Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauri Cuartas.
Hi Lauri, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My journey into professional pet care began with a simple, powerful realization: pets in our community deserved a higher standard of everyday care.
Before founding Professional Pets Florida, I built my foundation directly on the front lines of animal health and safety. Serving as a Certified Animal Control Officer and working hands-on as a Veterinary Technician, I spent years seeing firsthand what happens when pet owners are forced to rely on well-meaning neighbors or untrained gig workers. I routinely saw medical emergencies, behavioral challenges, and safety risks that could have been completely avoided with proper, professional handling. I recognized a glaring void in our area for truly qualified, educated, and reliable care.
Driven to bridge that gap, I launched Professional Pets Florida to bring clinical expertise, Fear Free practices, and structured reliability into local homes. What started as a dedicated effort to provide top-tier vacation pet sitting and daily care quickly evolved as we listened to the needs of our local community.
We saw that busy working professionals, families, and remote workers in our area needed consistent, recurring daily support for their dogs during the workday. To solve this, we developed our signature Weekly Visit Club: a dedicated, recurring midday dog walking program designed to keep dogs active, happy, and on a healthy routine while giving owners complete peace of mind.
Today, Professional Pets Florida is proud to be the trusted, go-to provider for daily dog walking and in-home vacation pet sitting in Brandon, Riverview, Valrico, and the surrounding Tampa Bay communities. By combining professional veterinary experience with rigorous safety standards and genuine heart, we’ve built a service where pet parents know their family members are always in the safest, most qualified hands.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but every hurdle helped us set a higher standard for local pet care.
One of our biggest early challenges was public education. In an unregulated industry dominated by gig apps, we had to show pet parents why credentialed, professional care truly matters. Coming from veterinary medicine and animal control, I refused to compromise on safety. Proving the difference between an untrained sitter and a team skilled in red-flag health monitoring and Fear Free handling took time and persistence.
As our Weekly Visit Club expanded across Brandon, Riverview, and Valrico, we also had to navigate Florida’s extreme summer heat and sudden severe weather, requiring strict safety protocols like thermal pavement testing. Finding and vetting team members who shared our high standards meant choosing slow, quality-focused growth over quick profits.
Those struggles ultimately strengthened us, pushing us to build the most reliable daily dog walking and in-home vacation pet sitting service in our community.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At Professional Pets Florida, we provide premier in-home vacation pet sitting and daily dog walking throughout Brandon, Riverview, Valrico, and surrounding local communities. We are best known for our signature Weekly Visit Club, a recurring midday dog walking service designed for busy working professionals who need consistent, healthy routine care for their dogs during the workday. In addition to daily visits, we specialize in customized, stress-free in-home vacation pet sitting and reliable pet transport, keeping pets comfortable in the safety of their own familiar environment.
What truly sets us apart from gig apps and hobby sitters is our deep clinical foundation. Our entire team is trained in Fear Free handling and red-flag health monitoring. We enforce proactive safety standards, including thermal pavement testing during Florida’s summer heat, and operate as a fully insured, bonded, and credentialed company that guarantees dependable 365-day coverage. As a brand, we are most proud of raising the bar for pet care in our community, delivering expert, heart-centered service that gives pet parents ultimate peace of mind.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
While most people know me as a dedicated pet care owner with a background in veterinary medicine and animal control, something surprising that many don’t know is that I’m also a published children’s book author!
Driven by my passion for animal welfare, I wrote a book designed to teach young readers proper pet care habits, empathy, and responsible ownership early on. Teaching kids how to safely and kindly interact with pets is just as vital as providing professional care for adults. Whether I’m managing our daily Weekly Visit Club dog walking, overseeing vacation pet sitting in Brandon, Riverview, and Valrico, or educating the next generation, my mission has always centered on protecting and enriching the lives of animals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.professionalpets.net/recurring
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/professionalpetsnet
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/professionalpetsnet
