Home Alone Pet Guide is a NZ-first guide for dog and cat owners who need to leave a pet at home and want to make a better decision before buying gear.
The site exists for a very ordinary moment: you are going to work, heading out for the evening, planning a short trip, or trying to understand whether your current setup is fair on your pet. The useful answer is not always a camera, feeder or fountain. Sometimes it is a shorter absence, a different routine, a neighbour check-in, a sitter, a vet visit or help from a qualified behaviour professional.
What this site helps with
- Working out whether a dog or cat is likely to cope with a normal workday, night out or short trip.
- Building a practical home setup: water, food, toileting, safe space, enrichment, monitoring and backup care.
- Understanding where pet tech is useful and where it is not enough.
- Comparing NZ-available products without pretending every product suits every home.
How the guides are written
HAPG pages are written to be useful before they are commercial. A good page should answer the practical question first, explain the trade-offs, and make clear when the safest option is a person rather than a gadget.
- NZ context comes first: local retailers, shipping, returns, plug compatibility, climate and common home setups matter.
- Product guides include limitations, skip-if notes and update checks instead of unexplained rankings.
- Hands-on testing is stated only when it has actually happened.
- For welfare, health and behaviour topics, we keep the wording cautious and link to reputable sources where they help.
Affiliate funding
Home Alone Pet Guide is designed to be affiliate-funded. That means some product links may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps keep the site maintained, but it does not remove the need for clear product limits, current retailer checks or plain disclosure near commercial content.
Commercial pages should say when links are affiliate links, when prices or stock were checked, and whether a product has been personally tested. Disclosure should appear close to buying recommendations, not tucked away where readers may miss it.
What this site is not
- Not a veterinary service.
- Not a behaviour diagnosis service.
- Not a pet-sitting marketplace.
- Not a broad pet blog or a place for cute filler content.
- Not a guarantee that any product will make a distressed pet cope alone.
Start with the setup
If you are new here, start with Where to Start. Dog owners can use the dog home-alone setup guide, cat owners can use the cat home-alone setup guide, and product research starts in the buyer guides. For commercial links, read the affiliate disclosure.