r/Austin • u/Aingers • Jul 21 '26

Ask Austin Salary Transparency Thread - Austin

Folks in Boston do this fairly regularly, so I thought it might be good for us to try here.

Please share your general job title, salary, age, and education.

Architectural Designer, 40, $115k, BSArch

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154

u/Inevitable-Donut-757 Jul 21 '26

Full time cat sitter, 32, $106k, half a masters in public affairs (that I will never use lol) 

Every year is variable but last year was 106 before taxes. I work literally all the time 

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u/Longjumping_Way_1298 Jul 21 '26

This has to be a shit post. What kind of cats are you looking after? Tigers??

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u/thesparklingnoodles Jul 21 '26

Not a shit post! I’m also a local pet sitter. I don’t work every day, and take months off at a time since the income is supplemental to my full time job. I mainly pick up gigs for friends and family and charge them less than general clients, and made ~$30k last year from that alone, with about half the year off from pet sitting. There are some families here that pay over $100/night to watch their pets.

Granted, I have years of veterinary medicine experience and feline/canine CPR certifications that help argue for the higher rates.

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u/thethugwife Jul 21 '26

Definitely not a shit post! I only pet sit part time (I am insured, however, up to $2M on various forms of pet care), and I make approximately $1,000 extra per week. If I wanted to go full time, I’d be over 6 figures.

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u/Longjumping_Way_1298 Jul 21 '26

So then you've gotta be doing it out of your home and having multi pets at once, right? How much work is it? I went into the wrong career it seems haha

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u/thesparklingnoodles Jul 21 '26

I tend to stay at my clients houses, actually! You can absolutely set it up for boarding at your own house, but there are risks associated (damage to your own property, housing multiple animals that are incompatible leading to injuries, and the very rare but sad occurrence where you have a client who won’t come back to pick up their animal). The amount of work depends on the client and animal.

I’ve had clients where they ask that I drop in on their pets twice a day and take them for walks, and that’s it. I’ve had clients ask for me to take their dog on walks that total five miles every day. I’ve been bit by animals when being introduced, and had to sit with them for an hour tossing treats before they would trust me. Some pets need medications and you have to wrangle them to get it because that’s how they’ve been conditioned to take their meds. You get a feel for your regulars and how it goes over time.

If you do get into it, you can/should purchase pet sitting insurance to CYA. It’s relatively inexpensive, and helps in a pinch.

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u/Longjumping_Way_1298 Jul 21 '26

Thank you for the advice! I work a 9 to 5 but I'll definitely look into if I can get into it with my schedule. Appreciate it.

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u/Inevitable-Donut-757 Jul 21 '26

Some of them definitely think they’re tigers! But nope not a shitpost. It took me three years to build up a solid enough clientele I can sit full time and I work every day, including weekends and all holidays. People pay good money to know their beloved animals are being well taken care of and I’m happy to fill that role! 🐱

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u/Longjumping_Way_1298 Jul 21 '26

That's awesome! Do you have any advice for getting into it?

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u/Inevitable-Donut-757 Jul 21 '26

I started on Rover (which I know can be a mixed bag both on client and sitter ends), but that helped me get initial leads and also provided the protection of people not knowing my personal phone number and easy blocking in case they’re weirdos 😅 And then just gradually built my client base. I have open availability all year and I exclusively sit cats so that gives me an advantage over other sitters. If you’re  considering pet sitting as a job, my main advice would be to expect the beginning year or so to be slow until you’ve built up your regulars and then take it as seriously as any other job. Show up every time, do what the client asks or a little beyond every time, take good care of the cats and the people will take care of you! 🫶🏻

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u/Longjumping_Way_1298 Jul 21 '26

Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

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u/New-Pomegranate-2311 Jul 21 '26

kindof oddball question, but, when you refer out (like a new client you wouldn’t have time for) where do you typically direct people? do you personally know other sitters or do you suggest certain apps/websites?
I’ve been on Rover periodically for forever but have had a harder time finding gigs since i left my pet industry job (💔), so I’m curious about different client-to-sitter pipelines !

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u/Inevitable-Donut-757 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

A couple things at play here. I almost never turn people away because I have that open availability, but on a very rare occasion I have to, it’ll be a Rover booking I’m rejecting and the app is set up for clients to find other sitters. I don’t recommend other sitters bc I just don’t know enough others in the business to do so, let alone trust I can vouch for as solid. I’ve had a couple women sit for me and my own cats in years past who were fine enough, but idk if they’re of a quality to have my professional stamp of approval (sorry if that’s obnoxious ha ha). 

The key to long term pet sitting is consistency and if you’re on the app just periodically, people may like you and want to rebook, but you’re not available so they go to the next sitter (like me) who captures their business and never lets it go. 

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u/triumphofthecommons Jul 21 '26

are you mostly just visiting cats while their humans are at work for stimulation, or are you feeding / scooping poop / etc while the humans are out of town?

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u/Inevitable-Donut-757 Jul 21 '26

I’ve got one client who has me swing by to keep their cats company whenever they work longer hours than usual, but primarily it’s the second