We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Martin Burt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Martin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

In the pet sitting industry, there has been a rise of app-based corporate platforms that offer quick and convenient pet care services. However, these tech-driven models often overlook the personalized relationship-building that is central to quality pet sitting.

At Companion Keepers Cat Sitting, we’ve found over nearly 30 years that dedicated care is built on understanding each feline’s unique needs and establishing trust between sitters, cats, and owners. While corporate pet sitting apps provide a seamless user experience, the care itself can feel impersonal.

Still, these corporate pet platforms are meeting certain consumer demands for speed and accessibility. As a local small business, we recognize the value of adapting some of these smart technologies to improve our client experience. However, the human touch remains indispensable.

The ideal approach combines the best of both worlds – leveraging tech enhancements while retaining the customized, hands-on care that comes from genuine relationships between sitters and pets.

For instance, not long ago we pet sit for a cat (we’ll call him Bart) that our team built a relationship with over the course of our client’s many trips. Knowing Bart well, we also know he isn’t normally a meower but on one visit Bart was vocal and not acting his normal self. With Bart’s medical history of ingesting things he shouldn’t, we called his vet and expressed concern. The vet was booked up but with our insistence that something wasn’t right, the vet worked in a visit. The tests showed Bart had in fact swallowed a shoelace. The catch here is that Bart wasn’t a surgical candidate for surviving shoelace removal from his intestines. However, because we moved swiftly the veterinarian was able to remove the shoelace via endoscope averting a fatal medical event for Bart.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Martin Burt and my wife and I are co-founders of Companion Keepers Cat Sitting based in San Antonio. Our love for our own cat Delilah and the tragic outcome of leaving Delilah in the care of someone not very familiar with cats when she got ill, led us into this industry back in 1994. Since then, our small business has grown into a trusted provider of premium cat sitting services for discerning cat parents in San Antonio.

At Companion Keepers, we offer highly tailored cat sitting, with visit duration options of 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Our experienced sitters are employees so they’re trained to provide attentive care and learn how to get to know the cats in our care individually. Our goal is to keep cats safe and contented at home while they’re family travels, and pick up on any problems as early as possible. We aid clients in preparing for trips with detailed cat care checklists and maintain regular communication to give them peace of mind.

What sets us apart is our almost 30 years of localized experience and our individualized approach to each feline and household. We’ve earned the trust and endorsement of top feline veterinarian Gary Norsworthy as well as cat behavior and cat adoption counselors.

Our team is proud that we’ve created a business that cat owners rely on to care for their companions like family. Our sitters form real bonds with our furry clients. As a team, we continue to update our knowledge and skills to provide the highest care and quality of service.

Our only job is caring for cats – and it’s a job we love doing.

How’d you meet your business partner?

That’s easy since this is a family business! When we met and married we never dreamed we would own a cat sitting business. In fact, back in the 90’s there was no cat sitting and in-home pet sitting was a start-up industry that no one had even heard of. Our mutual love of cats and travel lead us to investigate pet sitting as a business. When we opened we immediately niched down to cat sitting. We had no idea it would last almost 30 years. Our love for cats and the need for cat owners to have someone they can trust and rely on to properly care for their feline family members remains an enduring combination.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

The pandemic was almost the final blow for us after many years in business. In March 2020 we suddenly found ourselves with employees and zero revenue. As the pandemic worsened we felt sure we were going to lose the business. For all the faults of the PPP program we were very grateful for it. It meant we could retain and pay our employees through the worst of the pandemic. Those were very lean times and we lived as frugally as we could. It was a struggle to build back the business after that. The income stream was weak as the travel industry and especially airlines struggled to get back online coupled with a public still leery to get out and travel. The new landscape meant we had to pivot to a more online model conducting most of our client onboarding virtually and managing mass cancellation and booking changes as the virus waxed and waned. That was tough and we weren’t sure the company would be able to survive it.

Contact Info:

• Website: companionkeepers.net
• Instagram: @sanantoniocatsitting
• Facebook: Companion Keepers Cat Sitting