P - Pet Sitter

Pet sitting is a relatively new thing in the scheme of occupations. In years gone by pets weren't as pampered as they are today. They had a purpose; cats were mousers, dogs were assistants for shepherds or for hunting.

Wealthier ladies may have had lapdogs as early as the 1500s but this practice was often ridiculed in satirical cartoons as a frivolous behaviour. Mary Queen of Scots is reported to have had a lapdog. Clothes were even designed to have hidden pockets to secret a small dog, apparently.

However, it wasn't until the late 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century that pet keeping became more culturally acceptable. Pet ownership began to be seen as character building, teaching children to be caring and responsible. Victorians were interested in the home and domestic life, raising children was seen as very important for creating the right sort of morality in society. Keeping a pet was seen as a way for children to develop morality.

Pets, mostly dogs, began to be included in photographs with their owners, or with family groups. Queen Victoria kept a pet dog. Even poor working-class families might capture wild birds like linnets, thrushes and blackbirds keep them in a cage and feed them scraps. Middle class families, to signal their higher status might have bought more expensive pets, like pedigree dogs.

Dogs were very popular as they embodied values that Victorians admired; loyalty, steadfastness and courage. Pedigree breeding started to become popular at this time as well. Monkeys and exotic parrots were imported from the colonies and the wealthiest families may have kept these, not seeing anything immoral about keeping them as pets as we would today.

Rabbits were popular, giving boys (particularly) the opportunity to build a hutch and care for them single handedly. Cats however were still viewed more as a utility animal, their main purpose to be keeping the vermin under control. Their traditional association to witches didn't help either, and it wasn't until the 20th century that cats started being accepted wholeheartedly as a pet to pamper.

When we were younger if we went away on holiday, or for a weekend, a neighbour would feed the cat and we would do the same for theirs in return. Even now, that happens - staying at a friend's house to look after a pet or making daily visits to feed and play with them. In the 1970s boarding kennels and catteries began to open. Hotels for pets. Paid pet sitters.

For a few years from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s my sister-in-law was a Pet Sitter. Proprietor of Purrzazz Cattery on Cambridge Road until another opportunity came along. 

Juggling the drop off and pick up of "guests", feeding, cleaning, shopping for the business with the demands of raising a young family. Many guests became return customers, school holidays and Christmas were crazy chaotic times booked out months in advance. Some of us became assistants when we visited for our holidays. Our pet Sparkle came once, all the way from Wellington. I don't think she was very impressed about the whole ordeal, but like every guest at Purrzazz she was treated like the VIP she was accustomed to be.

The cattery is no longer there, the land now forming part of an interchange on the Waikato Expressway but google still has pictures which is lucky because I don't know where my actual photos are right now - and I am sure I still have a business card somewhere.