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Cathy Harless doesn’t claim to be a dog whisperer like Cesar Millan of TV fame, but she does talk to animals, even parrots.

She has had pets since she was 12, when she got her first Siamese cat.

Her late mother, at age 66, started a pet-sitting business. Harless worked at American Express at the time and helped her mother part time. Harless found she could check on the animals before going to her full-time job. Her mother, Helen Hawthorne, checked on the animals in the afternoon.

Hawthorne was disabled and looking for a business that she could start and possibly run from home. She had heard of Patti Moran of Winston-Salem, who ran a pet-sitting business with 35 employees and is author of the book “Pet Sitting for Profit: A Complete Manual for Professional Success.”

Hawthorne met with Moran and, in March of 1991, started Tend-A-Pet. At that time, it was the only pet-sitting business in High Point.

Harless worked part time for her mother until she was laid off from American Express in the early ’90s. Friends asked her why she was looking for a full-time job when she already had so many pet clients. She decided they were right.

When she first started 18 years ago, she had 34 clients. In spite of the economy, 2009 has also been a busy year, and she has served more than 19 clients.

Her job consists of visiting each animal twice a day. She usually stays 40 minutes to an hour, talking or reading to the animal, feeding it, and for cats, she may change litter boxes.

Changing the litter box is one of the hardest jobs, she said, if a client has more than one cat. Each cat usually has its own litter box and one extra. Harless has three cats — and four litter boxes — in one home.
Before taking a cat as a client, she interviews the cat’s owner and finds out the physical needs of the cat. She has even given diabetes shots to some of the animals. They get food and water twice a day.

Each customer signs a contract detailing information necessary for taking care of the pet — veterinarian, medications and any special instructions. The business is bonded and insured.

Harless knows many the veterinarians in High Point and they are aware of Tend-A-Pet’s services.

In the pamphlet for Tend-A-Pet, Harless lists the advantages for the animal to be in familiar surroundings: customized care, individual attention, less stress for the pet and the owner.

One of her most unusual sitting jobs was with a bronze Pyrenees parrot named Mango. His owner had never left Mango with anyone before. He was afraid if the parrot got stressed, he would pull out his feathers. In addition to feeding him and providing him with water, Harless was asked to read and sing to Mango; the owner would pay a dollar a day extra for this specialized service. Harless, a member of a senior singing group, the Happy Tones, read him articles from a cat magazine and practiced all her songs on him. No feathers came out.

Harless said her busiest times of year are usually Memorial Day and between Thanksgiving and Christmas. She remembers one holiday when she did 15 visits in a day.

When her mother died a few years ago, Harless took over full time. Sometimes her husband, Max, helps as do a few other animal-loving friends with specialized training.

What Harless likes best about her job is pleasing her human customers and treating each animal as her own.

On her last day of sitting with an animal, Harless writes the owner a detailed note about what was done each day.

Harless has detailed files on her pets and keeps those for several years. She said she is cutting back a little on her work and is working primarily with cats and their owners.

If you have information about High Point, please contact me at mjohnson2@rr.triad.com.