While that is a peculiar schedule and a lot of us wouldn’t function on those hours, as long as a sitter cares well for a pet and is respectful in someones home, how people live isn’t any of our business and sitters have a right to privacy. I would refrain from leaving a review that implies surveillance - and in the future turn off camera notifications or anything that causes (whether intentionally or not) a surveillance mindset. It’s not in the spirit of THS.
You can say in the review that you would have liked more consistent communication and updates.
You can dock a star for cleanliness and say the house was left tidy but you would have preferred more vacuuming. I wouldn’t get too caught up on the bins, there’s a lot to remember when you’re sitting and it’s easy to forget this - however maybe this could be part of why you dock a star for cleanliness.
The cigarette smell is a major red flag - this insinuates a lack of respect and is more worrying than the times they decided to come and go.
It sounds like overall you felt they weren’t very reliable or trustworthy and things like vacuuming and bins compounded this.
Good luck, I hope you’re able to find a way to leave a fair review and have a better fit next time
All of your concerns are justified and he deserves a 3 star(at the most!) review. I do not understand why so many of the comments are in defense of the sitter.
As a sitter I’d be creeped out about being constantly monitored, spied on. Do all hosts who have rung cameras get constant notifications when you come in and out? I may reconsider sitting for hosts with such cameras .
OP here. It’s been interesting reading the comments–thanks for all the different perspectives!
I want to first clarify that I was not sitting there watching the cameras. I get notifications on my phone whenever there is movement on our outdoor security camera. We installed them a few months ago after there were half a dozen break-ins within a mile of our home. We live in an affluent suburban area, and pretty much every home has a camera and we were the last to join the club. Since we’ve had it, we’ve never had any overnight activity until the sitter came–hence my surprise. I had to view the clips to make sure it was not an intruder. It is none of my business where the sitter goes in the middle of the night, but he assured me after the first night that this was not his routine, but it was not the case, as I woke up every morning to multiple alerts. I checked them the first few days and then realized it was always just him. My main concern is he was not transparent with me, and he evaded my questions when I reached out to ask how the feedings were going. When we send him texts in the morning, he doesn’t respond until afternoon or evening. Halfway through the trip, I again reached out for him to let us know how the feeding schedule has been going–particularly the 8 am feeding. I also asked if he could please send us a photo every so often of them having breakfast. I feel it is very valid to be concerned about this, as I do not know many people who are night owls and morning people at the same time. He could have very easily proved me wrong but simply sending me a quick text of them eating in the morning, but he only did it once after I asked.
As far as expectations goes, I thought we would have the most amount of communication the first 48 hours or so, but after we left at 10 am for our trip, we just received one 2-liner text at 5:30 pm and nothing again until the next day around 2:30 pm. No pictures. No mention of feeding them or their behavior. I asked if he found the care sheets I left on the side of the fridge and he never responded to that. It was very hard to know what he was doing or not doing. It is difficult not to worry. I don’t know him personally but I just let him into my home where I feel super vulnerable. We won’t be back for almost 2 weeks and can’t leave our kittens stranded. I absolutely felt helpless and could not enjoy my trip for the first 3 days due to his limited communication.
I mentioned before that I had gotten one kitten just 2 weeks prior, and the new kitten and my resident kitten were just learning to co-exist. The new kitten doesn’t eat much wet food and was also super picky with dry food–so we had gone through 3 different brands without much success. I told him we just bought a 4th brand and to please let us know how it was going. He never mentioned it until I asked him again. It’s stuff like this that really makes me he was just there for the free housing…there is really only 20-30 mins of “active” work involved with looking after our cats (more if you play with them), so I don’t think it’s a lot to ask to make communication part of the deal. I think it’s fairly accepted as well that a housesitter will keep you home secure, so failing to latch the side door is a big deal to us.
Lastly, we just found out today that the cat’s water fountain was so low on water that it wasn’t even running…..smh
I try to avoid Google. Searches on various other engines claim security cameras are now installed in 45% to 70% of US homes and rising. So I ran a Google search and, yep, 50+%.
Hardly ubiquitous but definitely heading in that direction. Sitters in the US who find security cameras intolerable are sitters with steadily decreasing options in the US.
Yes, a ring camera shows what’s going on at the front door therefore knowing when you leave and return. Why would this bother you? It’s especially helpful to see if sitters are bringing in guests overnight when asked not to or asking to walk the dog for an hour and you return after 15 minutes. I would want to know that my beloved pet is getting the care we agreed on. If someone has something to hide then I can understand this would bother you.
I’ve been a sitter for years and I don’t ever bring people over without permission from the HO, nor do I have anything to hide. I still find the use of cameras unsettling, because I’ve seen countless examples on this forum that some HO do surveil sitters with them and then scrutinise those little snippets of behaviour.
The feeling of being monitored and surveilled doesn’t really match the ‘trusted’ element for me. I’ve definitely had texts from HO which made me feel like they were watching, and it’s made me uncomfortable.
For context I have 30 positive reviews, so lots of sitting experience.
I think you have had good advice here overall, but i definately wouldnt go in to specifics about the sitters schedule. I unfortunately only get about 3hrs sleep a night, but that doesnt affect me feeding or caring for pets. you have plenty of factual evidence here to warrant a lower star review, particularly around communication and pet care which are the most important imo (as a sitter).
The name of the company does have the word trusted in it but that is for marketing. I think it is very naive to trust a complete stranger because they come from a website with the word trusted in it. They are not monitoring you personally. They don’t care where you go or even know about any bad habits you may have in their home. They are merely concerned about the wellbeing of their pets and home which could be the most expensive investment they have.
You seem to know what every cat is thinking but your prior post was actually about dogs. And yes I remember that post quite well and it continues to remind me of the kind of sitters I never want to encounter. I think my exterior cameras are more to weed out a certain type of sitter.
Yes, I know and use other search engines as well; using google as a verb, as many do. I used several in this instance, with the results I mentioned — and didn’t do any cherry-picking of results. Not saying you did either, but interesting that we get entirely different results for presumably similar searches. Perhaps, like social media, the search engines are now also feeding us what (they think) we want to hear.
To be clear, I don’t care about outside cameras as there really is no longer any expectation of privacy these days, in general. I do care about the intent of the people who use them. Some people are sincerely just being proactive & cautious to protect their homes & pets…totally understandable, especially if they’ve had a bad experience. Some people can’t help micro-managing and second-guessing, which makes me wonder if this is a good model for them…it must be so stressful. Fortunately I’ve not had any of those types of hosts…but I’m also generally pretty picky.
What I really object to, however, is the idea that someone who doesn’t like being monitored with cameras must have something to hide. To me, that’s just downright dystopian.
Leaving two 8 month old kittens alone most of the day is like leaving 13 year old twin humans alone in the house all weekend. They’ll be fine but who knows what your house will be like!
Aside from a judge or jury trial, what someone deserves is a moral judgement. It’s up to the person involved as to whether or not they choose to leave a negative review and deal with the potential fallout. Members are under no obligation to be honest or warn other members.
Yes, pet sitting can absolutely be a full-time career, not just a side gig, for entrepreneurial animal lovers, with growing demand due to increased pet ownership and owners seeking personalized care, though it requires business skills, consistency, and managing income fluctuations, especially around holidays, making it a rewarding path for those seeking flexibility and control over their work.
I am a sitter who has fostered over 200 kittens. I am so sorry your kittens did not have the care they deserved. I hope they are okay.
I agree with the advice here about leaving a factually honest review. You did not receive acceptable pet sitting in exchange for opening your home. The sitter did not fulfill expectations or commitments.
I bristle at the comments here who see cats as creatures that need drop in visits only. Cats are socialized just as dogs are. They have feelings and attachments and patterns of behavior. So much so that they act out when things are off. And kittens can get into tons of trouble.
I am angry at this sitter for how poorly they looked after your home and babies. I hope your next THS experience will be much better.
That you had to send a note about the garbage/recycling: sure it is nice if/when sitter remembers and does that. And I think many do it. As a sitter I however very very much appreciate it when the hosts send me a message reminding of this. When I travel, it is not so easy to remember which day it is. Also every house has a different day. Yes I probably will remember, and have my own notification or something. But if the host says before leaving “we’ll text you to remind” it takes a lot of stress off. So while you are ok to dock points for if, you can also upgrade hospitality on this front, if you like.
The rest is bad sitting, flat and straight. OK, it is ok if sitter wants to spend all nights out, and sleep all day. Kinda none of your business. But then the cats still have to be cared for in their schedule.
