We joined THS after our beloved house cat died. We decided not to have more pets of our own but still wanted to spend time with animals so joined THS & Borrow My Doggy scheme. We’ve just finished a fabulous sit with 2 gorgeous young Ragdoll cats. We really bonded with them & we were really sad to say goodbye. Having a few post sits blues today & it’s made me miss having a pet around. Does this get easier the more sits you do or do you still miss the pets you sat for even after many many sits?
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I’d say this is quite normal - at least from my own experience. I must confess, I’ve often got quite choked up saying goodbye to many of the animals I’ve looked after.
Hopefully, if it has gone well from both sides, you can get to go back and see them again so it’s only a temporary goodbye.
Trust me, you’re definitely not alone in feeling like this. With the first dog I ever looked after named Coco, I just adored her so much that I had to work so hard to keep it together when I was leaving that sit. Animals are just so loveable. 
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Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully we will see them again as the HOs said they would love us to sit again. Funny enough during our very first sit the HO invited us to sit again so we knew we’d see those animals again so didn’t feel like this that time. It’s really hard not to get attached.
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We started sitting because we missed having pets around too, I know exactly how you feel, it’s amazing how quick a proper bond is formed, but we ended up sitting full time very quickly which is much easier as your mind doesn’t have the alone-time to miss them. Nowadays, after the journey to the next place when we’re hugely missing them, it’s replaced by the excitement of a new furry friend as soon as you meet them, it’s like getting new puppies or kittens every fortnight or every month (even though they aren’t puppies or kittens typically), so there isn’t the same void to miss them because taking care of pets is such a living-in-moment or being-present thing. We also return to a lot of the same pets time after time, so we know we’re highly likely to be seeing them again, so I think that helps too.
You will know yourself, all of the pets you sit hold a special place in your heart because of the amount of dedicated time you spend with them, that never goes away, but it does get easier if you do it full-time, your head just doesn’t get a time to properly switch off to get gloomy in the same way.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. We’re not sitting again for another 6 weeks but you’re right I’ll soon be thinking about the new pets - 5 cats this time! We also have our Borrow My Doggy pupster coming to stay for 2 weeks in between. I think it was because this time the cats particularly reminded me of my beloved Tommy - being indoor cats & very similar colouring & full of catitude.
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I think it’s the opposite for us- it’s a good reminder why we have no pets now and complete freedom to come and go as we please. Borrowmydoggy keeps me happy whilst ‘at home’ with no obligation. I’ve been walking Zorro weekly on a Friday for nearly 7 years now but still able to go off travelling for months at a time (I give the owner plenty of notice). At the moment I’m walking him every other day to help his owner out.
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We are leaving our current sit on Tuesday and I’m already feeling a bit blue, we spent almost two months with the most loveliest and hilarious cats ever and I’ll miss them dearly. Many times I was leaving sits with tears in my eyes, leaving pets but also places and people - some of the hosts were just extraordinary human beings and we’ll keep fabulous memories forever. And hundreds of photos/videos on my phone 
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Thanks for sharing. We don’t do long sits so 2 months spent with pets you adore must be a tough gig to leave.
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Hi Bonny. Hope you’re well. Totally agree about the flexibility. I think it was these cats in particular & how similar to Tommy they were that has got me on this occasion.
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I always find it hard to leave sit pets, even though I have my own dog to go home to. (My husband stays with him and never sits.) When I first started sitting, it surprised me how quickly I grew attached.
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Thanks for sharing.
I’ve shed a tear at goodbyes before. Especially the long sits of a month or more. One exception was a parrot on a 6 week sit, no tears that day. Squawk squawk squawk!!!
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This made me chuckle. Funny enough my husband has experience with parrots but a bit of a no no for me.
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I have shared that same emotion of losing a pet and going on my first sit and feeling the sadness / crying tears when it ended. Early on, when saying goodbye to pets I have met, it felt like losing my pet all over again. I too thought “Would the sad feeling get easier?”
My truth: After 35 sits, yes, it has gotten a little easier. However, sadness does not always end when the sit ends. I am on a sit now that ends today. Yesterday, I felt myself getting misty eyed because I knew the end was drawing near. I may be a little bit more emotional too because this is my first sit since having total hip replacement surgery.
When spending tme with pets and gettting to know their personalities, a bond develops.
Hang on to your memories shared / created.
I truly have great memories of all the pets that have left paw prints on my heart. 
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We fall in love a little each time we sit. The way we look at it, when one sit ends, we have the next one to look forward to, and just fall in love all over again. How wonderful is our life, that we have the chance to spend time with multiple little ones during the course of pet sitting journeys.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences.
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You’re so right - lucky to get to spend time with so many lovely pets.
In my experience the more sits I do the easier it gets. I have revisited a few of the pets I’ve sat for. What particularly upsets me is when I hear of the death of animals I’ve sat for. Just heard recently that a dog called Bozo I sat for twice in Liverpool died last month. 
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Oh that’s sad
I’ve done repeat sits with my favorite sit dog, who’s getting on. I dread hearing one day that he’s on the decline or gone.
One of the harder things to me meanwhile is leaving sit pets I’m unlikely to see again, because I don’t want to visit that location repeatedly, for example.
Separately, I sat an elderly, sick dog who had to be put down. Fortunately, her family cut short their trip and returned home and we all said goodbye to her and got to hold and pet her. She was very much loved, which was poignant to see.
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