JACH NEWS SERVICE

LAFAYETTE – A love for animals, having a great knack for their needs and taking care of them has led Lisa Alkire to operate Pets To Go! for the past two years.

Alkire worked as a private pet sitter for nine years before creating Pets To Go! She said she provides experienced, dependable pet care when customers can’t be there.

“It’s something I enjoy doing and I love pets,” Alkire said. “I’m someone people can count on and I’m dependable. They can count on me to do a good job.”

Alkire said a friend of hers suggested several years ago that she should turn pet sitting experience into a business. She said she provides quality, insured pet care in the Lafayette area.

She said she can care for pets if clients are gone for the day, on vacation or need someone to handle them in the middle of the day. Pets To Go! is an outcall service, meaning she goes to the clients homes to take care of the pets.

“The pets are happier if they can stay in their own environment,” Alkire said.

Alkire said she has two dogs of her own and she is a member of the Pet Sitters Associates. She is certified in Pets First Aid from the American Red Cross.

Alkire said things became so busy for her this summer that she hired someone to help her with an increased client base.

During her home visits, Alkire said she does feedings, letting pets outside, cleaning cages, walking pets outside, bringing in mail and newspapers and watering plants. The pets she specializes in are dogs, cats, fish, bunnies, hamsters, guinea pigs, turtles, frogs and lizards.

On Alkire Pets To Go! Web site (www.petstogo.info), she lists several references from past jobs.

"Lisa Alkire has provided pet care for my two Welsh Pembroke Corgis for the last eight years,” said Kathy from Lafayette. “She is dependable and takes excellent care of our spoiled ‘babies.’ Lisa always feeds them on a regular schedule, and more importantly to us, she plays with them and interacts several times each day with them. She takes them for walks and, sometimes, even for rides in the car. We never worry when we leave Baxter and Bailey in Lisa's experienced care."

Alkire said she would like to continue to expand her business and give her clients and their pets quality care without the need for those pets to leave the comfort of their homes.