I’m looking for some urgent advice and possible help.
I have a long sit starting in two days in the south of England, near Horsham, with two lovely dogs. Unfortunately, I’ve become very unwell over the past days and I’m currently in quite a severe phase of illness.
Because of this, I genuinely don’t feel physically able to travel or manage the journey safely right now. I feel awful about the situation, especially as the sit is about to begin.
I wanted to ask the community what would be the best way to handle this — and whether anyone might potentially be available to step in short-term.
Ideally, I’m looking for someone who could cover just the first 5–7 days of the sit, to give me time to recover and then travel down once I’m well enough, so I could continue and complete the rest of the stay.
The dogs are very sweet, and the sit itself is longer-term and comfortable — I can share the listing link and full details privately if helpful.
I would be incredibly grateful for any advice, suggestions, or if someone might be open to helping cover those initial days.
Thank you so much in advance.
(Title amended by the Forum to better align with the post and post amended to comply with the Terms of Service).
I would first contact the HO to advise them of your situation. They may already have an easy Plan B in place. When you contact them you can offer to try to find another sitter through the forum. They may or may not like that idea.
Of course, I let them know straight away, and they’re understandably very upset.
It’s their first time, so I’m not sure they have a backup plan.
I really want to help in any way I can.
How many THS sits have you done before? I know you say you don’t feel physically able to travel, but you seem to still want to do the sit especially with it being a longer duration of sit, so…
Why not offer to go halfies on a dog walker with them for the first say 3 days and then you can see how you feel thereafter, but you would still need to travel to them to watch over the dogs at other time. It’s just an option for you, because they may not have a solid back up plan with being new, and they will have no idea if you’ll actually recover or not.
Hi, thank you so much for your kind wishes, I really appreciate it.
I’ve done 13 sits through THS so far, and I’ve never let anyone down before, which is why this situation feels especially upsetting for me.
The problem is that I feel so unwell right now that I physically wouldn’t be able to make the journey to the sit. I’m worried that travelling in this condition could make things much worse, and it could turn into needing medical help rather than just dealing with dog walks.
That’s really the main difficulty. If I were able to travel later, I absolutely would. I even suggested that if they managed to find someone to cover the first few days, I could arrive afterwards once I recover a bit. That might make it easier for them to find short-term help. But unfortunately, I can’t commit to travelling right now.
The homeowners are truly lovely, and the cockapoos are incredibly adorable. If it’s possible to help them find someone here, that would mean a lot.
@Liyana, we’d agree with @Twitcher. Careful that, even with best intentions, you don’t try to solve a problem that’s not yours to solve. Reach out to pet parents. “Severe phase of illness” does not sound promising - take care of yourself. Let the pet parents resolve potential action steps in regards pet care.
I think we’re now all involved in the guessing game of what illness means that travel would make you far worse. My money’s on Norovirus or a Gastrointestinal bug as I know I couldn’t have travelled when I had that a few months. ago and it was horrendous!
Tbh if I hadn’t been booked for a sit myself from 9th Feb I could’ve helped out as I’m not far away. Can the HO create a last minute stop gap sit before your (with altered dates) sit starts.
Hopefully not the awful so called super flu that has been spreading like wild fire in the UK recently. My whole family including me had it over Christmas and it’s most unpleasant with it feeling like you’ve got food poisoning and the worse flu at the same time. Took me out for a few weeks. Not good.
I’m so sorry you’re ailing. I will be the lone wolf here and point out that you are doing the best thing, not only for yourself (and quite possibly the ONLY thing considering you’re so ill at the moment) but for everyone else concerned by staying home and not exposing anyone else. I’m also really sorry you’re missing out on a sit you had really looked forward to.
Whatever you’ve contracted (my guess is one of the Big Three: Covid, flu, or norovirus - though a horrible cold could also keep one in bed), the only choice you have is to continue to stay in touch with the HO if they’d be interested in finding a temporary replacement and then you’d take on the rest of the dates when you’re feeling better. It’s up to each THS member to have backup plans because illness or injury or family emergences are all part of life. You are very kind and clearly super conscientious, but this can happen to anyone. I think we all feel terrible when circumstances out of our control get in the way of our commitments to house/pet sitting. I recommend you remind yourself this is out of your control, and if you still want to help the HO, maybe recommend they post an urgent last-minute “sitter canceled” sit on this forum. I would allow yourself plenty of grace to just rest, take care of yourself, and get better. I hope in a week or two you can hang out with those darling cockapoos! Hope you get well quickly
