9 Tips For Choosing A Pet Sitter

When you decide to get a pet sitter, you agree to leave your keys and your beloved pet to an unknown person. This makes a pet sitter an important person in your life. Choosing a pet sitter whom you can rely upon for your pet’s health, happiness, and well-being is not too much of elbow grease but still, you need to keep some things in your mind while you’re looking for one.

1.  Where To Look For Quality Pet Sitters

If you’ve never chosen a pet sitter before and are not sure where to look for one, you must look for it online first. There are many websites with the pet sitters list based on location. While some of them, for example, Pet Sitters International and National Association of Pet Sitters allow you to enter the zip code of your area to find the pet sitters near you. When you click on anyone on the list, you will get to read more about that pet sitting service.

A few more sites you could check. Angie’s List, SitterCity, and Care.com These sites also provide lists for pet sitters.

The next best idea is to ask your neighbors, family, or friends for their suggestions for the pet sitters. They might have had good and bad experiences which will be useful to you for deciding which one to go for. After all, a referral from a trusted friend may be more reliable than an online listing.

2.  Look For The Signs Of Quality Pet Sitters

When you shortlist pet sitting services, make sure you don’t miss the points I am going to mention to select the quality pet sitter. After all, you do not want to waste your time calling the pet sitters who don’t have the right credentials.

Ensure that the pet sitter you want to hire has liability insurance. In addition, a pet sitter should also have had some formal and professional training.

Check whether the pet sitter works with a veterinarian or not. It is really important because you might want emergency services available for your pet if necessary.

The next thing to ensure is the pet sitter provides references. Don’t hire a pet sitter without contacting their past clients first to confirm the legitimacy of a potential sitter. Checking references is important because you will be leaving your pet and your house to that person when you’re away.

3.  Make A List of Your Specific Needs For Your Pets

As soon as you shortlist the pet sitters, start compiling a list of your specific needs as indicators of quality pet sitters.

• What medical problems does your pet have in specific? If so, only shortlist the sitters with the experience of working with animals with health issues.
• What time you will need a pet sitter to be caretaking of your pet? Decide whether you want an overnight sitter or not. And shortlist sitters accordingly.
• What pet animal do you have? You don’t want to hire a pet sitter for your pooch who has only had experience with cats.

4.  Money Matters, Compare Prices

Make a budget and only keep the sitters who fall in the price range you have decided. Some pet sitting services give room to negotiate so try to persuade him according to your requirements and your budget.

The prices are available online or you can confirm the price and about the negotiation when you’re making calls. Select what meets your requirements the best.

5.  Things to Ask While Conducting Interviews

Karen from Doglovesbest says, “ask them why they like pets. You can judge their answer based on what he says and how. If you don’t get convinced with their answer, you might not want him as your pet sitter.”

Ask him what services he is willing to provide. You now have a list of all of your pets’ needs. Confirm if he is ok with doing all of that or not. For example, your dog is long-haired and he needs grooming on a daily basis, you might want to ask beforehand.

The next thing to ask about is the sitter’s training and experience. Ask him about his experience in detail. What kind of pets he has experience with and how he managed them. For example, If he has experience with small toy dogs like Poodles, you might not want him to pet sit your Great Dane.

6.  Ensure That The Pet Sitter Is Insured

The pet sitter has to be insured in the case of an accident that occurs while you are away. Generally, if a sitter works through an agency, he may be insured through that agency. Independent sitters have their own insurance.

7.  Contact References

This is a nice way to make a final decision. You can ask references all the questions you have and stay assured of your concerns. If you have filtered pet sitters, you should call up all the references.

This can be a great opportunity for you to discuss the reason you’re unsure of whether to hire the sitter or not. So don’t forget to bring this reason up when you’re calling the sitter’s references.

If you’re calling only one reference from each pet sitter’s references then try to contact the reference which has the same pet like yours. This will help you to assess the sitter better. In addition, ask them if the sitter was respectful of their homes. A pet sitter will have access to your home and you would want to have someone whom you can trust to handle your things and not make a mess or cause any damage.

8.  Invite Sitter To Meet Your Pets

Before making the final decision, have the sitter meet your pets. Pets shouldn’t be nervous, scared, or anxious around the pet sitter. If your pets do not seem to get along with the pet sitters after enough time, you can go with someone else on your list. This is important because leaving your pet to the person your pet dislikes can make things worse.slike can make stress worse.

9.  Settle On a Contract And Price Range

This is the last thing you would have to do before making the final decision. Once you have selected a pet sitter, this is crucial and necessary. The contract should include any services that might be offered to you when you discussed it with the pet sitting agency including special care your pet might need. For example, it must include any services like feeding, playing, grooming, and walking. It should also clearly be mentioned how often the pet sitter will check on your pet.

Ensure the price range and try to negotiate the price if the sitter is willing to do so. A range that feels fair to both of you is great.

The EndNote

Apart from all the tips I gave you, here’s one more and that’s crucial. Have a backup plan. Sitters are humans and they too have emergencies in their lives. So always be ready to handle the situation in case your sitter won’t make it. Ensure that one set of keys are left to family members or friends. In the event the pet sitter can’t be there at home, someone else can check in on your pets for the day. Also, keep the list of other pet sitters handy. You can always contact them. Long may the canines live.