ARANSAS PASS, Texas — Shauna Jones and Carmen Miller are both animal lovers. Working all day and finding it tough to care for all their animals they saw the lack of certified pet sitters and decided to do something about it. In March 2021, Pet Nannies of Texas was born.
“We started this to help the animals and help the clients be able to enjoy their animals," Jones said, co-owner of Pet Nannies of Texas. "And make sure those animals are taken care of and not just given away or put on the streets."
“If you’re working and need someone to drop in on lunch, maybe give them lunch, take your dog for a walk, spend time with them," said Katelyn Pattison, a pet nanny. "Because a big problem I see is people re-homing their dogs because they don’t have enough time and their dogs aren’t getting enough attention.”
When the Covid-19 Pandemic began, people went out to buy o adopt a dog to keep them company. As restrictions were lifted and people returned to work, the question arose, what do we do with them now?
Pet Nannies of Texas provide the basic needs for animals when owners aren’t home. The pet nannies believe just offering their services, could be the difference to keeping an animal from being neglected in the streets.
“A lot of people had rescued pets or bought pets know all of a sudden we’re all thrown back into the workforce and they’re like what do we do with our dog?" said Jones. "Who’s going to let them out? We don’t want to leave them outside, it’s cold, it’s rainy. And so, unfortunately a lot of them end up on the street or they give them to pet rescues. So, we’re offering them that option.”
“ASPCA had a statistic that one in five households adopted a pet during the pandemic," Carmen Miller said, a veterinarian technician and co-owner of Pet Nannies of Texas. "And if they never owned the pet before the pandemic, all of a sudden when it was over and they had to go to work they had to readjust their routine. And that is very hard, especially if you adopted a puppy.”
Sometimes, they just give peace of mind
“We have always boarded our dogs," said Michelle Koliba, a client. "And we’d get them home and they were always depressed or have anxiety from being not at our house….We came across them and they come to the house, everything’s great, my dogs love them.”
“The most and biggest part for me is they just love on them, which I don’t feel like they do when they go into a boarding facility," Katy Schmidt said another client who is also a nanny. "They play with them, they send me pictures, they tell me how they’re doing, they give them treats. And I just feel like they’re cared for.”
A portion of profits go towards select animal rescues and shelters.
All nannies go through a certification process. They service all of the coastal bend up to Victoria. They are also expanding into Houston.
Pet Nannies of Texas is looking for more nannies. If you're interested in becoming a nanny you can visit their website here.
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