I’ve been reading some of the bios of sitters in my area (Central Ohio) and many say they have their own beloved pets. My question is what to house sitters do with their own pets when they go somewhere else to housesit? Puzzling to me. Thanks. -mary
Post script: Thanks everyone for the responses. I’ve gotten enough info now to answer my question.
No need for others to reply. Thanks. Mary
This varies greatly. Many of us do not have current pets. Some sitters have family members, friends or neighbors take care of them. Other sitters are have dual memberships in THS and after securing a sit, they secure sitters for their own animals. There are also a small percentage of sitters who bring their own pets on sits, with the consent of the homeowners.
To add: Sometimes they are sitting on their own but have a partner or family (or someone else they share a home with) who cares for the pet.
I have one cat, and a combo sitter/HO membership. If I am sitting somewhere for more than just a few days, I have a THS sitter stay in my house. On one recent sit, there was a chain of sitters - W sat for me in Dallas while I sat for D in Denver while D sat for someone in San Diego!
If the sit is very short, a friend checks on the cat for me. I do the same for her when she travels.
I have gotten neighbours or friends to look after my cat when we are away but unfortunately, we are not gone long enough that it is okay for them to just pop over and make sure she is okay.
We travel enough that we’ve chosen not to have pets right now. That’s one of the reasons we enjoy petsitting so we get our fix that way. However, when we are home, we also volunteer for a service dog organization and we raise service dogs from 8 weeks to 2 years when they head off for advanced training. We are able to travel as much as we want because we have raiser/sitters who take care of and train our dog whenever we travel. It’s a perfect set up for us!
We know a lady with multiple cats and she’s travelling all the time. She sits for people abroad and finds a sitter for her own kitties (usually repeat sitters or THS). It seems to work well, although I think this complicates things a bit. It’s probably good if you have a network of friends that can help you for a few days since the dates of sits often change on short notice. Or maybe have a backup professional sitter.