Just want to say, if I could I would. <3
I know that doesn’t help but I think your listing is great.
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And some of us are a little leery of posting photos of ourselves in public forums. I hope a potential sitter will get an idea of me from the pictures of my house/pets and how I’ve expressed myself in the listing. And a potential sitter can ‘meet’ me by phone/video call before the sit (or pop round, if they’re local).
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Aw, thank you! 
You’d be very welcome.
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You would think our sit would be a breeze. Three cats with their own flap so there are no trays involved, no restrictions on sitters going out all day just as long as the cats are fed. The house is thoroughly cleaned before sitters arrive as I would expect if it were me doing the sit. They have their own (empty) wardrobe. All the bedding is new. They have their own freezer. We always take our sitters out to dinner on the day of their arrival. Unfortunately I still can’t find someone for my June dates. Any suggestions on what more I can do?
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Thanks. I have no doubt your statistics are correct, but my personal experience with the recent sits I have applied for is they seem to be getting 20 plus applicants in just a few hours and many of the HO are not even reading my application(I know there is a separate thread on here about that issue). This mostly has been for sits in the US, so perhaps the ratio varies for different geographic areas, or perhaps I am just picking particularly popular sits. Had I not seen this thread I would have thought the ratio shifted in the other direction. I have only been on THS for about a year but seems applicant numbers have increased for the sits I am applying for in recent months.
I can say when I am looking for sits, like others have mentioned, good photos and a clean home (not meticulous, but I see lots of photos with laundry piled on an unmade bed, toys strewn across the floor etc.) are important to me. Access to a car (especially if there is dog care involved and the location is not an easy walk to stores etc.) has become more of an issue in the past year since rental car prices have skyrocketed. I know not all HO are comfortable with this, but I do believe it will increase the applicant pool. Like others have mentioned as well, I tend to stay away from the sits where the animals can’t be left for more than two hours at a time or dog walking needs to be done 4-5 times a day. I work at home, and am very active, but this just feels too restrictive.
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- Update your listing. If you are a seasoned member with us and still have pictures of your pets as puppies or kittens, or that “once cool” avocado bathroom suite has been replaced to something that is worthy of Grand Designs - why not feature it!
(a nice way of asking for shots that aren’t the ones from the estate agency before they moved in!)
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“There are presents of mice and voles as well” - that might put a fair few off tbh… I left a recent cat sit (that was just the one cat) with 15 flea bites, not from the cat having fleas - but the fleas from the critters I was having to save every night from the cat’s mouth!
Plus I might show interior pictures taken during a sunny day - makes the place look bright and inviting.
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There are quite a few HOs that have terrible photos on their listings. I saw one in a desirable area but every surface in their house was covered in stuff. Literally - every counter, table, bed, etc was piled high. This was a large-ish house, not a tiny NYC apartment. Not surprisingly, they still have no applicants
There are a few others now that are also very untidy, including one looking for someone to pop in every day, not stay overnight. This is a new listing, so should have been flagged by THS before ever going live (I used to send these to THS, but I’m not bothering any more). These owners might leave THS because they can’t find a sitter, without knowing why they were unsuccessful.
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Definitely - I can’t apply for sits anymore due to this and am a seasoned 5 year member with over 57 only five star reviews, so have to rely on people inviting me (which many do).
I have chosen not to comply with this request (having my own reasons as to why) and likely others have too.
This is by far one of the major reasons for me anyway that I won’t go too far away - I think sitters have no idea if they can or can’t request any funding towards to cost of fuel to offset this? When I have dog sits I tend to travel really far to take the dogs to beaches or places of interest etc., but that comes at a huge cost, and even bigger now. Maybe mentioning to HO’s that they could offer petrol costs - I think that would definitely bring some balance back?
What IS the situation with applying for a sit but asking the HO for petrol costs? As I did a search of this in this platform, but didn’t find an answer.
Maybe a blanket email to sitters stating you can negotiate fuel costs and one to HO’s stating you can offer this in your ad?
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As a sitter I often wonder if there’s not a function on the HO’s side of things, where they can search for local sitters based on their holiday dates. As obvs as a sitter my dashboard knows when I have a sit - yet people still invite me for dates when I am not free, just like you?
If such a function exists - maybe a THS email sent out to them to show them how they can do this?
Surely that depends whether it’s a requirement of the sit, or your own personal choice? If perfectly good walks are available locally, but you choose to go further away that’s your business.
In my own case I would fully expect to cover fuel costs (or taxi, even!) for any vet visits*, and I will explain that should anyone apply. [*Ideally there wont be any vet visits!]
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Hi @CambridgeAnnie - Your listing looks great. For us though, we skip those that say ‘sitters need a car’ - On the odd occasion I have asked the question it has revealed that a car in fact is not needed! - Is there no public transport where you are? Is there no shop within a mile or so walking?
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Hi Clare
Are you able to accept sits although not verified? I hope so as you are such an experienced sitter.
The response I got from the question about whether non verified sitter members can be contacted and I was advised as follows (on the new badges for sitters thread)
Angela-CommunityManagerRegular
Hi @Twitcher only verified sitters can apply for or accept an invite to sit
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I love the ones that talk in the ad about a dog but the sit states that they have only two cats? - I get it that the dog has likely deceased (RIP) - but seriously how do you not update or proof your ad? This happens a lot and I used to go out to HO’s about this mentioning they might want to update the ad - but I’d be doing it all the time now if that was the case.
I realise that only NEW MEMBERS listing are monitored before going live - but maybe all listings need to be? A lot can change in 5+ years… some HO’s for example have had children in the time after they first posted - so I’ve rocked up to homes where the bedroom is now a nursery, there’s plastic toys everywhere and I’ve been assigned a different room!
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Of course - by as my story goes, if the owners are having a holiday - I like to treat the animals too as well! 
My main point to my post however was the travel just to the sit itself.
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or the pets they no longer have!
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Thanks Colin. We are fairly rural and there is a Co-op but it’s a good 2 miles each way coming back is uphill all the way! I want to be honest with people and of the 4 sits we have had it’s not been a problem.
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Oh @claresitsdogs dear that sounds awful. We have never had that problem I’m glad to say. However cats will be cats and as we are surrounded by fields there is a never ending supply.
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