Martin_S Just added cat carrier to my list of questions, thank you.
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What a great question @Vanessa_A! Iâve done a lot of pet sitting in the San Francisco Bay Area and in other parts of Northern California, areas where earthquakes and fires are a real possibility. So Iâve gotten in the habit of asking where the fire extinguisher(s) is/are and how to use them. In areas with earthquake potential I always ask about their âgrab and goâ bag (eg, what we should grab after corralling the critters and before evacuating.) Iâve never had to use either, but itâs better to be prepared than not.
I also always initiate a conversation about what if something terrible happens to your pet. Even young ones can get hurt/die, and I want to be sure I understand the pet parentâs thinking, so I can respond as quickly as possible should something awful happen. Again, never had to use this info, but you just never know.
These are what I call âthe difficult questionsâ but the variety of answers shows us what important questions these are. Especially the pet question, but we also had to evacuate pets in a Cat 5 Cyclone in devastating âWinstonâ and learned a whole lot of questions there for both hurricane and Aussie forest fire situations. These are especially important I think when you come from same ole UK where weather events are rare and storm shutters donât exist 
Thanks @Karen_E for some really good less obvious questions!
@Vanessa-ForumCMgr ⌠why the photo, you ask? Theyâre looking for one more cat, so they can be ready for a âCat 5 Cycloneâ. Sorry, that was a lame joke, but thatâs what came to mind when I read your post. 
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@ElsieDownie the same thing just happened to us on our last sit, one of the bathroom taps wouldnât turn off. We were on a farm and couldnât find where to turn off the water to the house. The owner was out of mobile range, the emergency contact couldnât help and there was nothing in the welcome guide about this. After about an hour of running water and searching frantically, we eventually got hold of the owner who told us the mains tap was hidden under a garden hedge. There is no way we would have found it no matter how long we searched. So now we will always ask âwhere is the mains water tap?â.
The other question we always ask, if we are looking after chickens is, âIf a chicken gets sick and we canât contact you for advice, do you want us to take it to your vet?â Some people see chooks as pets and say âyes, of courseâ others say ânoâ. Our daughter has been known to spend hundreds of dollars on vet bills for her pet chooks, so we always ask.
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Who is your cable and internet services provider plus account details and any access codes. We had a situation where the service failed couldnât get hold of the owner, had to ask a neighbor (fortunately they had the same service provider) however without the account details we were stuck until we could get hold of the owners, fortunately the service came back on.
Not a Handover question but itâs related to the above Internet speeds/connectivity topic âŚ
Like many I work remotely and have done many years, when we relied on traditional tools, pen paper, chisel & tablet, telephone and the mail man we managed, however itâs totally different in todayâs digital world and as we know not all internet connections are equal.
I was once in a situation where the internet was so slow and unstable that I could not work I had non existent mobile connectivity, no hot spots which forced a daily trip to the local library so I could work, they closed at 4.00 pm and no weekends ⌠lesson learned we always request a speed test before confirming a sit and I have had to (reluctantly) refuse sits because it just simply didnât work.
Better to be aware than have a meltdown at the handover or after the owners have left.
Mains Water Shut Off ⌠yes we have been able to avert a flood by asking this question and guess what some owners donât know themselves.
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I once asked a question that turned out to be pretty prescient â what can go wrong?
The answer gave me a needed heads up when that thing did go wrong (an underlying health condition flared up), and I was primed to pick up on it.
I always ask that question now.
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One big question for me from now on is:
Do your neighbours and/or family knows we are gonna stay in the house?
And maybe other one would be: If I have contact with any of them, called by phone or approached on the street, what you would like me to say?
We had a really funny HO friend reaction when he saw us walking his âfriends dogâ.(This was in a building house sitting experience)
Neighbours knocking our doors wondering who we were. (This was in a really small country side area)
And last one, a family member calling on the phone to check on the HO that were secretly away. 
I learnt to ask more questions as the experiences go by.
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It happen the same with me. Maybe we had the same pet sitting? 
I realise you meant that with humour, @Itchyfeet. We felt deflated, glum & let down by our similar experience where we were selected for a sit at a lovely country house only to be told after all arrangements were confirmed that they would be taking their dog away with them! We are pet sitters, not house caretakers!!
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âChisel and tabletâ 
Good advice. I would ask that next time.
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