Has anyone else found that when friends and family find out you do pet sitting, they think they can take advantage and get you to pet sit for free? As if you are bound to be overjoyed at the thought of doing a pet sit any time, any place, anywhere? My bro and SIL want me to look after their two cats plus one that they have poached from a neighbour. On top of this, they have a pen in the back for foster cats which may have between one and six cats in. They have no cat flap so you’re letting them in and out all day. I also work 4 days a week. I can work from home but even so I think it’s a big ask. They’ve asked me to sit a week in November and sneaked another week in January in now. I feel obliged because they’re family but I’m resentful.
Yes it happens and I also get requests from friends of friends!
I have helped out a good friend occasionally because they live quite locally and have a nice home. I cat sit for my brother for the same reason and I like to help him out. He would worry with a neighbour popping in once a day.
If I get a request from a relative stranger I explain that we pick sits to enable us to explore new areas and as we don’t get paid for it we rely on the reviews to build our profile. I may give them a referral code to join themselves but I no longer personally recommend THS and always tell them about the five applications limit etc.
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This isn’t something we deal with in my family. If we didn’t want to sit someone’s pets, we’d say so. And personally, I don’t do things I’d resent people for. I’d rather say no and deal with the consequences in such cases.
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I have had many family and friends ask and I out them through the same interview chat I would with someone from TS. Taking care of someone’s animals and home come with responsibility, if you accept the sit, so you have to make sure it will work.
If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t. And none of my friends or family would be upset, they’d just move onto the next option. You might be worrying about an issue that doesn’t exist, so just talk to your family so you’re all on the same page.
I have sat for my family members a few times, close friends as well as family members of close friends that I knew personally, some quite well. I have never felt their asking us to help them was taking advantage . A few offered to pay us and while we said not to worry about it, they did leave us some money and we happily accepted it.
For me, just like house sitting for strangers gives me value in the form of saving lots of money on accommodation, same with my family and friends.
But everyone is different, and you have every right to charge for your services if you wanted. But if you feel uncomfortable asking for payment, or you just don’t want to help them out regardless of whether they pay, and you say yes to doing something you don’t want, you need to own that. It’s not actually their fault. Even if they were consciously trying to take advantage of you–which they probably aren’t–you have the power to say ‘no.’
And if you decide you’re just too uncomfortable to say anything and you take the sit, ,you won’t feel as resentful because you realize you made a conscious choice to do something you didn’t want to do, and it wasn’t a choice forced upon you.
Yes but family and friends aren’t my main issue. My main issue is neighbours and friends of people we pet sit for, people at the dog park with whom we chat to, etc. « Oh you pet sit? For free? Oh I was actually thinking about going away next week! »
My main issue is explaining that I need to see their house first, see the clutter, the cleanliness, the decor (sorry! I enjoy bright, not gloomy design and clean interiors) and I probably will refuse to pet sit for them after seeing it (which is super awkward and mean) so I just invent an excuse. Selecting sit by browsing photos is the main interest of THS as if I see something I don’t like, I don’t apply and nobody gets butthurt.
Seems straightforward to say something like, what I like about using a platform like Trusted Housesitters is that folks share info about their homes and pets and mutually decide whether there’s a fit. Then you can send them to THS to join or you send them a templated questionnaire. If that puts them off, then you’re better off avoiding them.
There’s nothing mean about finding fits for you. You can tell them it’s like a matchmaking site — some matches just don’t fit, even though there’s someone out there for everyone.
Yes, I had a friend ask but I’m not interested in doing people/houses/pets I already know. I love the new pet pals we’ve made via THS.
I just said we were pretty fully booked already (which we are).