Whether you’re going on a quick weekend getaway or an international adventure, finding a trustworthy pet sitter is a crucial part of planning your trip. Leaving your pet in the care of a stranger can be stressful, but finding the right pet sitter will allow you to enjoy your time away knowing that your furry friend is being well cared for.
Interviewing a potential pet sitter—preferably in person, with your pet present—will help you decide whether they’re the right person to entrust with your pet.
Pet parents give pet sitters access to their beloved pets and their homes, so it’s vital that they take time—and know the right questions to ask—to choose a qualified and reliable professional pet sitter. Simply choosing someone that loves pets and is available isn’t enough.
Ready to find your—and your pet’s—dream pet sitter? Here are seven questions to ask a potential pet sitter to ensure they’re the perfect fit.
1. What type of pet-sitting experience do you have?
Weed out any inexperienced candidates by first asking for a rundown of their pet-sitting experience. While simply owning a dog or cat may seem like sufficient experience for taking care of your own, it’s better to look for pet sitters who have cared for numerous pets over time. Questions you can ask to determine this include:
- How long have you been pet sitting?
- What types of pets have you cared for?
- Is this a part-time or full-time job for you?
- Are you educated in pet behaviour and health?
- Tell me about a challenge you’ve had as a pet sitter and how you handled it.
Ask at least one question specific to your pet. Whether you have a 12-week-old puppy, a senior cat, a deaf dog, or a dog with leash reactivity or a history of escaping, ask them what experience they have with those particular things.
2. How do you operate?
Different pet sitters operate in different ways. Some will watch pets in their own home, while others will actually stay in your home. You may have your own preferences, too. Ask the sitter where and how they like to provide pet care. Are they willing to stay overnight in your home, or do they prefer to pick up your pet?
It’s not just where they spend time with your furry friend that matters, too, but how. How much engagement can they offer? Are they happy to spend time playing with energetic pets who need attention—doing activities such as going for long walks and stimulating trips to the dog park? Can they offer older pets the rest and comfort they need? Are they able to keep up a healthy routine for feeding and medication?
Describe your pet’s character and specific needs and ask them how they’d tailor their pet-sitting services to your animal. This should indicate whether they have the right instincts to begin with. You may also wish to ask the pet sitter how they would go about raising any issues or concerns about your pet with you. After, communication is key to the relationship—with you and your pet.
3. Do you have any business credentials?
To fully protect yourself and your pet, consider looking for a professional pet sitter that has a business licence (if required where you live) along with pet sitter-specific liability insurance and bonding.
These are hallmarks of legitimate, professional pet-sitting businesses. Insurance policies specifically for pet sitting are available that protect clients and their pets in the event of damage to the home or an injury to the pet while in the pet sitter’s care.
Using a sitter who is bonded and can provide proof of a background check offers an additional layer of peace of mind, as it protects the client in the event of theft by a pet sitter.
4. Do you have any pet-specific training?
Serious pet sitters are more likely to have training such as pet first aid, CPR or behavioural training. Experience with your specific type of pet is also important, as well as experience in caring for special needs pets, if applicable to your situation.
While you may think your pet sitter will only need to be able to feed and walk your dog or feed your cat and scoop litter boxes, emergencies and dangerous situations can occur—from arriving at a home to find a cat with a possible urinary tract infection (which can be lethal) to encountering stray dogs while on a dog walk. So, it’s important that your pet sitter is trained and comfortable handling unexpected situations.
5. Can you provide references?
It’s well worth your time to contact a few of the pet sitter’s current or former clients to ask about their experience. The entire relationship between sitter and client is built on trust, and if contacting a reference helps in any way, then both parties involved should feel positive about that.
Be prepared with a few questions for the references , such as how reliable the pet sitter is, if their pet seems to like the sitter and if they’ve encountered any issues with them.
6. Do you get along with my pet?
This is not so much a question you’ll ask a potential pet sitter, but rather one you’ll be able to assess the answer to during the initial meet and greet, which is recommended before hiring any pet sitter. During this meeting, observe how the pet sitter interacts with your pet as you discuss services and business policies.
This initial meeting is vital because it also provides an opportunity for your pet and the pet sitter to meet and ensure it’s a good fit, and an opportunity for the pet sitter to collect important information about your pet’s care.
7. Will we have a signed pet-sitting agreement/contract?
Experienced pet sitters will bring a contract to your meet and greet that will outline all of the details associated with each service they’ll provide.
This is beneficial for both parties involved, as it sets expectations. You can include topics like emergency care, safety, holiday fees, communication, prompt payment—all subjects that are important to discuss to ensure you’re on the same page. A contract makes that a very simple process.
It’s also recommended to create a comprehensive client profile, which should include important details about your pet including their medical history, behaviour history, and what commands they know. The last one may seem unimportant, but if your dog knows the command “lay” and your pet sitter is telling them “down,” then your dog isn’t going to know what your pet sitter is asking of them. A client profile should also include basic information about your home such as where the vacuum is and where the garbage cans are located. These little details will help your pet sitter provide the best care for your pets and home while you’re away.
