Equine Care & Smallholdings

All our carers are experienced animal lovers, many have their own pets. We pair new carers with an experienced VIPPIES team member to ensure they know what standards we expect. Our carers receive pet first aid training early in their career with us and this is refreshed every three years.

All our staff have had criminal record checks. We do not use marked vehicles or wear uniforms. We only carry the keys required for each visit. Keys are stored safely at VIPPIES HQ and at your team member’s home, they are coded so they cannot be tracked to your property or pet(s).

VIPPIES has a team of approximately 30 pet carers so we always have back up. At the meet and greet you will be allocated a main carer and a back-up. In an emergency, if your regular carers are not available, one of the management team will step in to look after your animals.

We are able to give your animals their medication whilst in our care, just discuss it with us at the meet and greet. If they are on new short term treatment please let us know in advance of the booking, contact VIPPIES HQ (not your carer) via email admin@vippies.co.uk or telephone 01522 823536 during normal office hours.

At your meet and greet we will take the contact details for your vet as well as your emergency contact details – mobile, office landline etc. We also like to have the contact details for another person who can make decisions on your pet’s behalf if we cannot contact you. This can be a partner, family member or friend (over 18 years). At the meet and greet you will be asked to complete a form that gives us authority to act on your behalf at your vets. You will also be asked to notify your vet that we have your permission.

If you need to cancel please contact VIPPIES HQ 01522 823536 during our normal office hours (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm). Outside our normal hours there is an answer phone service where you can leave a message. There is an emergency mobile number on this message which you can call for last minute cancellations. Unfortunately, last minute cancellations will be subject to a fee.

Whilst our processes and systems aim to avoid these events we are insured up to £5 million which covers your pet and home as follows:

• should your pet cause an accident while in our care there is third party cover,
• if we have an accident in your house and damage anything we are insured to replace the broken item,
• should we lose your key and need to get a locksmith in to gain entry to your premises and we are insured to replace all locks and supply new keys,
• if your pet goes missing in our care we are insured to advertise for their recovery or replacement,
• finally, should your pet be injured due to our negligence we are insured for all the vet’s bills.