Petsitting Connection Japan

When Lene Borup Kimura came to Japan, she noticed that there were no good options for people who wanted their pets to be comfortable while their owners went on vacation. To try to ameliorate this situation, at least in her local area (Yokohama and Tokyo), she started a petsitting service at her house. When Lene’s daughter came into the picture, she had to cut back on the petsitting, but she still felt the need to help the pet-loving community, so she started The Petsitting Connection Service Japan. The PetConnect, as she calls it, pairs pet owners with pet sitters. Most of her connections are made within the greater Tokyo area, but she always welcomes people from outside the capital region. (Perhaps Angels with Fur Japan can pair up with Pet Connection Japan and help Lene start to widen her network! She already has requests for petsitters in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tsukuba. Can you help?)

If you want to offer your services as a petsitter, get in touch with Lene through her website and she will send you an introductory letter explaining the rules of the system. Once you have been accepted as a member, you will start to receive emails from her about owners who are looking for petsitting services. If you are interested in helping the owner, get in touch with Lene. If not, just ignore the email.

If you are looking for a petsitter, please fill out the form on Lene’s website with as much detail as possible about your pet so that Lene can find a good match for your pet’s temperament and needs. Lene will get in touch with you to discuss the details.

Here is an article in Metropolis magazine about Lene and Petsitting Connection Japan.

Animal Garden Niigata

Isabella Gallaon-Aoki runs Animal Garden Niigata, a boarding facility and shelter in Niigata. I asked her to write up some information in English to introduce her organization.

Animal Garden Niigata is a western-style boarding facility at the foot of Mt. Kakuda, a 45 minute drive away from the centre of Niigata City. We offer spacious accomodation. Animals are housed in rooms that are 3 to 4 tatami-size for cats and 5+ tatami-size for dogs. We also try and ensure that the environment for the animals is as stress-free as possible.

We offer both long-term and short-term boarding and can arrange pick-ups at reasonable rates from other parts of Japan. Boarding fees are 3,500 yen per night for dogs, and 2,500 yen for cats. We have monthly fees for long-term residents and give discounts for multiple pets. Our web site is currently only in Japanese, but we hope to have the English up soon. Also the fees table on the web is not current so please contact us directly for current fees.

We can also take dogs and cats that people have rescued but can’t keep themselves for reasonable rates, while people are trying to find new homes for them. Again please get in touch for details.

I personally run a small group doing animal rescue work called Animal Friends Niigata and have some rescued animals waiting for new homes in Animal Garden.

Pet Sitters in Japan

From the Angels with Fur Japan mailing list:

Question

Can anyone please tell me if there are pet-sitting businesses in Japan? If so, do you know how much they would cost?

We have PetSmart over here in the US that has daycare services for pets and a pet hotel for them when you need to go out of town — they feed/water them, clean their kitty condos and play with them daily. Are there any services like that in Japan?

Answer 1

The Angels with Fur Japan mailing list has a pet-sitters/dog walkers database you can look at. (You must be a member of the list to view the database.)

Answer 2

We found our cat-sitter through the Japan Pet Sitter Service website.

It’s all in Japanese, so it depends on your fluency. We were able
to do a search on the website and find a pet sitter locally. Then we called her and set up an appointment to meet with her and introduce our “kids”.

I don’t know if they have a set pricing system or if it varies, but we paid 3780 yen for one day – for 3 cats (feeding, cleaning up, playing, etc.), plus the transportation fee and a small extra percentage for being during a busy holiday time. She writes reports for each day she comes over, so we know if one of the “kids” didn’t eat so much or threw up or whatnot.

Answer 3

I use Kitty Smile for our cats. She comes in to feed, play and clean up, including daily kitty report/pix via email. I’ve been using her services for 3 years now and very happy with her. She charges about 2,500 per day/one visit. She provides discounts for multiple cats and multiple days. We have 4 cats and normally pay about 3,000 yen per day.

Dog.com: Pet Hotel and Grooming in Tsukuba

In recent years, kennels have been given a makeover and now they are known as “pet hotels”. There are a number of pet hotels available near Narita Airport, and you can even arrange to have your pet taken to a pet hotel as a part of your parking fees when you drive to the airport.

If you live in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, you can board your pet at Dog.com while you travel. Prices range from 2000 yen to 3000 yen for a single night in a cage, to 4000 yen to 6000 yen for a whole room. You can also pay extra for some “friendship time” for your dog, where he or she will be able to hang out with the other dogs (or with a staff member if your dog is not good with other dogs) once, twice, or three times per day.

Pets must be dropped off after noon on one day and picked up before noon on the following day. If you are late, you will be charged half of the “day time” rate (which is half of the overnight rate).

Dog.com also offers an indoor dog run and trimming services.

Dog.com is located on the corner of Nishi Odori and Minami Odori. You can’t miss the big yellow building with the GIGANTIC image of a dog painted on it.

I have never used this pet hotel, so I can’t make any specific recommendations about it. If you have used it, or if you have any other pet hotels to recommend, please leave a note in the comments.

Petsitters in Tokyo

Here is a good article from Japan Today about finding a petsitter in Tokyo.

What to do when your pet can’t join you on vacation? In Japan, one option is to board it in a pet hotel — which sounds like a good idea, but can be a nightmare. Some kennels charge exorbitant rates and cram your beloved animal into the cat- or dog-sized equivalent of a six-mat apartment.

It was the poor condition of local pet hotels that inspired Lene Borup Kimura, a Danish woman who moved to Japan 3 1/2 years ago, to start a sitting service in 2005. Being an avid dog lover who missed her companion back home, Kimura saw an opportunity to spend time with animals while helping people in need.

Read the rest of the article.

Finding a Pet Sitter

If you need someone to look after your pet, or if you are willing to look after other people’s pets, please see the “Pets and Pet-sitting: wanted/available” in the Classifieds section of the Japan With Kids forum. It may be difficult to find a sitter outside of the Tokyo region, but it is worth a try!