(Please see below for availability)
INTRODUCTION
We are an experienced cat whisperer couple, with 50 house sits in 16 different countries under our belt (not counting repeat invitations). Non-smoking, self-sufficient, proactive, organised and reliable, our aim is to always provide the highest level of care and attention to the homes and pets entrusted to us.
Mark is originally from England and I was born in Spain. I am bilingual in English/Spanish, kann auch ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen, et je peux comprendre un petit peu de Français aussi. We rent a little "home base" in Europe and earn our income online, which means we can be totally flexible with our travel dates and locations as all we need is a reliable internet connection. It also means we spend a lot of time at home with the pets!
In our spare time, we enjoy photography, nature walks, observing wildlife, volunteering, good conversations, sampling the local chocolate offerings, and evenings at home with a movie (and ideally, a cat or two!).
We are very house proud and believe that our references speak for the level of dedication, commitment and love that we bring to every single assignment. All we ask for in exchange is:
• A clean, orderly home that is free of smoke and mould;
• An internet connection that is fast and reliable;
• Ideally, 2 separate beds (due to a sleep disorder);
• An environment that is reasonably peaceful for us to work and relax in
Access to a vehicle (more of a requirement in non-urban environments) is always a great incentive! We have clean licences and can drive both manual and automatic cars.
AVAILABILITY
• Currently we are mostly only available to house sit in EUROPE (though we will consider sits further afield, depending on length and cost of flights, do tempt us!).
• We are booked until 3rd March in PORTUGAL and would be happy to extend our stay. After June, we'd love to find a long term sit as we are looking to relocate to the country.
• We are also interested in LONDON until July.
• In general, we are always interested in offers to house sit in SPAIN, and particularly in Madrid (please note this is not where we are based, but it is where I'm from originally).
PET CARE EXPERIENCE
CATS - We don't just love cats, we KNOW CATS!
Genuine 'cat people', former cat owners and aspiring cat behaviourists, we volunteered for the SPCA in NZ for 14 months. Experienced with young and senior/geriatric cats, can administer medication, and are particularly good with shy / scared cats (see references!). We even travel with our favourite cat toys.
OTHER PETS
Due to our very limited experience with dogs, we can only consider caring after a single, very well behaved SMALL dog (I LOVE 'cockapoos' and similar). I am crazy about anything "small and furry" (I owned hamsters and mice as a child and fancy rats later in life). We have also kept tropical fish tanks and are happy to look after chickens/ducks and other small pets.
HOUSE SITTING EXPERIENCE
• c.50 assignments in 15 different countries since early 2014.
• From small apartments to large luxury houses, urban and rural environments.
• Basic garden maintenance - lawns, watering, pruning
• We also have some experience of looking after swimming pools.
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IMPORTANT: Please note that we do not accept house sits where we are asked to pay a deposit, or required to pay for utilities. We prefer to build lasting relationships based on mutual trust and respect, and we feel that when money exchanges hands, the dynamics of the relationships change. This is why we don't charge for our services either, which are to the high standards that we always set for ourselves.
Thank you for reading until the end! If you feel we are a good match for one another, we would love to hear from you.
Maria and Mark