Bird sitting

So. A question. I am debating whether or not it will be possible for me to keep my boy. I am looking a little more seriously into moving to Toronto. It is going to happen. But...I also have a job where I travel for extended periods of time.

How has anyone else handled the bird sitting thing? As in...what is the longest stretch they were AWOL for, what rate did you pay for someone to bird-sit, and how it was arranged....did your fid live with the sitter? Were they occasionally visited by the sitter in your house/apartment?

I don't want to give up my boy. But he deserves a good home, where someone is always around.

Julsiebean is currently fostering my three because I am doing an internship and can't have them with me. I sent them along with their toys and food and whatever I think they'll need for three months.

When I've used a petsitter, it was for 3 or 4 days and I paid something like $15 a visit. She visited my apartment once a day to feed and water them, but didn't really interact. Julie, on the other hand, is interacting with my babies and Pigpen even hung out on her hand! CB bit her.. twice.. so we'll see how that goes.

Hmmm..... my situation is as follows...

I could be gone for 42 days or more at a time over the spring/summer.

I will be living in an apartment.

I know three people in Toronto. One travels more than I do. And none of the three are bird people.

Nevermore wrote:

Hmmm..... my situation is as follows...

I could be gone for 42 days or more at a time over the spring/summer.

I will be living in an apartment.

I know three people in Toronto. One travels more than I do. And none of the three are bird people.

Julie has my three from May 14 until sometime mid-August, so roughly 90 days. She is also 4.5 hours from where I currently am. I just detoured to her city to drop them off when I came down here.

It really depends on how comfortable you are rehoming vs. a petsitter. I personally chose someone from the forum to foster because I figured I could trust them to care for and love my birds as much as I do. Today is the start of the second day with her, and she seems to enjoy them. I would never leave them with just anyone for three months and knew that just any petsitter wouldn't be a good idea.

Do you have a rescue nearby that would board him for a while? I know some do, but others don't.

Where in Toronto will you be living? I might be able to ask a few of my bird peep friends there...

Could you hook up with someone to foster him for a year or something like that? Rather than give him up entirely? Even if it was a longish haul, if it was for a long block of time, it might be worth it.

I've never been away more than 2 weeks, and I've had a sitter come in twice a day for all the birds and all the cats as well as house-sitting. It's something like $12 a visit.

i am 2 hours to the west of toronto...i could look after them if need be


dusty

I'm looking at East Toronto, east of the Don Valley.

dusty wrote:

i am 2 hours to the west of toronto...i could look after them if need be


dusty

If I were going to be gone for six weeks, I'd certainly be willing to make a six hour round trip to have someone I trusted take care of my birds rather than give them up altogether - but that's just me. It may not be something that would work out for everyone.