We have used Janice (Butler Pet Services) as our pet sitter on several occasions. On our second to last encounter, we received a call at our hotel on the first night. Janice could not get her alarm code to work and, of course the alarm company called and I believe the police were there. After we arrived home, we tried the code that we had given to Janice and it worked fine.

On our last vacation, Janice's responsibilities included feeding our three cats and giving our favorite cat, Walter, 1.5 units of insulin twice a day. We left explicit written instructions as to what to do and the medication bottle was clearly labeled. She had previously injected Walter without incident.

We arrived at our destination. Janice called us the morning of the third day, and said Walter wasn't doing well, she found him on the floor by the front door, foaming at the mouth, and she was taking him to the vet. She called a while later, and explained that she had given Walter 5 units of insulin instead of 1.5. That dosage put Walter near death. After being at our vet that day, he was then taken to Critical Care. On the fourth day, we logged in and read an email Janice had sent on the morning of the second day asking if she should give Walter 5 units or 15 units. We left absolutely no question as to the proper dosage. Whether Janice gave Walter 5 units or 15, he fought hard for two days, then finally died.

The vet said that Walter did not register any blood sugar at all when he was brought in and appeared to have some neurological damage as he was having seizures. All Janice had to do was read the bottle, our instructions or call our vet to find out what dosage to give Walter if there was any question at all, but for some reason she did not do so. For that reason she killed Walter.

Our grief has only begun and we're sure life will never be quite the same as we will have difficulty ever trusting any pet sitter again. Janice's web site appears to indicate that she is no longer doing pet sitting as we suggested this as we were settling the issue with her. We hope she stands by her word but, if she doesn't, just think of Walter, his suffering and our continuing profound grief.

We loved you Walter and hopefully your death will prevent others from suffering as you surely did.

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