Hello, fellow cat sitters!

I have a lot of great stuff today including my review of Wendy Christensen’s book, Outsmarting Cats: How to persuade the felines in your life to do what you want.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a voracious reader and I love showcasing books that I think are of high value to cat sitters.

I’ve also got some news about the folks over at fear free happy homes and pets and some changes they have made to their membership.

And then, I’m going to discuss some tips on how to post your cat videos and pictures on Instagram that will boost your brand and your business.

Fear Free is now Free!

Something near and dear to my heart is fear-free care and training for cats. A great website that has been promoting this idea for a few years is called Fear Free Happy Homes. Their website can be found at www.fearfreehappyhomes.com 

Interestingly, they recently announced that they are going 100 percent free to join. Where they used to have paid memberships to access their resources.

So they're also saying that those that already have paid memberships will get a refund. As someone who signed up for a lifetime membership, that’s good news to me.

The site describes itself as “Cutting edge content and education to help brighten and enrich your pet’s life to the fullest” and that their content is “100% reviewed by veterinary behaviorists”

Also from their website they say that “Fear free has become one of the single most transformative initiatives in the history of companion animal practice, providing unparalleled education on emotional wellbeing, enrichment, and the reduction of fear, anxiety, and stress in pets.”

What I love about them most is their dedication to enriching the lives of pets and that shows up crystal clear in their educational videos and articles.

Best of all, they offer certification programs for veterinarians and other pet professionals including groomers and trainers.

Something very exciting to me as a professional cat sitter is that fear-free plans to develop and begin offering certification programs to pet sitters as well. I’m not sure how that will look right now, but stay tuned because I will keep you updated on that.

Currently, they have a directory of fear-free pet professionals and practices, so I assume that there will also be a directory for pet sitters when certification opportunities for us are in place.

What a great way to show potential clients what we stand for. So if you want to sign up for the free membership in the meantime, their website is www.fearfreehappyhomes.com 

The article below may contain some affiliate links. That means I will get compensation if you use them. You will never see an affiliate link that I do not use or wholeheartedly endorse. Affiliate links are no extra cost to you. They simply allow me to keep this podcast/blog going. 

Outsmarting Cats

As a cat care specialist for over 15 years, I’ve collected an extensive library of books on cats and business. I particularly like to read books that I think will be of use to cat sitters.

Continuously building your education about cats, behavior, health, and nutrition, will improve and highlight your expertise on all things feline. In turn, you become a resource that serves to improve the relationship between cats and their guardians - your clients.

Which is what we all want, as a heartbreakingly large number of cats are surrendered to shelters or abandoned because of behavior problems that are completely solvable.

So even someone like me, who has studied cats for a long time, knows the importance of staying on top of new research and staying informed about cats. No one wants a cat sitter who stubbornly holds to old, outdated views.

Which brings me to the awesome book that I just finished reading called “Outsmarting Cats: How to persuade the felines in your life to do what you want” by author Wendy Christensen.

Now, the book was originally published in 2004 under the title “Outwitting Cats” so it’s been around a while before getting an update in 2013. But it is still a book that every cat sitter should have in their reference library.

Now I’m not particularly fond of the words “Outsmarting Cats” in the title of this book, because cats are happy to do what you want, you just have to give them the proper pathway to do it.

One of the things I like best about this book is that it affirms positive behavior management and training with cats. As I mentioned in the first segment, fear-free care of cats is essential.

The book is full of cat facts from a brief history of cat domestication, basic feline anatomy, vocalization and injuries and illnesses that cats are more prone to.

But she also includes loads of practical tips covering everything from litter box issues to fussy eaters and non-behavior issues such as excessive shedding and cleaning up after all sorts of cat messes.

Throughout the book, Wendy emphasizes environmental enrichment and fear-free training and handling. She includes some fascinating case studies too.

Cats have suffered a great deal due to lack of understanding from their guardians and the general public. You probably have clients that would fit this category.

For instance, Wendy rejects the myth, as do I, that cats can’t be trained. Because they can be, and at any age. Also, like me, Wendy promotes positive training.

Because positive training is backed by research in behaviorology to be the only method that promotes long term behavior change.

She rejects old school punishment models promoting violence, force and yelling.

We know that these punishment strategies create far more behavior problems and often the destruction of the bonding relationship between cat and guardian.

As I said, we all have clients who continue to hold some of these old ideas and it's worth offering education and encouragement for better cat care. Positive behavior strategies work on people, as well. Which I’ll talk more about in later episodes.

So, as you might have guessed, I think Wendy Christensen’s Outsmarting cats is a good book to have in your cat sitting reference library!

If you would like to grab a copy of her book, you can find it Here

Ever Thought of Creating Your Own Online Course?

Before we get into the Instagram segment, I want to let you in on a little news about my business. In a few months, I will be releasing my first online course for cat care specialists. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of learning and I could never have done it without the help of my mentor, the queen of online course creation, Amy Porterfield.

I love everything about Amy from her podcast, her online training programs, and her Facebook groups. And I’m excited to announce a new resource she’s giving away called The Ultimate Course Creation Starter Kit. One of the things I’ve learned from following Amy is that everyone has some skill, hobby or expertise that they can put together in a great online course to help others.

Are you a cat groomer or dog trainer? Maybe you have a ton of recipes and tips for making homemade pet foods? Perhaps you can create stunning rock paintings of cats (if you can, I would totally buy the course from you!). Or perhaps you have some expertise in something not related to pets at all.

Any of these things would make a great course and a great add-on to your business. Amy is the ultimate expert on online course creation and once you learn how to create your own course you will have a permanent asset that could earn you a lot of money over and over.

So, if you’ve ever been interested in creating your own online course, you have got to download this resource because it's FREE!!!

If you're interested I will leave a link to it in the show notes below.

Instagram Hashtags For Cat Sitters

Cat sitters are the luckiest business owners of all because we get to post pictures and videos of cats to our hearts content…. legitimately! but you’ve got to be strategic with them to attract the audience you want.

If you’re like me, you probably started out Instagram the same way I did, just playing around posting photos and videos of interested to you but you weren’t attracting potential clients. You need to know that Instagram is a fantastic tool for building a loyal fan base.

Because you likely have a limited service area, you want to make sure you’re using location tags and relevant hashtags to get noticed by your ideal clients.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t have engaging posts that attract people from out of your area. Because Instagram loves engagement. The more engaged your audience is including non-local viewers, the more your target audience will see your posts.

You want to be as specific as possible when using hashtags to get them seen and not lost in a massively competitive hashtag. For example, say you are posting a picture of a client’s cat who is a British shorthair (ah, gotta love those britties!) if you post #britishshorthair, which has 4.7 million posts, your post will fall down the grid instantly and seen less then if you post #greybritishshorthair, which has 1000 plus posts.

When I’m selecting hashtags, I look for relevant hashtags around one or two hundred thousand posts but not less than 1000. The number of posts to the hashtag appears as soon as you’ve typed it. You will also get suggestions for similar hashtags.

By relevant, I mean posting a photo of your grey britty curled up in her cat bed. You could use #greybritishshorthair and #catinbed in your list of hashtags.

Hashtags are fun to experiment with; you see your engagement increase by using them properly.

Currently, you’re allowed 30 hashtags for each post and you should use at least 10. Keep a note or document on your iPhone with some of your favorite hashtags written out in a list so you can quickly cut and paste them into your posts.

And if you want to keep your post neat and tidy you can put your hashtags in the first comment underneath the post instead of in the body of the post. They will work just as well there.

The thing about Instagram is the engagement, not the number of followers you have. How do you get engagement? By asking for it. Use stickers in stories to create a quick poll or a question to get feedback.

Over the next few weeks, I’m planning to highlight social media accounts that I think do very well with getting their audience engaged.

This week, I’m looking at Dr. Andy Roark’s Instagram account. He’s a popular and funny veterinarian who runs training programs for other veterinarians including an annual conference he promotes through his social media accounts.

As of today, his account has 1268 posts, 38.1 k followers.

What he does well: Lots of cute and funny pictures of him interacting with pets and his staff. He also knows his audience and cares about them. This shows in his many posts about the high prevalence of veterinarian suicides. And how he is promoting ways to prevent it.

Knowing your audience and what matters to them most is what needs to be portrayed in your posts. Show them posts that assure them their cats are loved and cared for by someone who is reliable, trustworthy and knowledgeable.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’d love to know what you’d like to hear on this podcast so that I can help you build a successful cat care business that you will always love.

Reach out in the comments and don’t hesitate to contact me directly whenever you want to chat about my two favorite subjects: cats and the cat care business!

Just a reminder that the information in this podcast is strictly for educational purposes and should not be taken as professional advice. Always consult a qualified Professional for individual cases.