April 2024: Monthly Member Toolkit
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Social Media Image and Caption Ideas for April 2024
April is Pet First Aid Awareness Month, and it's the perfect time to remind your current and prospective clients that you take advantage of pet first aid training as a pet-care professional.
If you share this Pet First Aid Awareness Month image (or one of the other images for the month available in the PSI Facebook group), be sure to include a post that highlights your training. For example, you may post something like:
At ABC Pet Sitting, we want to be prepared for anything that can happen during our pet-sitting and dog-walking visits. While April may be Pet First Aid Awareness Month, we focus on on our pet first aid knowledge year round. Each team member at ABC Pet Sitting completes the Pet First Aid & CPCR for Pet-Care Professionals course available through Pet Sitters International within their first three months of employment and re-certify every two years.
National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day is celebrated on April 30th every year. If you share any of these images (click on the images above to save them), you could post information about any discounts you offer to shelter pets. For example, some pet sitters offer 10% off the first pet-sitting visit for pets adopted from a local shelter. Or, you could post the image and tag your local animal shelters and/or pet-rescue groups to encourage your followers to learn more about those local organizations and how they can support them.
National Dog Bite Prevention Week takes place the second full week of April each year, and is a project of the National Dog Bite Prevention Week® Coalition.
This offers you a great opportunity to share tips with pet parents to help them prevent dog bites (and to help make your jobs a bit easier!).
Consider sharing this image with a post similar to this:
This week is National Dog Bite Prevention week, which is a project of the National Dog Bite Prevention Week Coalition.
As a pet parent, keep these tips in mind to help prevent dog bites this week—and all year long:
1. Share information about your dog’s history with your pet sitter. If you are using the services of a professional pet sitter or dog walker, remember they are tasked with keeping your pet safe and with trying to avoid problems when they encounter other people or pets. Let your pet sitter or dog walker know about any aggressive tendencies your dog has shown before, anything that stresses or freaks out the dog, and any other relevant information.
2. Do not interact with a dog without permission. Dog lovers may be tempted to pet any dog they encounter, but they should exercise restraint. Many pet sitters don’t allow interaction with the pets in their care, so ask before approaching any dog.
3. Keep your dog on a leash and stay alert. If you are walking your dog, make sure to obey all local leash laws, and understand that even where off-leash walking is permitted, it can be dangerous. Off-leash dogs can present a danger not only to a dog in a pet sitter’s care, but also to the pet sitter. The off-leash dog could even be the victim if it runs up to a dog that does not want to socialize.
Looking for more social-media images?
You can find additional social-media images for pet holidays and observances in PSI's private Facebook group in the April 2024 image folder or download them here.
+ Articles You Can Share This Month!
Consider sharing these relevant, timely articles with your clients this month. You can share the articles on social media or in a client e-newsletter.
21 items you need in your dog first aid kit
Pet First Aid Awareness Month offers a good remimder to be prepared for situations that may require pet first aid. It's important that pet sitters—and pet parents—have a pet first aid kit fully stocked and readily available. But your clients (or you!) may wonder exactly what you should include in the kit. This online article from integrative veterinarian Dr. Julie Buzby, she explains what to put in your dog first aid kit and why each item is important.
Why you should not induce vomiting in cats
While hydrogen peroxide is often included in dog first aid kits and may be used to induce vomiting in dogs at home (for specific situations), the latest protocols are that you should never induce vomiting in cats at home. This Pet Poison Helpline article shares why vomiting should not be induced in cats and explains why hydrogen peroxide is dangerous to cats.
What you need to know about horse teeth
Do you have horse clients? While we often talk dental health for cats and dogs, other pet types aren't as frequently discussed. As PetMD notes, "Just like humans, dogs, and cats, routine dental care is essential to maintaining a horse’s health. Most veterinarians will recommend a dental exam once to twice yearly, depending on the age and lifestyle of the horse." Share their article that's filled with horse dental information that you and your horse clients need to know.
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