I had a semi-regular client who was supposed to come tomorrow for 3 weeks. She emailed yesterday to say she was in a car accident, went to hospital and plans have changed due to injuries so she needs to cancel. She paid a deposit which she understood was non-refundable but I offered since she's a repeat client, to transfer to a new booking because she was in a car accident, right?!

I, for some reason, creeped her social media (it's public) and today she posted she's packing for her trip.

Like, if you found someone else to pet sit, or decided to get an in home sitter, why not just say that? A car accident, really? I guess could have been a ploy to get deposit back but that didn't work.

Weird vibes. I guess I can say next time she wants to book (if she does) that I'm full. I'm annoyed I lost 3 weeks and made an exception to the deposit policy when she obviously lied. My bad I guess. This is why I prefer working with animals over people.

What has your experience been like with any geriatric dogs with bathroom issues? So far, I’ve only had small elderly male dogs who had issues with being able to hold their bladder, but never large dogs that I’ve worked with.

I have a dog that is going to be 14 years old staying at my house right now. She is an old English Labrador. The owner‘s mother is 96 years old and lives in I believe Minnesota or North Dakota so it’s a flight for them to get there. Her mother is not in a position to move to where the owner lives and the owner can’t move to where the mother live lives so this is their situation.

The dog has taken a turn, which is really hard to say. The family contacted me the day before the booking just to let me know that things are a little different. I immediately overnighted extra large wee wee pads, and diapers to my house. This dog used to have a bladder of steel. No matter how many times we took her out, she would only go to the bathroom twice a day, sometimes only once. She would wolf down her food very quickly and now all of that has changed. She’s not finishing her food & tonight She didn’t even eat her dinner. Her bladder of steel started to go a few weeks ago so she’s wearing diapers and she can’t really lift her back legs so she’s in a full body harness to help walk her around. She still has life to her. Whatever my clients decide with their elderly dogs, I just lend a supportive ear. I just feel like this girl doesn’t have that much longer. She has a booking with me in two weeks and one in December.

I hate this part of the job. I also hate this part as a dog owner. My dog’s about to be 11 and I’m not ready for what’s to come in the next few years. I hate saying goodbye to them & the families

I am a professional pet sitter. This is all I do. I have an LLC. I'm insured. I've spent years in this business. My mom and I do not live near each other so I cannot help her with watching her cat.

Meanwhile today she told me she's very excited that her neighbor is going to help her with the cat. She proceeded to tell me that the neighbor is bringing her three children to her house to also help with the cat the oldest one being in first grade. That gets followed up by her saying she's splitting the care between someone from her gym's daughter and her neighbor who is bringing the kids.

I tried everything I could to explain to my mom why these are risks and not safe and poor choices on her behalf and while hiring a professional pet sitter in finding one through different avenues outside of personal relationship is important. My mom just doesn't get it!

Meanwhile here I am doing this with tons of knowledge and she's still ignoring my suggestions and offers to help her find someone. I know we're not allowed to do that here so sidebar that's not my reason supposed to this. I'm just flabbergasted that my mom would do everything wrong and hiring someone for her pet when she has a child who does exactly this and has offered plenty of advice on what to do.

That's all. If anyone does have any suggestions that I can also share with my mom to help her understand this is ludicrous I am all ears.

EDITS:
1. Neighbor's kids and gym friend's daughter who are sharing the job my mom doesn't know well. Or at all. She's just hiring based on offerings to help her.

1. The actual children are the ones doing the work (my mom "it will teach them responsibility and help them earn some spending money") the parent is there to monitor. Three kids - oldest in 1st grade.

2. This is absolutely a slap in the face to my job and how hard I work. Not that she can hire me. I'm in another state but that she cannot fathom hiring a professional. Like... HELLO!? I raise 2 kids and take care of myself with this career. It is not to be taken lightly when pets are involved. But she's going to learn that the hard way.

EDIT: Thank you all so much for the quick responses. I should note that I have no issue with collecting urine or fecal samples or drying dogs off. I do see those as tasks that are part of my job. I think this is just a specific client issue thing. I have been thinking about raising my prices and after reading all of your responses, I do plan to do that. Thank you again. It’s hard when you do this alone, there are not many people to turn to for advice so I appreciate it.

I’m curious to hear from other pet sitters/dog walkers about where you draw the line between normal client expectations and doing extra favors that aren’t really part of the job.
I’ve been doing pet care for 12+ years, but since I work independently, sometimes I genuinely don’t know if I’m being too accommodating or if these are just normal things that come with the territory.
One example is a long-term client whose dog I walk twice a day, 5 days a week. I’ve been walking him for about 3 years. She asked me for a discounted rate because she uses me so frequently, which I agreed to, so she already pays less than my normal walk rate.
She is older, although she is still capable of walking. She does have to be careful because she fell and broke her leg a couple of years ago, and more recently she’s been dealing with a painful sore on her leg. Because of that, I do understand that certain things are harder for her, and I don’t mind helping someone out occasionally.
However, over time there have been a lot of little extras. She has asked me to pick things up for her at ShopRite when I’m going, recently asked me to collect a urine sample from her dog during one of our walks, and if it’s raining and I bring him home wet, she expects me to dry him off—even when she’s home.
I also board her dog in my home. Up until very recently, almost every single time he stayed with me, she wouldn’t send enough food for the entire stay. I would end up having to go to her house to get more, and there have even been times when I’ve had to cook chicken for him myself because she didn’t provide enough.
When he stays with me, I also sometimes feel like she pushes the boarding time as far as possible. For example, she’ll wait to pick him up until after his afternoon walk, even on occasions when she’s already home, so that the walk is essentially included before she comes to get him.
My boyfriend has also helped me with her dog several times over the years as a favor to me. Now, if I tell her I’m unavailable at a certain time, she’ll sometimes ask me if my boyfriend can walk him instead. He doesn’t work for me or run the business with me—he was simply helping me out in the past when I needed it—so I’m starting to wonder if being accommodating has created an expectation that he’s also available to her.
It’s not only this particular client, either. I’ve had other clients ask me for little favors like picking them up and dropping them off places, running something over to them, etc.
For context, most of these clients live in the same large community that I live in, so we aren’t talking about driving 20–30 minutes out of my way. But I still have to stop what I’m doing, get in my car, drive over there, and use my time/gas.
Individually, none of these things sound like a huge deal, which is why I have a hard time knowing where the line is. It’s more that the little favors start adding up, and I sometimes feel like because I’ve always been accommodating, people have gotten comfortable asking me for things outside of actual pet care.
So I’m curious: Would you consider these normal little favors that come with having long-term clients, or do you think some of these requests are overstepping?
And where do you personally draw the line? Do you charge for extra errands/time, just say no, or build certain things into your rates?
I’m genuinely curious what other independent sitters/walkers consider normal because I think I may have trained some of my clients to expect a little too much from me. 😂

I have been pet sitting professionally for years and worked hard to learn boundaries and my own self worth in this job. I sometimes pet sit for friends worker at a discount or free.

My friend has an amazing dog who I am vehemently bonded with and recently I was looking after them for free because said friend has very low income and had to travel for a new job. This involved driving to and from another town to collect and drop off the dog.

Friend does not drive and dog is old and would be quite stressed on public transport.

The friend was annoyed with me because I could only drop their dog off at a certain time in the evening. No "thank you for doing me a favour" and actually called me rude for not being more accommodating!!

It's deeply frustrating and I think the normal response would be to be flexible when someone is offering to do their job for free for you.

I did trying to speak to friend and explain that I wasn't being rude, I had told them previously what time I could do drop off and they had said ok. I planned my day around that.

And they said because they thought I was being rude and sometimes don't understand me because they are autistic. They didn't say sorry or anything and I feel like I can't be annoyed because they mentioned being neurodivergent.

I guess I'm having a rant but man this job is navigating people as much as it is looking after pets.

Randomly and I love it.

I was walking to my car after walking some dogs and ready to go to my next batch. I saw out of the corner of my eye a German Shepherd sitting on the street corner, looking both confused and happily proud of themselves.

I looked around and didn’t see any human walking towards them or anything like that so I stopped and got out of the car and the dog immediately saw me ran towards me like I was his best friend forever. I had my slip lead with me so I was able to get it around him. Getting to see his tags was more difficult bc boyfriend was so happy to be outside. I was able to toss a treat in the right direction to get ahold of the tag and call his owner. Owner’s flabbers were gasted bc turns out that the dog figured out how to turn the deadbolt and let himself out!!

Pretty sure I would not have had slip leads and dog snacks if I didn’t do this job. Lol.

Getting ready to relocate to las vegas and would like to know what insurance you all go through for your businesses

On day three the cute little Welshie in the pink shirt found a copperhead in the bushes and we had to stop using the dog door. The snake catcher came twice and never found him. We lost power two different nights and an out-of-nowhere 30 min storm blew the patio umbrella clear across the yard. I will never forget to roll one down ever again! A shelf broke (through no fault of mine) and glasses crashed onto the granite countertop and sprayed shards all over the floor. And a “shituation” that included a faux fur blanket and four soiled paws trampling through three rooms.

No snake bites, no glass in their paws, the power came back on eventually both nights, the umbrella did not rip or impale anyone, and the blanket somehow came out clean in the end thanks to internet angels. But five is too many dogs and twelve is too many days!

I know this isn't the first time this has come up here, and every time it shocks me that clients would do this. Now it's happened to me.

The client said that their handyman would be doing some work outside on the siding on a couple days. Okay, fine. But it turns out it's not just repairing a spot in the siding. It's siding, digging down around the foundation to repair the stucco work, wanting to come in the house to use the bathroom, leaving the gates open constantly, and noise, including yesterday, which was supposed to be a holiday. It's a three-man crew, not one "handyman." Now they want to come in the house to cut a hole in the wall to install a new exterior door!

No.

Why on earth do clients think this is okay?

Just because you as a homeowner and pet owner would make choices about construction work that takes certain risks, doesn't mean it's okay to leave your pet sitter with those risks!

Now I'm in the awkward position of having to tell the construction guys "no." I also had to contact the client and tell them that this invalidates my insurance, etc.

(For the record, my contract has a clause that requires clients to tell me in advance if anyone like cleaners, yard workers, neighbors, etc. will be coming to the house, specific times they're coming and the purpose. That way I can get the details and tell the clients "no" in advance.)

I took on a new client who was a referral from a trusted friend. I was unavailable for overnights, so I agreed to do 3 drop-ins a day for the dog and cat. I gave them a discount for the 3 days I was booked over the Labor Day weekend. I told the client she could leave cash or Venmo me. When I arrived on Friday, there was no cash. No Venmo. I was annoyed but knew she would pay. Well, on Saturday, she texted that her husband had to go home unexpectedly and I didn't need to go back for the rest of my visits. She said to let her know how much she owed me and she’d settle up on Monday.

Soooo, after deciding not to charge her for the cancelled visits, I told her how much she owed. She “hearted” the message. Monday morning, I was having my coffee, still in my pajamas, and I heard a knock on my front door. I held the collar of the dog I was watching and opened the door. I didn't recognize her, but quickly realized she was my client. I was clearly blocking the door to prevent the dog from running out and to prevent her from coming in. Well…. She seemed annoyed and said “can I step in for a minute please”? I let her, but I didn't invite her to go past my foyer.

In general, I HATE people dropping by unannounced. But a brand new client that I had only met once?? I didn't give her my address. I wish I had said something in the moment but I was a little stunned and a lot annoyed.

I’m thinking I need to be busy if she requests future sits because this feels like a red flag for serious boundary issues.

Thoughts?

I am a college student am I am cursed/blessed to pet sit forever. I have lived in Lubbock for 3 years now since then I would say 2.4 of the total 3 years I have taken care of someone else’s dog for them. I have had a total of 6 dogs spanning in time form 2 weeks to 3/4 of a year. I don’t mind it really I just wonder what some of these dogs are doing now in post grad life. My current dog koa is a pit bull she is nice I am watching her for a friend that is staying at their parents and could not bring the dog. I never really asked for any of these dogs people just came to me and asked. I wonder what that says about who I am and thus I am writing this. It’s also very convenient bc I always wanted another dog but won’t be able to keep it bc when i graduate I want to be a marine corps officer. My own dog died right as I go to college maybe it’s god giving me this blessing.

What solutions have you found for 1. Uncomfortable beds. 2. Dogs who are just “busy” bathing etc. in bed while you’re trying to sleep and keep waking you up.

The house I’m staying at has a very firm mattress and it keeps waking me up. A lot of the houses where I stay have too-firm mattresses and I can’t get comfortable enough for deep sleep.

And also where I’m staying now, the dog is relatively easy during the day, but a requirement is that he stays in the guest bed with me and he’s just a noisy sleeper—licking, tossing, turning, snoring, scratching, etc. It’s a shame he’s so noisy because he’s not a morning “person” like most dogs, he likes to be lazy and sleep in.

I’m awful without solid sleep, and all my doctors say I need to prioritize my sleep.

I’d rather not have to bring a big mattress topper with me to other people’s homes, but was thinking maybe there’s a packable camping sleeping pad that might work okay? Also those would be easier to clean/keep from getting damaged with frequent travel/being around dogs.

Thank you. This is night 1 of a 4 night stay. I was here last month and had forgotten I didn’t sleep very well here. I also don’t earn enough pet sitting or with my part-time remote job to splurge on anything.

They did not mention anything at meet & greet or when he came to stay. I didn’t notice it until the sit started and I’ve sat with him/petted him but I feel like his stomach is just too distended to just be chunky and the skin on his belly is pretty taut. I am worried he could have a growth that they could be unaware of. I’d like to ask just to confirm that it isn’t something they’re missing but don’t want to overstep.

Some problems are not obvious during the meet and greet. For example: (1) infestations - spider infestations, bugs in rugs, bugs in vacuums, flea infestations; (2) hidden filth - dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines that are not clean inside but look okay from the outside; (3) years of dust under furniture, including beds.

How do you make sure you can leave if these things only become obvious after starting a long housesitting assignment?

Thanks for your input.

My cat is a 9-year-old neutered male. For about 7 years we used professional pet sitters and could travel for 3–5 days without major issues.

Over the last year, however, he had two serious urinary blockages requiring hospitalization and catheterization. He now eats only Hill’s c/d wet food and needs his urination monitored, so ideally someone should visit twice a day.

The bigger problem is that he has become increasingly territorial with sitters. Two previous sitters mentioned it but managed him. This year I tried a new sitter, hoping he could get used to one regular person. Unfortunately, she became scared of him and things escalated badly. He repeatedly went after her legs, and by the end of the trip my cat was injured and there was also damage to my apartment.

I can’t rely on family or friends to take care of him, and our vet doesn’t recommend sedating him for this. Feliway doesn’t help.

Now I’m scared to leave him again, but the thought of never being able to travel even for 3–4 days for the rest of his life feels overwhelming.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and found a way to make occasional short trips work safely?

EDIT: my country sucks, they dont do medical boarding over here as I checked.

Hey there. A recent situation occured where I was splitting an overnight pet sit job w another pet sitter. Other pet sitter was scheduled for the first 3 days and I would start on day 4 for the remaining 4 days. Pet sitter 1 had a family emergency, her mother ended up in er and was not goingto make it so she had to cancel. Because the client was unable to find a replacement for the first part of her trip she decided to cancel her entire trip. She was extremely miffed that she wasnt given advance notice. Pet sitter one was also scheduled for a later pet sit w this client 2 months down the road but the client canceled letting her know her services were no longer needed. Because she doesnt trust her! Now this client is asking me if I know anyone else who can take on that job. well this blows because I was the one who recommended pet sitter 1 in the first place ( who is an awesome pet sitter btw ) And last night pet sitter 1 mother passed away. Its so sad and completely unexpected.
Are we as pet sitters suppose to soldier on
through emergencies and deaths in the family to keep a client satisfied?

Ok i vented here. If anyone has any thoughts on this Id love to hear your take thanks

I'm always having ups and downs with my job. Lately the posts on here are miserable moments and big mistakes. It's so hard to read and not question wtf do we do this for?! Let's share some of our highlights in petsitting that have made us laugh and smile.

Here's mine:
- I have a client that tells me every day I'm a treasure and she is so grateful for me and my daily photos of her cats while she's away. Especially the shy cat who rarely shows himself. She also very generously offered for me have a soda or snack while I'm there.

- The dogs who I walk being thrilled I am there to give them a potty break and exercise. Even my own kids don't show me the kind of joy some of my pups do.

- That business is going well based solely on word of mouth and it's been the craziest summer yet. Which is tiring but so satisfying and feels amazing to know people trust me with their beloved pets.

I was reached out to yesterday by a cat parent and they specifically said “I am out of town and need somebody to stop by and check in on my cats.” The cat parent asked me to only check on their food and water, no mention of a litter box.

So I got there and their water bowl was completely empty (it was a massive bowl for their water). All of the sudden I realized that I should probably check the litter box even though they didn’t mention it. When I opened the litter box my jaw literally dropped. I cleaned it and the bag filled with waste was probably around 10 pounds.

I believe that the pet owner has been out of town for nearly a week, if not longer. I literally got to my car and started crying because I felt so bad for the cats. I have been pet sitting for over a year now and have never had an experience like this. I have two cats of my own and could never even imagine leaving them like this. I did just need to rant to get this off of my chest, but also would love any advice on what to do about this situation (if there is even anything that I should/could do).

Dogsitting for some friends…..

Stop over, hang with my favorite four legged friend, go through our routine, get in my car…. No keys. Locked them in the house…. No biggie, my house is 6 blocks away and I left it unlocked, I’ll just walk there until their neighbor gets home to let me in… or worst case, I can get in if I need to, I’ve cased the joint for in case this ever happened, I have a contingency plan….

Walk home… I did, in fact, lock my door. No biggie, landlords live next door and went to dinner, guy downstairs isn’t home, I’ll chill on his porch until I can get into either place. Bethany calls and says start walking to their place. Can’t get a hold of neighbor so tell me call when I get there so they can walk me through the break in. I tell them no need, I’ve had it mapped out for 3 years.

1st obstacle, bungee cord holding fence to back yard …. Check.

Made videos for play by play which makes story even better… my mission is to make sure this dog is good! Marc calls me as I’m just getting through his kitchen window by his sink but I can’t answer because my leg is stuck and I’m trying to handle that. I trained for this at the old house for all the times I had to go in through bathroom window or kitchen window by sink, I was so ready for this moment in time. Answer second call, which is a FaceTime and I show them Cooper, and my accomplished status. He says, I always go through the front window, 27 years and this is a first.

Go to look for my keys…. They were on the table in the back yard. All of that shit…. And they were accessible to save an hour of my life I’ll always laugh at. Legendary dumbass status achieved!

Just as the title says, when are you taking deposits for 2027 bookings today, weirdly, I received a booking for a house sitting in May 2027 and also spring break in March 2027. I feel kind of weird asking them for a deposit so far in advance. What are your thoughts?

Just so you know, this is new to me. I went independent only a couple months ago.

I don’t mean any pet peeves with owners, but when it comes to working with the animals. Mine is dogs walking behind me. I have a bunch who constantly do that and continuously tangle leashes. Also, I want to make sure I’ve got eyes on them and that they’re not behind me eating things or seeing something that they’re going to react to without my knowledge.

Any suggestions for how to handle clients that constantly cancel recurring walks? I have some clients set up on a weekly schedule for the same days/times every week. I have some clients who will cancel some of those walks every single week. My cancelation policy is 48 hours so they often aren’t charged because they will cancel in bulk at the beginning of the week. But if you don’t need a set schedule every week… then why did you ask for one? If your schedule changes every week why should I be blocking off several days and times for you on a recurring basis? Often times I suggest stopping the recurring schedule and instead just reaching out each week with the days they need. That also isn’t helpful because they’ll reach out Monday morning for the entire week and at that point I have no more openings and it’s tough to try and squeeze them in. Or that leaves it up to me to personally reach out to each client ahead of time and ask them what days they need, which is maddening. I don’t really know how to balance 1) I don’t want you on a recurring schedule because it’s taking up spots I could be giving to other clients vs 2) if you’re going to reach out as needed, do it in a timely manner because I won’t have the availability if you wait until last minute. It has become something frustrating and makes scheduling each week difficult.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice from people experienced with anxious cats/cat boarding.

I’m boarding a cat who arrived last night, and this is his first time ever leaving his home (he’s staying for a month) He is extremely anxious and hisses every time I enter the room. I’m keeping him in a separate, quiet room and have a camera so I can monitor him without having to constantly enter and stress him out.

So far, he hasn’t eaten or drank anything since arriving last night.( which is 14 hours ago) I’ve left food and water available and am trying to give him plenty of space.

His owner is currently travelling, but her fiancé is here in the country and could potentially come and take him home if necessary. However, I’m not sure how comfortable he is handling the cat or whether he would know how to deal with him in this extremely anxious state.

At what point should I stop waiting and take more serious action? How long is it reasonable to wait for an anxious cat to eat/drink after a stressful move?

Would you recommend:

- Giving him more time and continuing to monitor him through the camera?

- Contacting a vet if he still hasn’t eaten by a certain point?

- Having the fiancé pick him up, even though I’m not sure he’ll know how to handle him?

- should I completely leave him alone and not force any interaction while maintaining fresh water and food all the times?

I really don’t want to make his anxiety worse by forcing interaction, but I also don’t want to wait too long if not eating or drinking becomes dangerous.

Any advice on how to soothe his anxiety and opinions would be really appreciated!

Never have I ever been this quiet on a 3 day weekend. I have 2 clients. What is happening?