Thanks to all that provided support and advice I really appreciate it. 
UPDATE The lovely pet parents paid for 3 nights accommodation for me out of 4 so I was extremely greatful to them.
This experience has opened up my eyes to the possibility of what can happen and how to be prepared for future situations.
I have been very lucky that this was the first time in 2.5 years of full time pet sitting that Iāve had a last minute cancellation.
Thanks again 
Thanks for the update.
@Cat_Lover thatās great news and thank you for coming back to update the forum with the positive outcome .
Was this something you asked for ? Did you negotiate or say that you wouldnāt be able to do the remainder of the sit ? Or was it offered by the owners without you asking ? If you are able to share this information would be helpful for other sitters if they find themselves in a similar situation.
Sure Im happy to share.
I asked if they would pay for alternate accommodation. This started up a conversation and we took it from there.
We negotiated what each person could afford and kept it honest.
They ended up giving me more money then I thought they would which was extremely generous and very much appreciated.
They are regular clients and genuinely kind, good people.
If they werenāt regular clients this would have been a very different situation.
In regards to doing the remainder of the sit - I not once ever thought about not doing the sit. I made a commitment and I was going to honour that.
The situation they found themselves in was not their fault and was out of their hands. It unfortunately just had a roll on effect to me.
My advice is to always keep an open and honest communication and donāt be afraid to advocate for yourself in a polite, calm mannor.
Funny enough Iāve now had another last minute cancellation again. One of the pet parents is in hospital very sick so they had to cancel their holiday. They to are regular clients.
This time the sit was going to be just a little over 3 weeks in November.
Iām not worried now as I will have more $$ this time so thereās not so much stress. This makes a big difference.
When the pet parent told me she advised me to ask THS for help. Once she had a last minute cancellation and THS helped her find a sitter.
She must have been talking about a last minute sit advertised in the forum.
I told her that unfortunately pet parents are treated very differently to sitters and we donāt get the same support.
I ended up contacting THS via chat to ask about that. They agreed it must have been advertised on the forum.
I asked why we canāt advertise a last minute sit on the forum the same as PP do. He said theres to many sitters to post.
I suggested if sitters get a last minute cancellation because of pet parents we should be able to advertise on the forum.
THS said thats a great idea.
I asked if he could pass the idea on to someone but he didnāt know who.
I told him I might put a suggestion about this on the forum.
So what do you all think?
Should Sitters have their own āLast minute Sitsā post here on the Forum for when a pet parent has had to cancel last minute?
I think thats fair. Any thoughts??
@Jenny would probably be the person who would handle that?
I think it makes a lot of sense, but would definitely be an additional mod duty to keep it on track and not just having sitters posting all the time when they have gaps vs just when theyāre stranded by a cancelled sit.
Just some thoughts. How would that play out? Because it would be a long list of sitters all over the world with various start- and end-dates? How would a host navigate?
If you need a last minute sitter in Illinois and the list is full of sitters from UK, Sweden, Montenegro, NZā¦ with various available dates the next week - is it likely that the sitters will travel to the other side of the world because they have some days free for sitting? A sitter with limited financial resources wouldnāt be able to? A sitter last minute would probably want the nearby sit anyway?
Although I see why it is suggested I would think the most fruitful way to fill up dates for a sitter would be to search in the destination wanted for Last minute and also Low applications.
I think most of the same could be said about the last minute HO listings. Theyāre all over the world and sitters just look at the post title and see if the dates/locations work for them. Sitters arenāt likely to fly across the world just because they are invited to a sit, but they could post with the dates theyāre available and the location(s) they can reasonably get to.
I personally see it more likely that sitters will have already checked the local area for listings but if they post in the forum a HO who wasnāt planning on a trip away might be like āoh, hereās a sitter available and I donāt even have to go through the whole listing process, maybe I should do a quick tripā
I see your angle. I would think it is most critical for sitters who do not have the financial resources to handle change of dates, and if so they wonāt be able to travel much, either. I believe a list of last minute sitters would be much longer than the list of Last minute hosts, and therefore more difficult to navigate. I would think - someone may have the data - that the majority that are active on Forum are sitters, not hosts? If so, the target group wouldnāt necessarily be here and see such a possibility Ā«just passing byĀ» on forum. (Some of my hosts told me they delete the app when not looking for a sitter).
To make oneself available locally one could also change the location on profile to where one is currently (and/ or favorite local listings).
Yeah. I would agree that I donāt really think it would be the most effective use of time, but for someone desperate, anything helps and Iām all for sitters and HOs being treated equally as there is generally a pretty big gap in treatment. I do think that it shouldnāt be for every sitter who doesnāt have a sit scheduled, just those who have been cancelled on at the last minute. But I donāt really know how that could easily be verified without a lot of extra effort on the part of the mod team.
Yes, it seems like a good idea - it has been suggested before but itās great if THS will reconsider this idea .
@Cat_Lover, encourage you to reconsider premium membership. Costs a bit more. and Sit Cancellation Insurance does have quirks and limitations (proximity, deductible, ā¦) - i see @Silversitters has kindly provided weblink. But given your stated situation then may give you peace of mind, and perhaps financial support on cancellations. BTW kudos on lifestyle 
. Weāve spent 18 months housesitting - unconventional but sure has made us smile. Over that time, weād have two last-minute cancellations by Pet Parents - one that required us to scramble creatively (secured alternative housesit); and one (last month) that was eligible for Sit Cancellation Insurance (value being many times the uplift price to premium membership). Keep smiling 
@GotYourBack . We also have Premium membership for this reason . We havenāt had to make a claim yet as when we experienced a curtailed sit we were able to make other arrangements.
As you have to have the funds available to pay upfront and then wait for funds to be repaid -
It would be helpful to know how quickly was your claim paid ?
@Silversitters, active approved claim with funds not yet arrived. Hopefully shortly. But I can attest that claim approval process progressed significantly quicker than we expected (based on comments in other threads). Thank you THS, appreciated.
That said, we proactively nudged process. Given a prior incident, we were aware of and carefully re-read policy requirements (there are quirks); executed alternative accommodation to expressly satisfy policy terms; notified THS of Pet Parent cancellation as soon as possible in process; and provided required documentation for claim to THS as soon as available.
For context, there were zero active housesit listings in country, so securing an alternative housesit within reasonable proximity was not an option.
Thanks for having my back!! @CreatureCuddler This is exactly my thought. If HO can successfully do it I canāt see why we canāt.
This would be for last minute sits cancelled by Pet parents ONLY! There isnāt many pet parents that would cancel.
Iām in Australia and maybe its different here. I get the feeling it is.
It would also be great if there was an ENQUIRY BUTTON for sitters to contact Pet parents but thats a whole separate conversation.
Honesty goes a long way. Most people do the riggt thing. Is there a specific requirement for PP to post last minute sits?
Again Iām only talking about last minute sits due to pet parents having to cancel
I canāt believe there is a requirement to post a last minute sit here or weād see a TON more.
@Silversitters, I can now answer your question. We received cash from Sit Cancellation Policy claim. For us, timeline from document submission to cash receipt was approximately four weeks. Worth noting that, to my knowledge, our situation and alternative accommodation seemed clearly within policy terms; and that we provided requested documentation on a timely manner. Housesit was 10 days duration.
A quirk that we spotted prior to booking alternative accommodation was currency. Policy refund is in same currency as that paid for alternative accommodation. We were not in home country but have banking options. But Canadian banks are known to apply a dreadful fx rate to any foreign currency deposit (USD, EUR, GBP, ā¦).
Hope that we donāt need to use Sit Cancellation Insurance again. And we wish the Pet Parent all the best. But at least itās an option, in some cases.
Thanks THS
Thanks for the update @GotYourBack that is reassuring.
Since you last post we find ourselves in position of having to make a claim for the first time !
( our three week sit ended abruptly on day 6 because the owner had an accident and had to return home early )
We have been careful to make sure that our claim for alternative accommodation meets all the criteria .Claim and required documentation submitted two days ago.
@Silversitters, thatās good to hear. Fingers crossed. Guess stuff happens. After our first sit cancellation, we were tempted to reduce membership level - as insurance seemed improbable eligibility in geography with lots listings. But glad that we didnāt.
As housesitters that explore long-duration sits in international locations then weād applaud any effort by THS to improve the terms of the Sit Cancellation Insurance. Say
@GotYourBack
Whilst these suggested changes would be great for full time sitters ( which we are ) most would come at a cost which would be passed on to all members by increased membership fees .
I can see that members who join for one or two short house sits a year would not want to pay any increase in their membership to subsidise full time sitters .