Pet sitting as a career

MrA

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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Something I have been thinking about recently...

I already pet sit both in my own home and house/pet sit for friends, family and friends of friends on a very casual basis.

I would need more experience obviously, and car I would imagine eventually. I'd look to get an animal first aid certificate and insurance.

Just general musings really but wondered if any of you use pet sitters and have any other thoughts you could add.

I'll also have a qualification in level 2 animal care by next year (units are health checks and feeding) thinking about any additional qualifications I could get to help my chances?
 
I use them and have never worried about qualifications - I just want someone reliable who I trust to walk the dogs properly every day, and to feed the dogs and cats, and to keep an eye on my house. Good pet sitters are in high demand round here! I have a friend (who is a professional pet sitter) who charges £30 a day, which is worth it for peace of mind about your animals when you're in holiday. And she waters my plants too!
 
You could absolutely make a living at it, £30/day is cheap in our area. For families with dogs, horses and chickens the sky's the limit. I know one person who does it and doesn't even have her own home, because she always has bookings! The only thing is that it could make it hard to keep up a routine with your horses, if they need one, because you could be a long way from the yard. You would definitely need to drive, though not necessarly have your own car - I have insured pet sitters for my car before now.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, really appreciate your input. I would quite like to start off part time with smaller animals and perhaps keep house sitting to local areas to begin with. I know there probably isn't a great deal of money to be made with smaller animals but you've got to start somewhere right.

I've had a look at insurance and that's only £100 roughly a year.

I'll keep looking into it, it suddenly stuck me that maybe this is what I am meant to do, as I'm currently house sitting 2 houses and lots of creatures for my landlady for 4 months and then next week I'm looking after another house for a lady who will only use me as her cats won't tolerate anyone else.

I imagine I could almost start right away with rodents and rabbits and guineas etc. No rush would just be good to start looking more into it
 
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joellie said:
I've never used one but I just wanted to say that I think you would be a great pet sitter and you come across as someone who would really enjoy it :D
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Thank-you, I do really enjoy it, not sure why I haven't considered it seriously before :)
 
From an accountancy point of view you've got limited outgoings other than fuel costs and insurance, but you've got to think about cash flow. Having enough money to cover your debts and chasing folk for money. That's where the trouble sometimes ensues.
Also getting holidays for yourself is difficult, as is expanding - there's only one of you so you are limited to how much you can work.
That's the downside but not by any means insurmountable, especially if you start small and still have another job to subsidise you. Especially if it's seasonal. I've seen a few folk do it and I'm about to start taking advantage of this service myself however a lot of folk just depend on friends and family so getting business might be more difficult than you think. Suck it and see. And your tax return should be quite simple to complete yourself!
 
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Flipo's Mum said:
From an accountancy point of view you've got limited outgoings other than fuel costs and insurance, but you've got to think about cash flow. Having enough money to cover your debts and chasing folk for money. That's where the trouble sometimes ensues.
Also getting holidays for yourself is difficult, as is expanding - there's only one of you so you are limited to how much you can work.
That's the downside but not by any means insurmountable, especially if you start small and still have another job to subsidise you. Especially if it's seasonal. I've seen a few folk do it and I'm about to start taking advantage of this service myself however a lot of folk just depend on friends and family so getting business might be more difficult than you think. Suck it and see. And your tax return should be quite simple to complete yourself!
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Thank-you, helpful to hear. I would like to start small around another job, ideally just start with rodents and other small animals. Then if it all goes pear-shaped or not enough demand can pack it in without too many risks
 
I knew someone that did this. I haven't spoken to her for a while but she actually found the real money was in group dog walking. She tried pet sitting and individual walks. The pet sitting wasn't very popular, the individual walks were, but she soon found herself at capacity so moved to the group walks

http://www.rugbyshappypets.co.uk/dogs/4584819268
 
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When I was going away with work and looking at people I didn't personally know having someone experienced (I wasn't fussed if they were qualified in any way) and insured to handle my horses was paramount for me, it was a huge bonus that I got a friend to do it who also looked after my house and cat :)
 
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My friend uses one regularly. She has two horses, three dogs and three fish. It's something that I will be looking into next year as I now have two ponies and a dog, so it may work out cheaper for me. I would go off recommendations when I look for someone.
 
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My neighbours went away for three months round the world last year and they had a live in house sitter husband and wife duo for there dog. We talked to the sitters one day. They said they had to return to there home once per month for insurance purposes, or someone has to be going in to check on the house for them.
My neighbours went away for 6 weeks again this year and again used a live in sitter husband and wife but a different one to last year. I got talking to him and he said they didn't own a house as they were fully booked for the next twelve months all over the country. They'd been doing it for several years. Think it was about £50 a day they charged. They said it was like being on permanent holiday as they got to go to some lovely places. They went out during the day to visit attractions in the area. They just lived in the house like it was there's. They even mowed the lawns. I guess in between sits you could book into a hotel for a day.
 
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GaryB said:
I knew someone that did this. I haven't spoken to her for a while but she actually found the real money was in group dog walking. She tried pet sitting and individual walks. The pet sitting wasn't very popular, the individual walks were, but she soon found herself at capacity so moved to the group walks

http://www.rugbyshappypets.co.uk/dogs/4584819268
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I think you were the one who planted the idea seed in my head, it's taken a while but I really do think it's a good idea. I'd be happy to branch off into dog walking if that took off.
 
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chunky monkey said:
My neighbours went away for three months round the world last year and they had a live in house sitter husband and wife duo for there dog. We talked to the sitters one day. They said they had to return to there home once per month for insurance purposes, or someone has to be going in to check on the house for them.
My neighbours went away for 6 weeks again this year and again used a live in sitter husband and wife but a different one to last year. I got talking to him and he said they didn't own a house as they were fully booked for the next twelve months all over the country. They'd been doing it for several years. Think it was about £50 a day they charged. They said it was like being on permanent holiday as they got to go to some lovely places. They went out during the day to visit attractions in the area. They just lived in the house like it was there's. They even mowed the lawns. I guess in between sits you could book into a hotel for a day.
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Whilst that sounds amazing I would have Ale pony in tow. For now I would just like to keep things fairly local but who knows in the future. What a brilliant thing to do for a living
 
What sort of experience would you be looking for? I know alot of them seem to be ex veterinary nurses I cannot compete with that. What would be the ideal?
 
I think reliability and trust is key. Your qualification will definitely help your credentials though. If you say you can look after and then let people down last minute they won't ask again or recommend you.
In my job I have got all my new clients just through word of mouth. They know that I hardly ever take a day off. (Says she who has just cancelled her work today after yesterday's accident). But my clients know that if I take a day off it must be serious. Basically I am there week in week out though.
I know people who have used professional dog walkers who have qualifications in dog behaviour however they wouldn't use them again after issues whilst walking there dogs.
 
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Ale said:
What sort of experience would you be looking for? I know alot of them seem to be ex veterinary nurses I cannot compete with that. What would be the ideal?
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What would be important to me was someone who was trustworthy, had kindness and patience and someone with a lot of common sense.
It wouldn’t matter one jot to me if they were qualified as long as they had all of the above.
I think you would be great at it Ale and if you can get some good references from those you are already sitting for that’s a good start. Word of mouth will have your order books full fairly soon I reckon. You go for it :)
 
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