A few years ago I was doing quite a bit of pet sitting and needed to vent some things. Here are those things, in list form.
1. Ask people to care for your pets as soon as you know when you’re leaving. Even if your dates are flexible, it’s nice to give someone as much notice as possible, and it gives you more time if your first choice isn’t available. Of course, last minute trips happen, but don’t make it your M.O. to wait until the night before you leave to ask your friends to watch the pets. It’s rude.
2. Leave written instructions for how you want your pets cared for. Example: “The dogs normally get fed at night, one scoop of food in each bowl. The older dog will try and eat both bowls, so we feed them in separate rooms.” Or, “fill the food bowls up, they graze all day”. Or “please leave the toilet seat up, the cats like to drink out of there”. Even if you’ve already gone over it verbally, it’s nice to have it written out so that nothing gets overlooked.
3. Pick up your home so that it is moderately clean. It doesn’t have to be “The in-laws are coming for dinner, OMG! scrub the baseboards” clean. Just make sure that the house is picked up for the most part. As someone who has done a lot of pet sitting, it’s not fun to walk into a home to care for someone’s animals and it’s a disaster area. If you have dogs, and you go out of town, and your house is a mess, how will I know what the dogs did, and what you left? How will I know which toys are acceptable for the pets to play with? Even if I’m at your house socially all of the time, and I’ve seen your home a mess a hundred times … pick up before you go out of town. Not only will the pet sitter appreciate it, but you will too when you come home from a trip and your home doesn’t look like a fucking tornado hit it.
4. Leave your contact information, the vet’s contact information, and the name of someone else that can be on stand by if something happens and I can’t make it, or I need help because one of the dogs got into the trash you didn’t bother to take out before you left.
5.Leave the leash out, or at least in your written instructions, tell me where it is so I don’t have to fashion one for myself, or go on a hunt looking for it if I need to take your dog somewhere. Leave the cat carrier out if you have cats….ditto on the reason.
6. Leave a little cash, maybe twenty bucks. Not as payment, we’ll have worked that out, or it may be understood that it’s volunteer, but leave some cash anyway in case there’s an emergency you’re not leaving the pet sitter using their own money, which they may not have to spare, to care for your animals.
7. If you have cats, clean the litter box before you leave. I cannot stress this enough. And I will know if you don’t. I have three cats; trust me, I will know. If you don’t expect me to scoop the litter, because you’re only gone for two days, CLEAN THE FUCKING LITTER BOX BEFORE YOU LEAVE. This is your pets bathroom, if it’s nasty and dirty, well, he just might not want to go in there, and I really, really don’t want to have to clean up cat urine. It is hard to get out, and honestly, you should show your animal a little more respect than that.
8. If you expect me to clean the box, LEAVE THE SUPPLIES OUT. I don’t really want to go hunting for the scooper, the bags you use for the litter or the litter itself. If you don’t want it thrown away in the house, SAY THAT or it’s going in the kitchen garbage. (this is where written instructions can be handy…if I don’t remember what you said on the phone two weeks ago, I can refer to the written instructions and there will be no confusion)
9. If you have a complicated alarm system, please make sure you’ve gone over it with me, and left instructions on how to turn it off, or who to call in case I set it off. Leave me your code, your code word with the security company and for the love of GOD don’t expect me to REMEMBER it….write that shit down. I know it is TOP SECRET. I know that you don’t want it falling into the wrong hands. I am a responsible person, I will not give it to anyone. I will leave the paper for you to destroy when you come home. I will not make copies, hand it out to the neighborhood folks, post it on the internet….I mean, if you trust me to come into your home while you are gone and care for your animals, don’t insult me by not giving me the security information.
10. If you have plants you want me to water, tell me. If you have mail and / or newspapers you want me to bring inside, tell me. I don't do these things automatically.
11. For outdoor animals, please let me know if one of them is afraid of thunderstorms, likes to run away, can jump the fence, or has any other weird behavior. I love animals, I will make a point of coming over if it’s going to storm and let the dog in.
12. If there are medications that I need to give your dog, please tell me how you do it so I can replicate it. If the dog won’t eat it unless it’s covered in peanut butter, leave the peanut butter out. If your pet lizard needs some weird ass homeopathic shit put in his water every morning, it’d be nice if you mentioned that. If I come in and find him all jacked up, or he won’t drink the water with out it….you’ll be getting a call on your trip from the pet sitter. If it’s no big deal that he won’t drink, mention that too…. remember, this is what I’m there for, to make sure that your animals are cared for, loved, talked to and fed. I don’t just come in, fill the bowls and leave. I take care of your animals as if they were my own.
For some reason people think pet sitting is pretty easy. In fact, that’s how most people try to sell it when you asking someone do to it. They say things like “Oh, just come by a couple of times and make sure they have food and water”. But that is misleading. Because if you have just one dog who is used to your company in the evenings…don’t tell the pet sitter to just drop by once and feed him. A good pet sitter will come by at least twice a day for at least an hour. Yes, an HOUR and actually CARE for your pets. You do not have to sell it that it’s an easy thing, having animals isn’t easy, and the truth is, if you treat them as an after thought I probably won’t want to sit for you again. Your animals are part of your family, and sometimes, you can’t bring the whole family to visit your folks, I get that, but don’t minimize their care either. It makes you a shitty pet owner.