Katherine & Jon

We are Jon and Kathy from Castlegar, BC, Canada. We are non-smokers, retired, in our mid-sixties and have our 2024 NZ Visitor Visas. We're available from November to April.

We have only just joined Kiwi House Sitters, but been house-sitting "officially" around the world since January, 2015, doing 22 sits with Trusted House Sitters, all with five star reviews. Nine of them were four to eight weeks long.

We're capable home owners and guardians of creatures from hamsters to horses, looking to care for your pets and house as if they were our own. We relish the opportunity to pamper pets!

We've lived in and renovated many houses, some isolated in the country or mountains. We've also been landlords and know the importance of keeping things in order. Jon can handle almost any problem regarding electricity, plumbing or even soldering and light welding in a house or a hobby farm. Having worked in the inland fishery, he knows all about aquariums, pools, filters, and pumps. He has a boat operator's certificate and when he was working, he had an enhanced driver's license.

Jon is a strong, physically fit mountain hiker, cross-country skier and swimmer who likes his daily walkies. His favourite reading material is science related and his computer time is spent on world news. He enjoys repairing and making things work again using resources at hand. His managerial skills continue as the bill payer and accountant.

Jon's the walker. I'll stay home to read about the local area and pet the cat while Jon goes off over hill and dale.

As for me, I've always been devoted to animals and mindful of their well being. I've had hamsters, rabbits, fish, birds, cats and dogs and had riding lessons for many years. My training was in animal health and care, including equine, large and small animal care, plus some veterinary training. I've worked at zoos and a game farm.

My other passions are fine furniture, home decor and design, architecture and landscaping, plus I take pride in a clean house. I enjoy caring for plants, indoors and out and I landscaped in my younger years.

Jon and I have had a cat, a Labrador Retriever, two Airedales and we fostered another for half a year. I'm interested in animal behaviour. One of our dogs had behavioural problems and we changed her from a “reactive dog” to a passive one. While house-sitting, we got a dog over his four-year fear of walking on ceramic tiles, going up and down stairs and being aggressive with his canine next door neighbour. We got another house-sit dog over his fear of hair clippers.

Our lovely pets were doted on and we went out of our way to accommodate them. People have said that if they die and come back as an animal, they want to be one of our pets.

If abroad, we really appreciate sits with cars, as my walking distance is limited. If we use your car, we will be respectful and only drive locally. We're quite used to left-hand driving, even though we're Canadians.

If you're in a condominium, we're familiar with "Rules and Regulations".

We're computer literate, so while you're away, we would be happy to send photos of your “loved ones” and can FaceTime, etc. if you wish.

We are both up to date on all vaccinations.
Please see our video (appears as the last photo).