Take the cats and dogs. Leave the fish.

They are adorable, and some times high maintenance, but they are our FAMILY! Our furry family needs us to consider them during the home selling process.

I know the easy thing to do is to just leave them in the home for showings, but that can be traumatizing for everyone; the pet, the potential buyer (their kids) and the agent showing the home.

I’ve heard of a few incidences during showings that :

• cats that escape out of a door because the buyers 5 year old didn’t know the “don’t let the cat out” rule and it was NOT an outside cat

• dog that was kenneled but little fingers got bitten when trying to pet the cute puppy

• dog got nervous and went into the bedroom and pooped leaving a stinky present for all other showings that day

  On a milder note, I have been met at the door by hissing cats and growling dogs. They are probably super sweet to their family, but not always to strangers. They are protective of their home and don’t always have their “showing manners” in check.

If you have the option of taking them with you or letting them go play at pet daycare, they would probably enjoy that more than watching big and small strangers walk through their home. AND you won’t have to worry about getting the phone call that you need to canvas the neighborhood to find Fluffy or Fido.