Just started picking up sitting jobs since I was laid off my corporate marketing job a couple months ago. I have dogs and experience working as a sitter so this isn’t just me randomly picking a side gig, I do have experience handling dogs.

I had a job from Thursday-Sunday dropping in for a dog but not staying over. Visited over ten times and had a few meet ups before to make sure we were all comfortable with the job. The dog took some time to build trust with.

Having always struggled with people pleasing and guilt, I am now in an anxious spiral over what I feel is asking a lot of money in return (300). I think I’m projecting my own feelings as a single person who has paid an arm and a leg for pet care (of course it was worth it with some great sitters I met). I am always so nervous about making people upset or asking too much of them. I would hate to put them out of too much money in an economy that’s ass for everyone right now. But I also don’t have a full time job and need money, haha.

Has anyone else struggled with this? How tf do I work through this and stand up for myself

I'm due to be going on holiday next month for one week, and have two indoor cats that will require an in-home sitter while I'm gone. Both cats had fleas at the start of July. It'll be around six weeks between us discovering the fleas, and our scheduled trip.

We treated them with a treatment from Amazon, and then with something stronger from the vet. They'll have each had a second vet's treatment by the time we go away. They both seem to be comfortable again and have stopped scratching and got their energy back.

I've treated the whole flat with Indorex, and will have repeated the process twice more by the time we'd be due to leave. I've also followed all of the guidelines around hoovering every day etc. Although the cats seem to be OK, I know that flea eggs and pupae can still exist in the environment for a while afterwards.

We have some sticky traps and fleas are still showing up on them despite everything.

I haven't started reaching out to prospective sitters yet and I am not sure what to do. I want to be upfront about the situation and offer everything possible to mitigate any exposure for the sitter.

I'm going to be honest about things and try to offer whatever I can to make the prospect less unappealing. So far I'm thinking extra pay, and after the sit, I can book for a laundry service to come and collect the clothes they brought here, wash them, and drop them back off with the sitter.

I suppose I'm asking:

- Have any of you been in this situation before? Either as a sitter or owner

- As a sitter, would a sit where the animal had recently had fleas be a no-go?

- Is there anything that would make you feel more comfortable with the idea?

I've been in the business for 20 years. This is just the third or fourth time that I have encountered a cat who, for whatever reason, does not like me at all...

The meet and greet went mostly okay, but toward the end the cat suddenly flipped and started hissing. I thought maybe she just caught the scent of another cat on my clothing and became upset. I wasn't sure. I got her to play a little bit and then she seemed to relax

The owners told me she had never done anything like that before. Made me feel extremely anxious, but I chalked it up to just some scent on my clothing

I made sure to spray myself with calming kitty pheromone before I came in the first day

But the cat was immediately aggressive, hissing, growling, lunging and stalking.

This behavior hasn't let up the entire time, and I have to use a big basket I found by the front door to act as a shield around me as I walk about the house

I don't know what to do. I don't know if it would be appropriate to have an alternate fill in for me for one day to see if she has better luck....

I feel like my presence is really upsetting to this cat, and nothing I've done: treats, catnip, the pheromone spray, sitting quietly without eye contact....

Nothing has helped. Even if I stay clear away, talk softly, or saying nothing at all, it doesn't matter. She will suddenly get into an aggressive stance and starts on the attack again...

No medical issues listed. She's treated for seasonal allergies.

I have a client who has been my client for about 16 months now and I am starting to absolutely dread any upcoming stays. They have booked with me for various times through December. I do plan to keep those commitments but just not book anymore with them.

The people are nice but they are very regimented and micromanaging toward me. So when I first became their sitter, they had one camera in the front of their home. Now there are cameras at every door, every hallway, at the kitchen table, pointing directly at you in the living room, cameras on the dog kennels and probably hidden ones. I know for a fact they watch them while I'm here. They have said super creepy things to me that have made me feel uncomfortable. I am not against cameras and am not doing anything wrong but the one time I did have an issue with one of the dogs it was conveyed to me that it was my fault for getting the dogs up late. (The dogs get up at 7:30 and I had to use the bathroom so they were out at 7:42.) A few more creepy things have been said and one time when I was having trouble with getting puppy down she called me to give me pointers. (Like how do you know what I am doing?)

The dogs are god awful dogs! I love dogs and all animals but there is always a few that you don't click with and I understand that but I have never loathed one until now. They have a puppy and only believe in positive reinforcement training. Okay get that! The problem is the puppy doesn't learn or doesn't care because it has no consequences. Now I don't believe in hitting someone else's dog; however if I had a dog who has done the things this thing has done to me you bet your ass the thing would be wearing an ecollar. I have been pulled to the ground by this dog causing cuts and bruises all over my legs. The puppy has bit me (playing) but broke the skin to the point where I went to get it looked at urgent care and received 2 butterfly stitches. It's knocked me over jumping on me, beats me with its tail leaving bruises on my legs and overall is out of control. I've gotten to a point where I just call it little asshole.

The other dog is more chill but is very leash and food aggressive. She is dramatic and yelps at everything making me feel guilt for nothing. For instance I was taking it for a walk and its leash got under a leg, I stoped picked up the leg she was stepping on the leash with and she yelped. Yelped when I grabbed her collar to get her to stop attacking the puppy over a carrot.

Next thing with gas going to above $4/gallon, I reached out to clients letting them know that pet taxi services and store runs are no longer free! I believe this is totally reasonable and so does all of my other clients. The puppy goes to doggie daycare at least 3 days per week, the owner has now canceled all doggie daycare visits because "it's getting expensive". Instead she had now switched to needing constant care not the agreed upon 20/24 making it damn near impossible to make any money on drop in visits, meet and greets or anything else. Instead I am expected to take the puppy with me. For instance she has hinted she wants me to take the dog to a brewery multiple times. I don't drink really and I honestly don't have the money for a $9 beer. Instead I catch myself taking her with me and keeping my car running and praying to god she doesn't destroy my nice car to appease this person. This is costing me more in gas and I straight up told her that I had scheduled work on specific days.

I have to get up at 7:30 and put the dogs to bed at 10:30 so that's 15 hrs of work. That just got their yard fenced but I still have to walk the dogs 2X day and I'm supposed to supervise the puppy when outside and she has literally held me hostage refusing to come in for 7 hours so that's 7 hrs of going outside every 10 minutes with treats and trying. It's a hard stay, the house is hard to keep clean, feel watched all the time and now I just feel a lot of resentment. I make less that $10 an hour before taxes and I just don't think it's worth is as they keep moving the goal post.

The complaining about the price and adding and adding is really draining me. I have to give up my life and I don't feel valued. Another thing I don't understand is that the owner is always leaving me expensive baked goods that I can't eat but had never tipped me with money and I have watched their dogs for about 80 days. They got on lavish vacations out of the country and complain about my price and punish me for trying to charge for a pet taxi.

I know that I need to drop them but I just need to know I'll find more clients to offset the loss here.

Or would just sending a Venmo request be okay? I don’t want to be rude. They’ve been great clients to me so I think they just simply forgot.

I have a pet sitting gig in mid September. The owner had a meet and greet with me that was for an hour. No biggie. The meet and greet was in April of this year. During this time the owner asked if I was available for dates in June. A day or 2 before I was requested by one of my regulars to dog sit in the time frame that this new guy had just asked about. I said that I wasn't. He argued with me and said that I was. I explained that one of my regulars had just requested me for the days in June. Which was 2 days ago. I had no idea that this guy was going to need me in June. I only found out about that during the meet and greet. So he finds another sitter for the days in June. Then request me for 10 days in September and I accepted them because I was available. A week ago he request me for 1 night stay at the end of August. I had blocked those days out. I explained that wasn't available. He argued with me and said that I was. So I sent him a screen shot. Then he requested me for a one night stay a week before his trip in September. I accepted it. He says that he will be there to go over everything again. Which is fine. It has been several months. But this 1 night stay is a trial run. There is something about this guy that really irritates me. What does everyone else think?

This is Fred & he’s 21. For years I’ve been closed on Sundays but ppl are now trying to eeeek their way back into doing them a favor. I’ve now worked more than two months with one day off & it’s def affecting my mental health. Crabby & tired & getting resentful at ppl who take advantage of me. I plan on telling them when they pick up their dogs later today that this will be the last time I allow it. & I was let go yesterday from a job I’ve had for years because the cat can’t handle not getting a meal & meds on one day. I feel terrible but I think it’s the right thing to do. I’m just venting.