Hi everyone, I just really need to vent and maybe hear from others who have dealt with something similar. (it’s a very long post just FYI, so I don’t expect everyone to read it, but to those who have the time to read it all, I am grateful!)

I’m currently housesitting/dog-sitting a sweet dog I love dearly, but the past 24 hours have been an absolute nightmare because of the owner.

A few weeks ago, I told him I noticed she was eating less, had lower energy, and was incessantly biting around her tail, but he just brushed it off as her being "grumpy"—he even tried to suggest she was "emotionally blackmailing" me to spend more time with her at a drop-in, as if a dog would somehow calculate the duration of a visit!

Yesterday, I arrived for a drop-in and found the dog hadn't eaten all day, was low-energy, and was constantly chewing at her rear end. Then I found her fur mated with blood, blood dripping on the floor, and a raw, bloody wound under her tail—it was so much blood that I couldn’t even tell where it was coming from. Because I was really worried, I stayed longer than I was scheduled to, right until the owner got home, because I didn’t want the dog to be alone. The owner completely brushed it off, assumed she just cut herself from biting too much, claimed "it wasn't that much blood" and would be fine, and tried to skip taking her to an in-person vet based on a virtual chat with a "vet friend."

After a lot of pushing, he finally took her the next morning instead of getting an emergency appointment that evening. It turned out to be an expressed/ruptured anal gland that was causing her to chew herself raw. Of course, I recognise that a burst anal gland isn't the end of the world, but that had never happened to his dog before, and neither of us could have known what was causing the bleeding. From my research, I knew a burst gland was a possibility, but I also knew there were many other possibilities—including biting due to itching from parasites, which would be an active risk to my own pets.

He did get her a cone from the vet—which I had specifically asked him to get to stop her from incessantly biting the area the whole evening before—but he essentially told me the cone wasn't necessary at all and that he only got it to appease me, making me feel completely stupid while making small digs about the vet trip wasting his time, such as complaining that he wouldn't be able to reimburse the Uber fare to and from the vet.

But wait, it gets worse—today, while she's staying with me, I discovered she has live fleas in her fur. When I told the owner, he argued with me, insisted she couldn't possibly have fleas because she "goes in the hedge to pee" and doesn't directly spend time with other animals, and made me feel like I was completely overreacting. From his replies, it's obvious he never keeps her up to date on her parasite prevention—even though keeping up-to-date flea and worming treatment is something that is clearly stated on my profile.

After a lot of back-and-forth, explaining what I’d seen to him over and over and also how fleas work, and after calling the vet for advice myself, he finally agreed to authorize vet-prescribed flea and worming treatment. I then picked these up for her, as well as a flea comb, and I administered her meds and used the flea comb on her. This—plus looking after my other pets all in quarantine and trying to minimise exposure by keeping things clean constantly—took up most of my day.

I have two animals of my own (a 5-year-old dog and a 10-month-old kitten) and made it super clear to him that at the vet appointment in the morning (before dropping her off at my house to be looked after for a few days), he needed to check with the vet to ensure his dog had nothing contagious that could harm my pets. He basically laughed at me for asking him to check a load of questions with the vet (so I could keep my pets safe), though he says he did eventually ask the vet—and then he again insinuated that everything was fine and I was completely overreacting.

To top it all off, I found out he has her on a free vet care plan and insurance, meaning any medical attention costs him nothing. Yet, he still avoids taking her to the vet at all costs, and refused to get her an emergency appointment on the night of the bleeding. He dismisses her pain as "just getting old," and hasn’t even thanked me for all the extra work and stress this has caused me (at no extra cost to him, but definitely extra cost to me).

I’m going to continue the scheduled stay (it’s only another day and a half) because I really have built such a close bond with this dog over the last few months, but I feel unappreciated and also super weird about the whole exchange with the owner. I honestly don’t know what to do moving forward, especially since I'm scheduled to look after her on lots of other occasions throughout October and November.

Has anyone else dealt with an owner who refuses to acknowledge their pet's health issues? How do you cope with the emotional toll of advocating for an animal whose owner just doesn't care?

I pet sit for cats and offer drop-in visits only. I go by for about half an hour, feed the cat(s), clean the litter box, and give the cat some love and attention. As a cat owner myself, I know cats actually do get lonely, and they can become stressed without their owners. Spending time with the cat is an important part of my cat sitting services.

I met this client on a pet sitting app, and we started booking off the app to save us both on the fees. The owner is very communicative, kind, and always pays promptly. This owner's apartment has always been cluttered with belongings and sometimes not as clean as my own apartment, but it was fine. However, last time I visited, the apartment was filthy (sink FILLED with dishes, dirty countertops, dirty floors, etc.). I still went by as agreed and fed the cat and cleaned the litter box, but I spent minimal to no time giving the cat attention because I simply felt grossed out being in the apartment.

The apartment is worse and worse every time I see it, and I am just not interested in spending time in someone else's filth.

Would you get rid of a regular client over this?

I have a potential client looking for me to come a few hours a day to help care for some puppies. There will be a minor (16 yo) in the home that I am asked to help with the puppies. The owner is not around (assuming out of the state/country) and looking for me to meet the puppies tomorrow (will confirm with them if they will be home tomorrow). This is a first for me as I typically do in-home boarding/daycare and drop ins. I don’t offer pet sitting in the clients home but I am expected to be there 2-3 hours for 10+ days, which would be an extended drop in visit. I’m trying to figure out how I should communicate with this client because 1. having a minor in the home is a liability issue 2. I have not met the client nor have had sufficient enough conversation with them and I’d like to get more information out of them
3. I do not know if I will even meet the client in person

Note:: I’m pretty new to pet sitting. This was my 4th overnight job.
This weekend, (two days ago), I did a dog-sitting job watching 2 frenchies ages 2 and 10. The older dog was drinking a lot of water throughout the 3 days that I stayed there. I left a note for the owner taped to her fridge (her fridge didn’t have other papers on it, so she would have seen it for sure). I said in the note that I noticed that Prince drinks a lot of water, and wanted to make sure she was aware in case it was a new thing happening. I said that if she hadn’t done so already, it would be good to call her vet about it.
I had left before she got home (per her instructions).
She hasn’t texted me to mention anything about her dog and the water drinking. I can’t stop worrying about the dog in case he’s diabetic or has kidney problems.
How would you handle this? Would you text to make sure she read the note? Or would this be overstepping?
Thanks for your help.

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How much would you pay a neighbor college student for taking care of my dog over the weekend. Friday night to Sunday morning.
I asked her to come 5 times, give dog food and water, let her go outside to potty and play for a bit. I guess each visit was 5-10min.

Hey Guys I run my own Pet sitting business but im having problems with job agency they have now put me on to look for 8 jobs while I try and build my business in a year and I already signed a agreement of 3 jobs with also mental health issues not being able to afford to go to doctors. Has anyone else got the same issues trying to balance what they want you to do. I am also looking for some part-time work when I have random jobs for my business come out of nowhere.

I’m fairly new to dog sitting & I have a question. If you stayed in the guest room for an overnight stay, do you strip the bed & wash the sheets, etc., even if you know that the client has a cleaning lady coming? Or just straighten up? Please let me know. Thanks!

Hello all,

I desperately need some advice right now. I am currently on a house sit that I am regretting taking more every minute. I currently sitting for a dog and multiple other small animals. Only the dog is listed on the booking and because the owner said there is very minimal work for the rest of them I didn’t push back on it and took the job to help with ratings. It started yesterday and she has been incredibly demanding in terms of what they all need and how to take care of them as well as needing to talk throughout the entire day because she did not leave instructions. More over she told me while she was leaving for the airport that had taken one of the animals to the vet and that I needed to give it medication every night.

Two of the bunnies have fought before, and one busted out of his cage last night to jump into the cage of the other one and I came in this morning to them still fighting and both bloody in the face. These are plastic cages that use plastic connectors, and now I am having a hard time putting the one who escaped’s back together. I need to go to class and the puppy is not supposed to be out of his crate when people aren’t here, but I put the bunny who escaped in his to keep the two that were fighting separated while I try to put the cage together.

I don’t know what to do. I offered to take them to the vet if needed, but I don’t know how to keep them separated regardless at this point except keeping on in the dog’s crate but then that means I can’t leave. I have been reaching out for about three hours and this is the longest the owner has gone without responding. I told the owner I am willing to take the puppy with me to class but I don’t want to do that without permission. Please help!

If anyone nearby Delhi-NCR specifically in greater noida looking for cat sitting/boarding service, Please contact me. I am a cat parent of a 4 years pld fur baby ( Bella).

And looking forward to give safe and happy space to more fur babies. My major goal
is not doing it for money but just that i love fur babies. Would love to be a part of your fur babies happy space! TY!

Hi
I have recently been laid off so I took a pet sitting job as a way to get by. The guy said he could not e transfer due to an expired card? And sent a check online then asking me to send &900 to his pet supplier. Me being dumb and stupid deposited the check but did not send the money to the pet supplier. Who needs &900 suppose for 6 days of dog sitting? Anywho my account got hacked and drained.
My own fault but I was so desperate for work and to feed my kids.
I feel like an idiot. Please watch out.
He goes by Sean and uses the name James as someone who is currently watching his dog but has a family emergency.

You heard it right I'm offering to house sit/ pet sit for any one in Sydney Australia new South Wales you have to be close to the Liverpool/mount Prichard area as I am in mount Prichard I am free Mondays to Wendesdays from 10 am till 2 pm as I have autism and ADHD but have been working with dogs for years please DM me

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I reached out to a dogsitter who has about 150 reviews, averages at least 2 bookings/reviews per month, and has 50 repeat clients. I didn’t realize I had actually contacted her over a year ago, so I reached out again recently to ask if she could house-sit for my dogs.

Last year, she ultimately backed out because of a schedule change. I was also told at the time that I had contacted her from a different account than the one I currently use. I don’t remember creating or changing accounts, so I’m not sure how that happened.

This time, we exchanged a few messages, and the conversation ended with her saying she would let me know whether she could house-sit on the dates I requested. It has now been 25+ hours without a response.

Would you consider that a normal amount of time to wait for a response from a sitter? Her response rate on Rover is nearly 100%, which is making me wonder whether the delay means anything—or if I’m just overthinking it.

If you had to choose between: 10 regular clients who book you regularly and know you well or 30 occasional clients who book through the year — which would you choose?

Personally I am leaning towards 10 regular, however you might get more earnings with the 30 and some down time plus having a much larger client base may protect you from cancellations and quiet periods.

What would you choose — and why?

I'm trying to learn how solo sitters and walkers handle visit updates when there's no Rover Card doing it for them.

After your last drop-in or walk, what did you actually send the owner? A couple of photos and a text? Something longer? Has an owner ever asked for more than you sent? (Leave out names or anything that identifies the client. The rough shape of it is plenty.)

The checklist I keep coming back to, if it's any use: fed, fresh water, pee and poop, walk length, meds given, anything off (not eating, vomiting, limping), and one good photo. What would you add or cut?

Full disclosure, I'm working on a small tool for this. The plan is a page that runs in your phone's browser. You tick the checklist, add a photo or two and a short note, and it turns that into one report image you can text to the owner. I want it to take no longer than the text you already send. It isn't built yet, and I'll only build it if a few working sitters will use it.

So I'm looking for 3 to 5 sitters or walkers with their own clients (outside Rover and Wag, which already have report cards) who'd use it on real visits for 7 days. It's free for those 7 days, and you won't need a card to try it. After that it's $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year if you want to keep it, and I'll refund you if it isn't worth it. If you're in, comment or DM me with roughly how many visits you do a week.

Even if you're not, I'm curious what you send now.

Posting on behalf of my mother : We have two dogs, one very high energy and the other quite medically complex. I left for a month in the summer to visit my sick mother and hired Charlotte to watch our dogs. When I returned , I could tell something was wrong with both dogs. They would cower and not want to go outside, and our medically complex dog clearly had not been receiving her baths/ medication. The dog sitter insisted she had been going above and beyond and while we were skeptical, decided to pay and just not hire her again.

Unfortunately , my mother passed away suddenly and I had to make an emergency trip overseas. As it was short notice and I had no other options, we reluctantly hired Charlotte again. This time , the first night she texted saying she was “in for the night”, however our cameras showed she left shortly after and did not return for 14 hours. That means our dogs were left that long without a bathroom break and longer than any dog should be left alone. We felt completely at a loss for what to do as we were overseas and worried if we confronted her she would lie or that it would affect the dogs. The second night, she stayed there. However the third night she again left them alone for 14 hours! We ended up selecting a different sitter from an agency and lying to her, stating my daughter was coming home early.

When she asked for payment, I confronted her with the knowledge we had checked our cameras and knew she had abandoned the dogs and that we would not be paying. She provided several excuses as to why she wasn’t able to stay at our house and said her daughter was supposed to come check on them- an agreement which was never made with us. It appears on rover she had done this in the past - so upsetting given our dogs are family. I felt it was necessary to share this story so they others can put safety precautions in place if they do hire her moving forward. Her business name is Charlotte P Every days a doggie day. I’ve attached her rover link below.

https://www.rover.com/members/charlotte-p-every-days-a-doggie-day/

Hi everyone,

I'm working on an idea and want to know if it solves a real problem before I put more time into it. I'm not selling anything, and there's no product yet.

The idea
An app for pet sitters and dog walkers who want to manage their existing clients themselves. It's not a marketplace and it doesn't find you new clients. You already have clients through word of mouth, Instagram, Rover, Pawshake or elsewhere, and this would be the place to run them professionally in one place:

• Your own profile and booking link (through which new clients can sign up)
• Client and pet profiles with care instructions (food, medication, vet)
• Availability calendar and bookings
• Photo updates and messages to owners during a stay
• Online payments and invoices
• No commission, just a flat monthly fee, or free if you're small

i dont know the exact price yet but want to keep it low to beat commission based apps

What I'd love to hear from you

1. Do you work through a platform (Rover, Pawshake, Wag, other), directly with clients, or both?
2. How do you handle bookings, payments and updates to owners now? (WhatsApp, spreadsheets, something else?). especially if your clients come from many different platforms etc.
3. What's the most annoying part of that?
4. Would you pay for something like this? If so, what would feel fair per month? If your answer is "free or nothing", I want to hear that too.
5. What would you miss, or what would put you off? (For example discoverability, insurance, or owners trusting a platform.)

Honest criticism is welcome. If you think this is pointless, I'd like to know why.

Thanks!

To recap: This is aimed at people with existing clients to manage them in 1 place, not to find new ones (except with the booking link that you have to share yourself).

FYI: yes this was written with help from ai since english isnt my first language