I’m currently on my 12th sit since joining just under a year ago. Due to allergies I only sit cats and small animals. I have had 11 easy rewarding sits with 1 to 10 cats but my current sit has brought some challenges where unfortunately one of the 6 cats has had 2 fits and another cat has been ill. This has rightly resulted in me having to move my work and other commitments around to ensure both cats are ok.
I’m bringing this up so as new sitters don’t think sitting is always rainbows and sunshine. Don’t get me wrong it’s great being a sitter but every so often you need to be responsible and do right by the animals you are looking after.
Lastly thanks to the THS vet line for advice and the HO for advising me I had done the right things and thanking me.
Good point, @richten1 I have made numerous visits to the vet during my years of house-sitting, fortunately only one of which was serious with a possible risk of a dog losing its sight in one eye. Happily the dog made a full recovery.
I think the fact that house-sitting is promoted as a free gig which is all rainbows and sunshine is all wrong. The so-called free accommodation should always be weighed against the responsibility of caring for a beloved pet in sickness and in health. THS is a money-making business and its marketing tends to obfuscate the less pleasant and/or downright worrying things that can happen on a sit.
I personally exclude any sit that has more than 2-3 cats. I find that fewer cats get more healthful attention than many cats within the same household.
And while I had a few challenges, they were very minor and quickly resolved.
@FreeSpiritManette I get what you mean, but I hardly think that is an apt statement. The chances are just as high (or luckily low!) that a cat/pet might become unwell, whether it’s the only cat in a household, or whether it’s one of many cats in a household.
@richten1 thanks for bringing this up. It can happen anywhere, regardless the number pets, and it can be very stressful to sitters and throw their whole work schedule off. Luckily it doesn’t happen very often, fingers crossed you have a long, problem free streak again.
I was a new sitter about 9 months ago and I carefully considered what is involved before making a decision to do my first housesit. I’m currently on sit 14 and am mostly booked up through Oct. Anyone who has ever had a pet or has much experience with animals, knows it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. Most people who become sitters want to combine their love of both travel and animals (which is how I’ve seen THS advertised). The vast majority of sitters are well aware of the responsibility and take it very seriously. I’m sure the are a few sitters that are not great (and they probably aren’t sitters for very long), but that also goes for homeowners, most are wonderful, but there is a small percentage who are not.
Of course things can go wrong, but a lot of things can go right too. If I focused too much on everything that could possibly go wrong, I’d never do anything.
So very true.
Our attention is always on the animals welfare. Having come to realise very early on that animals can be unpredictable and don’t act with strangers the way they act with their normal carers we always factor in a few days of sightseeing before or after the sit. That way we are not compromising a potentially sick or distressed animal by leaving them for longer periods.
Yes, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows but with planning it normally is a very pleasant stay for both parties. I wouldn’t swop my way of life.
It wasn’t meant as being negative but just balance to a number of articles that seem to suggest THS is airbnb without payment.
I understand. Here in this forum there seems quite a lot of focus on the negative, which is why I made my comment, but I can see your point too. Free Airbnb? No way.
New friends on 4 paws, or with feathers? Sure, if you have the right attitude 
We love housesitting and it has taken us on many amazing adventures around the world! However we are also- always- very aware of our responsibilities towards the pets in our care and that things can, occasionally, go wrong- so we never treat a sit like ‘just a holiday’. Fortunately after nearly 70 sits we’ve been mostly lucky that everything has gone smoothly and sometimes it HAS felt like a holiday!
However we’ve also had a number of crises over the years and a few trips to the Vet. The 3 most serious cases were…
1- when a dog had to have an emergancy OP two days before our arrival (for a 2 week sit) so we had to carefully supervise her recovery including vet visits and managing dressings. Fortunately she was a great patient!
2- a dog who was a little unwell on arrival (for a 1 month sit), and already on medication, who became very ill the 2nd day which involved several emergancy vet visits and daily crisis calls - for the first week-with the owner on the other side of the world (highly stressful for us all)
3- a weekend sit with a gorgeous elderly dog who developed a major health crisis on day 2 which involved an emergancy trip to the Vet as the poor dog was in extreme distress. One of the owners came home the next day- a few hours earlier than planned-to take over from us so the dog wouldn’t be alone. Unfortunately the situation worsened and very sadly the lovely dog had to be put to sleep the following day. The owners notified us immediately. They were devastated. We were all (owners & sitters alike) pretty shocked and distressed by this dramatic turn of events.
Fortunately the dogs in case 1 and 2 made full recoveries and we loved being with them even if the start of the sits were rather stressful! But case 3 was very sad for us. Even though we only knew this dog for 2 days he stole our hearts…
House and pet sitting is a very responsible job. Just because we - as THS sitters-do it for free does not make it any less important or valuable.
And new sitters should never be enticed to join for the ‘free accomodation’- housesitting is so very much more!
I have got a lot of good advice from reading an ebook by a very experienced house sitter. You Take Off We Take Care by Terennie Daylin is very relevant and helpful to sitters and owners I think. She quite rightly subtitles it Perils and Perks of House Sitting as of course, any sit can give you both. To be a good house sitter you have to be very adaptable, don’t you think? Ready for anything and not mind too much if things go wrong. And maybe hope for better luck next time! You can’t win them all, as they say.
Hello @Hugapet and a warm welcome to the Community Forum 
This ebook you mentioned sounds very interesting and yes certainly as a house sitter you need to be very adaptable!
For reference if you are a member, once your listing is completed you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask! 
As sitters the pets are our top priority, we should prioritise them over exploring although most of the time we’re able to explore. However if, as you experienced, a pet becomes ill then we must give it our full attention, just as hopefully its owners would. It’s good to know that the vet helpline was useful. On the 2 occasions I’ve needed to consult vets in an emergency I rang their own vet!
Totally!! I’m both a sitter and a homeowner. My last trip (and 3rd time using THS) my dog suddenly developed (just) what was obviously a UTI the day after I left.
Even though a UTI is relatively minor on the scale of things, it showed me that it might not always be roses and easy. It was worrying for me as of course I would have preferred to be there to care for my dog! (My dog is very healthy) Thankfully my sitters followed my care instructions and got what was needed and she rapidly improved so I didn’t have to worry.
It was a good lesson for me !
Sitters, you are amazing and wonderful! We have had crises happen while away that vary from a sick kitty to a carpenter ant invasion and a sprung garage door spring! In each of the three cases, our house sitters handled the situation with care and took it all in stride. Two way communications were excellent in spite of being 9 hours apart and all issues were resolved successfully.
We know that these events disrupted the plans of the sitters but each person made resolving the problem a priority. As a homeowner and pet mama, I am ever so grateful we can travel without undue worry about the home front.
As an owner, I had a similar situation to your situation 3 (but not with THS). A friend of ours was staying at our house with our two dogs and cat and her dog. One of our dogs was a 12-year old Golden Retriever who was generally healthy but definitely geriatric. A few days into a one-week trip she lost interest in eating and became lethargic. Our friend took her to the vet, the dog was examined, blood taken, etc. It was inconclusive. My friend watched her around the clock and hand fed her. Two days later my dog started bleeding from her nose; off to the vet again. They did an ultrasound and diagnosed splenic hemangiosarcoma (cancer). I still remember sitting on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, on the phone with our vet, sobbing, debating whether to fly home 2 days early. The vet assured us that we had time. Two days later we arrived home and sent my friend home with more gratitude than you can imagine…she slept on the couch with my beloved heart-dog, hand fed her, barely slept…she basically kept our girl alive for us. I spent the next 24 hours by my sweet girl’s side before calling the vet to come to the house and help her cross the Rainbow Bridge. It was unbelievably devestating for us and our friend. She absolutely went above and beyond and I hope that anyone caring for another person’s pet would do the same. I know I would, in a heartbeat. I would (and have) dropped everything to care for an animal in need.
I have since lost another Golden Retirever to this insidious cancer, again in a very short time period. 60% of Golden Retrievers die from cancer and hemangiosarcoma is becoming more prevelant, especially in Goldens. I know so many people who have lost dogs to this particular cancer. It’s slow and sneaky until it suddenly becomes critical and fatal. It’s important that sitters are aware that these kinds of situations exist. To be honest, it is why I will not hire a young, inexperienced sitter unless their animal-savvy family lives nearby. It’s just not worth putting them through the trauma and I won’t take a chance with my pets.
Sorry for the downer post, but it’s reality and the more you know, the more you know.
@FrauSheri I’m so sorry to hear of your two tragic losses. What a blessing your friend was in your beloved dogs time of need Thank you for sharing your story. I believe your two goldens are watching over you now…
Well done! we are about to make our first sit with 5 dogs! Hope all goes well, maybe what is important is to have the phone number of the veterinary that the family takes their pet. So also when you arrive to the place (emergency or not) they know the pet.
Hello @Pameandmarco and a warm welcome to the Community Forum and congratulations on your upcoming all important first sit 
For reference, you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask!
Hello Samox24,
I am learning how to use the HS forum…
Still somehow I can’t find where to copy our profile from the web-page and paste it into the forum details.
Can you help me how to do it please?
Thank you.