie. Her website lists $20 for 30 minutes for cats, which worked for us since we were just gone for one night, so we told her she could stay a shorter visit - 15 minutes or so. I was not trying to save $2; but thought it would give her time to scoop, feed, and get to know our two cats (for when we were away and for a longer time period) and again it was one night when they were alone. Fast forward to our recent trip away for almost 2 weeks. My mom, who is 81, and her boyfriend stayed at our home to be with our cats and I hired Kylie for the same services. Instead of 15 minutes or so, Kylie was in and out of our home for as little as 4 minutes for the shortest visit and 9 minutes for the longest visit, averaging roughly 7 minutes a visit; she came outside of the time periods we agreed upon (I did not want my mom and boyfriend awakened by the alarm); she threw unwashed cat cans in our very large recycling container instead of taking a moment to wash them out; and she exhibited little to no interest in getting to know our cats for future pet sitting. She does do two things well - she responds quickly to email and texts and she does show up. Her responses when I attempted to address these issues were less than responsive and then she went silent. Maybe she is better with dog walking, but I would not recommend her for cat sitting services. When people go away, they want their pet sitter to care for their pets in an agreed upon manner - get to know your pets - not just run in and out. As a side note, there was not much travel as she lives roughly 5 minutes from us. I would not feel safe leaving our pets in her care and will not use her in the future. I hope you find this review helpful because caring for pets is a very important job.
