Capital Petsitters

I have had only positive experiences with Capital pet services. I use them for a midday walk while I am working 12 hour shift at the hospital, and they even come late night for my night shifts. I have had two primary dog walkers and occasional fill in walkers when needed. Each month I email the company my dates and they promptly reply with a confirmation. I come home after work with a note about the walker’s visit with Vivian, and a very happy dog! It is so nice to know that my pup will be well tended to, on my long days.

Every experience we’ve had with Capital Pet Sitters has been great. We called them after getting a recommendation from a friend, after another dog sitting company canceled on us the DAY BEFORE our week long out of state trip. When we called, Jake answered and was incredibly nice and helpful.
Since then we have used them multiple times and anytime I’ve needed anything, Jake has always responded within minutes, and has always been absolutely wonderful about accommodating any and all of our needs. They are also great and incredibly reassuring with over-​worried-​dog-​moms, who every once in awhile to check in and make sure everything is alright. Which I find incredibly comforting.
Every pet sitter we have had has been great with the dogs, which is saying a lot, since one of my dogs, in particular, is scared of everyone. They leave detailed notes about the walk, the activity, and the mood of the dogs.
I could not recommend Capital Petsitters more.

This company does not offer personalize service. They can’t guarantee the same walker each time and nickel-​and-​dime clients for extra services. They also charge a ridiculous consultation fee that you have to pay just for the honor of interviewing them.

They are indifferent and lazy. I highly recommend seeking pet sitters elsewhere. I was disgusted by their service.

I have a 7 month old (strong) golden retriever puppy. :) I did mid-​day visits with my puppy myself for the first month (he was 8 weeks old when we got him) and was nervous to use a service. Puppies are a lot of work and I needed someone that would be gentle, patient, and also work to make sure the puppy behaved well during the mid-​day walk. I have used several pet sitters for mid-​day walk services for my puppy. I have had a few struggles with other services but found this service to be the best service out of the few I have used. The rates are good, and I have had no problems at all scheduling all visits (and cancelling when needed). The invoice process is simple and straightforward. The policy for them is that if there is ever a question to error on the side of being sure the visit is done vs. not done which I appreciate (as I have had other services «forget» or say it wasn’t done b/​c they did not think I needed service b/​c I didn’t call each week to confirm that I need service that week — when I had said I need service every week until I say otherwise). Patricia has helped me ensure everything I needed was always taken care of and the pet sitter she found for me is the best sitter I have used. Bill is the person who does the service for my puppy and I could not have asked for a better, more reliable, friendly and intelligent person to take care of my puppy. He seems truly invested in the care of my dog as well as working with the same training principals I have in place — which is so hard to find and VERY important. I I would recommend the service.

I’ve used Capital Petsitters for a few years and have decided to stop using them. After mediocre visits led up to one horrible experience that left my cat pretty upset (a bathroom-​related incident) and two key-​related issues, I’ve had it.
The management is awful and arrogant – poorly-​versed in customer service.

I wrote this review under «Capital Pet Sitters» and then realized the company was under this listing with several reviews. Had to put my two cents in because we’ve always had a good experience with them. We found Capital Pet Sitters after having gone through a bad experience with another local pet sitting company. The company is efficient and Barb, the sitter assigned to us, has taken excellent care of all of our cats, including our special needs cat who was on insulin and anti-​seizure meds. You make a pet– sitting request online and within a day at the most the company has always gotten back to me. Cats are always relaxed looking and acting when we return from a trip, whether it has been a couple of days or a couple of weeks, so I am confident Barb takes good care of them. Prices are reasonable for this area (which, admittedly, is rather high-​priced).
By the way, my bad experience at the other pet sitting company that sent us to Capital Petsitters? The other company sent someone over that they said knew how to give insulin shots.
Well, the sitter gave my cat 10 times his dose. It is amazing he lived but that is why he needed the anti-​seizure meds afterwards.

I hated this «petsitter» and thought they were exactly what I fear when I hire someone I don’t know. They somehow closed one cat of a few in a room tho’ we’d spoken before about how to keep him safe, that he might hide.
He wasn’t fed or watered for days and was thinner and not good. I imagined they didn’t share any notes on what to pay attention to, someone uninformed came by maybe and did as little as possible and called it a service. Scary. I didn’t think they’d been there daily and I didn’t believe their explanations.
And how with mostly very negative Unilocal reviews does this biz have the rating it has on Unilocal?The 3 filtered are 1 star reviews.

I’ve used CPS for a few years now and have never had any issues or problems. With three large dogs the cost of a kennel is outrageous if I want somewhere that they won’t be caged the entire time. Keeping them at home is much better for them — they are not stressed out by the kennel, not exposed to any diseases (one would always come back sick with something) and they get to protect the home while we are away. Much better for me because I’m not spending as much as my vacation to kennel them, and I come home to happy (and spoiled!) dogs. I swear they get more attention from the pet sitter than they do from my own kids!
I have recommended them to many people and still do — I don’t need to worry about the dogs when we are away, and it is an added bonus to know that someone is at my house three times a day keeping an eye on things there as well.
I’ve never had any communication problems — my emails are answered right away and if I call after hours & leave a message I have always a return call the next day. I love the online form to sign up for service, that is very helpful.

This customer service that I have gotten from Capital Pet Sitters is absolutely disgusting, I would NEVER recommend them.
I was recommended to them by someone online. I was going on vacation from a Monday to a Friday and needed a pet sitter twice a day for my cat while gone. I called them the Friday morning prior to me leaving — a whole 10 days in advance. I only got a voicemail, and left a message. Didn’t hear from them at all, so I left another message on Monday. Finally Monday afternoon I get a call. That call was actually pleasant. They were nice, took all my information, and promised that I would get a call Monday night from a pet sitter to set a date and time for a consultation appointment, and that my pet sitting would cost $ 225 after fees, and consultation appointments.
Monday and Tuesday came and went and I had heard nothing. I decided to call them Tuesday evening as I was worried because I needed a pet sitter, and reached a voicemail. I left a message and my calls stayed not returned. Wednesday came and still nothing, so I called again, and got a voicemail again, and left another message stating I am around 9 – 9 and to call me anytime during those times and they will guaranteed get me. Finally Thursday morning at 6:45am I get a call back from them. I obviously didn’t answer as I was sleeping. I returned their call first thing when I woke up at 8:00am, and got a voicemail. Then again at 11:00am to get another voicemail, so I left another message. I didn’t get a call back at all that day, so come 7:00pm I called again, and surprise surprise, I got a voicemail, so I left another message. My message this time, was not the same as the others. I politely voiced that they were being very unprofessional in not making an appointment for a consultation and I was starting to worry about it as I didn’t want to pay another petsitter, especially for a late «emergency/​rush» fee, and to please be responsible and call me back.
Friday at 6:00am I get a call from them, I obviously didn’t get it, as again, it is outrageously early and I was sleeping. (Honestly, what legitimate business calls customers this early?). I check the message that they have left me and it was left in a very nice, formal tone, but very unprofessional and rude. They said that they several messages on all my phones (which was true) but I wasn’t getting their messages. (Uh, yes, I am, I just can’t get a hold of a human instead of an answering machine when I call your company, so therefore, you have to call me again). Then she went on to say that she didn’t appreciate my tone on the last message I left the company (How DARE you tell me that?! I am a paying customer, intending on shelling out over $ 200 for your service and not someone else’s, you should be talking to me nicely if anything) and that they were being «very responsive» (yeah, right…) and been communicating with me throughout the process (you mean talking to my voicemail, or me talking to yours??). They said they didn’t know when I wanted a pet sitter (I told them that the first phone call I got a human) Then they went on to say that I was being critical of them, and they were doing their job correctly, they even emailed me (wow, really, how? When I didn’t give you my email address) and then told me to call them back immediately and I would get a hold of someone. (By the way, I still have the answering message saved to my email, if anyone wants to hear it, let me know and I’ll forward it to you.)
By now, this was 3 days before I was supposed to leave town. I called them back consecutively on the hour, every hour, from 9am to 8pm. GOT A MACHINE EVERYTIME. So, unfortunately, I had to call another company and go with them.
I will NEVER recommend Capital Pet Sitters to anyone. I also guarantee that no matter how many times you call, you will only get an answering machine. I have a huge suspicion that this business is not too professional and run out of someone’s home as a side job. (They don’t have an address and all you get is an answering machine.) They obviously don’t value their customers, and definitely don’t put them first.

Horrible!
There are no words to describe them. Like the reviewer before me, we called Capitol Petsitters last minute and they were able to send someone out. We only have 2 keys as we have special locks on our door. We gave the sitter one and off we were.
This was December 19^th. It’s now February 19^th and still no key! Let em explain:
We got back to a few lackluster notes but the cats were STARVING when we got in. We fed them and all was fine. We called for our key and were told that we had to GO GET IT or be charged to mail it. Postal mail mind you.
So we asked them to mail the key. 2 weeks later and 2 unreturned calls (we do live in Virginia!), no key. We finally get in touch after the holidays and were told they mailed the key, to wait another week.
We wait.
No key.
We call again. Phone tag all week. Finally Josie who is a half brained girl, poor thing, said they were sent back. THEY SENT THEM TO OUR ADDRESS TWO ADDRESSES AGO.
Why the heck wouldn’t they send the keys to the place they supposedly came to 3 times?
Fine.
After all of this I asked them to FED-​EX the key so we had a tracking number. 2 weeks this took because THEY WANT TO CHARGE US for it (I was out of town attending a funeral mind you). We just want our damn key back at this point and I called, confirmed the address (you know, just in case) on Friday and gave them my card number and was told it would be sent Monday.
Wednesday I get two calls asking me to CONFIRM THE ADDRESS.
Are you kidding me?
I finally get the FedEx today and lo’ and behold, THEY SENT US 4 KEYS (2 copies of each). The entire 2 months we’d been talking about ONE KEY and they send FOUR.
I am livid at this point and Josie once again tried to convince me that these were MY keys. They were the only ones on file.
Our landlord is going to be pissed and they *will* be paying for a new lock!

Perhaps my experience is isolated, or limited to a specific petsitter, but I thought I should let other people know.
I used Capital Pet Sitters for a while and was generally fairly happy with them. The sitters changed fairly often, but it seemed like the company at least tried to get a sitter who had been to my house before. I appreciated the notes they left each time they visited but I am still nervous when I go away.
During one long trip (4 days) I was talking to a friend and said I let my imagination get the better of me and I was worried about the kitties. He went over to my apartment that night to check on them just to reassure me. He called me when he got there to tell me that he had found my little girl cat in the closet in the dining room with the door shut! I called the service first thing the next morning because I wanted to talk to someone rather than leave a message. The sitter was scheduled to come in every morning, so if he had not gone over to check she could have been in there for 24 hours. The bottom line was that the sitter did not know how it had happened and was very apologetic.
I am very conscious of the closets and make sure they are all shut and that I see both kitties before I leave. Later the sitter said she had gotten sick in my bathroom, the toilet stopped up and she was looking for a plunger. I decided to give the service another try but was still somewhat concerned.
The last time I used them was over a holiday weekend where they said the sitter would be able to be there by 10:00 AM on Sunday. I arrived home by noon and the sitter did not show up until after 2:00 PM. After that I did not feel confident using Capital Pet Sitters anymore and decided to try a new service.

I went on a 10 day vacation and was hesitant to board my 16 year old deaf cat. This service worked out great and allowed me to worry less on my vacation. The petsitter came for a consultation with me and my kitty before I left. I showed her where his food, treats, litter, etc was. She was eager to hold him and play with him as soon as she met him.
I came home to notes from everyday I was gone. He was sleeping soundly on my bed. He is old and cranky so he like to make messes on the floor when I am gone. The sitter cleaned them all up so I did not come home to a stinky room. I tipped her nicely for that. Plan on using her again in the future.

I used to be happy with the services I received from Capital Petsitters. Actually, the petsitters were wonderful. They always spoiled my pets. However, the office manager never could seem to keep track of my house keys. They ask for 2 sets — one to give to the pet sitter and one to keep in the office just in case the one set is misplaced. On three separate occaisions, they gave both sets of keys to two pet sitters, but not the pet sitter who was assigned to my house. After the second incident, the owner assured me it woudn’t happen again. Unfortunately, the third incident happened when my dog was very ill and on pain medicine. She needed the medicine by a certain time in the day. They weren’t able to get into my house and received a phone call an hour after she was supposed to have her medicine informing me that they couldn’t get into the house because the keys had been given to the wrong pet sitters. Needless to say, I was furious. I requested my keys back and told them I would not pay the $ 20 fee they charge for returning keys. They very wisely agreed not to charge me the fee. I would think twice before hiring this company unless they have found a better way to manage keys.

I used this service twice and they were great. I was so stoked to have found someone to give my little baby some attention and comfort while I was away that I even bought my petsitter an itunes card over the xmas break as she was watching my kitty cat.
Well…while she was away she neglected to tell the office that she could not work the whole week. Thus another unknown person was watching my house while I was away and set off my home alarm as they were never trained on how to use it. Then the alarm company called me and said that person’s name (who I had never heard of) and in turn I called the pet company to confirm if they knew this person. They were unavailable so all I knew was a strange person was in my home setting off alarms while I was away in Mexico. I was terrified as I work from home and use a ton of specialize expensive electronics equipment.
I spent the last two days of my trip freaking out and finally got a call from the company saying «yeah…we changed folks and yeah we set off your alarm.» All my worrying could have been solved from a simple call from the person who set off my alarm saying everything was okay… not to mention I found it unprofessional to have me pay for a meeting to train a sitter only to have the sitter change without any notice, even via voicemail so that I would have known what was going on… They apologized and gave me a day credit. I will probably try them again.

I hired Capital Petsitters to watch my two cats while my wife and I were away for the Christmas holidays. We usually rely on the kindness of our friends or family to watch the cats while we’re out, but the holidays are always the worst time. When we lived in Friendship Heights, a woman a couple of floors below us used to watch the cats, and she was absolutely wonderful. Needless to say, I was nervous about hiring a petsitter that we didn’t know.
Based on a recommendation from a fellow Unilocaler, I went with Capital Petsitters. I was very impressed with their website, which allows you to schedule petsitting times and setup payment information. Additionally, when I spoke with them over the phone, they were very professional and asked many questions about my cats that I would have never thought to ask.
Before I even left, the pet sitter came over for an initial consultation. I thought that this was great, because I could interview him and discuss how he would take care of my cats. Unfortunately, he showed up at my door in a rush, stating that he was illegally parked outside and that he needed to hurry through the interview. It basically consisted of him filling out a form and asking me more questions than I actually asked him. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, so I gave him the keys and felt somewhat at ease, but there was something in the back of my mind that left me uneasy.
Upon our arrival back from vacation, my wife and I opened the door to screaming cats who had no food and a completely empty water bowl. The pet sitter had dutily left notes each time he visited, but had not come on the final day that we asked him to come (or, at least, had not left a note). Additionally, I forgot to arrange for him to leave the keys in the apartment on his last visit. This meant that I had to make a series of phone calls and send several emails to catch up with someone at the pet sitter office. She informed me that normally the service charges $ 20 for the keys to be returned personally, but that the sitter would do it for free. I was pretty shocked by this, and viewed it as holding my keys for ransom.
Overall, it was not a good experience for either my cats or me, so I don’t recommend using these sitters.

Update 1÷1÷08: I’ve used Capital Petsitters four times now to look after my cat and fish for both long and short trips. We got home last week from a 10 day trip abroad, and my cat looked quite relaxed and well-​brushed. I can’t say enough about how nice it is to be able to travel and not worry about how my cat is doing.
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I just got back from a week vacation, and I’m so pleased with the catsitter I used I had to write a review!
I have an old cat with a few «special» needs, namely she needs pills and subcutaneous fluids. She also tends to be somewhat needy in terms of companionship — she’s nearly blind and mostly deaf, so she likes to have people around to feel safe. Plus she’s very susceptible to stress and unhappiness, and has more than once ended up at the vet after one of my vacations. I usually have friends come stay with her, but no-​one was available for this particular trip. Hence I was VERY interested in finding a good petsitter.
Petsitting services have certainly multiplied since I last used one, and you can find many of them on the internet. I viewed a number of websites, read policies and terms of service, paged through client feedback, etc. etc. Long story short, I ended up choosing Capital Petsitters since it was clear they did a lot of cat sitting, and didn’t concentrate just on dog walking.
They have lots of sitters in their employ, but they hooked me up with one that knew my neighborhood (Adams Morgan), was good with cats, and had given medications and fluids before. Jim came over to meet me and my cat, and do the paperwork. After just half an hour, I was perfectly comfortable leaving my cat in his hands.
My vacation week went by (too fast), but I checked in occasionally with the main office, and they were very accommodating to my somewhat neurotic need for reassurance that all was well. I came home to a happy, relaxed cat who had clearly been brushed a lot! She greeted me somewhat nonchalantly, as if saying «Oh, hi! You’ve been away, haven’t you?» She was in great condition.
Jim left daily notes about how my cat was doing, as well as our fish, who he also fed daily. He cleaned up a few hairballs, and even cryogenically preserved the body of an old gourami who gave up the ghost while we were gone.
Check out Capital Petsitters if you need a pet looked after, and hopefully you will be as happy with them as I am.