Pet Sitting Business

[moosmom]

I've finally got my "Furnanny 911" business going. Right now I've got 2 pet sittings going at once. One is only for a week. Michael and Carolyn are gone for 3 weeks to Colorado. Otto is not a happy camper but he'll get over it.

[lvpets2002]

:) Hey thats Great Donna.. What do you charge?? I have thinking of doing this as well.. Now when I keep my Bossess cat for periods of time I dont charge them.. They always will bring me & my babies gifts from where ever they went too..

[Catty1]

Rates list from a well established Calgary company:

http://members.shaw.ca/vernaway/service.htm

And list of services:
http://members.shaw.ca/vernaway/petcare.htm

[GILL]

Great Donna.

Catty1, That rate list is expensive. Here in Jersey the sitters get $ 15-16.00 a vist. Usually it twice a day. it is for 1- 15 cats, even when we had our dog Ginger the price was the same.
Over the last 20+ years we have used differant services 2 -3 times a every year.

[Randi]

I'm cat-sitting now, I come in late afternoons and stay for about two hours. The people I cat-sit for have a "professional" cat-sitter as well, who come in every morning to give the cat wet food, and I think, empty the litter box. I'm not impressed though, as when I came the first day, the sitter had emptied a can of food in to a bowl, without cutting the food up. :rolleyes: I e-mailed the people about it and they contacted the company. I also have a feeling that this cat-sitter is there for just a few minutes only. I'm certainly not going to recommend them to anybody! They charge about $17 pr day for this.

[davidpizzica]

Donna, I'm glad your pet sitting business is up and running. I wish you weren't that far away so that you could petsit a certain cat named Marigold!

[Medusa]

Donna, that's fabulous! I wish you much success and prosperity, girlfriend! :)

[phesina]

I pet-sit frequently. I do some visits as an independent contractor for a woman who has a long-established petsitting business, and I have a few clients of my own. I get $10 a visit as an IC (but I'm also covered by her insurance and she's responsible for backup if I can't make it) and charge $15 or $16 for my own clients (a little more for one who has 12 cats and another who's about 15 miles away from me). That's a pretty standard rate around here.

A couple of things you should consider, if you haven't already, with having your own business:

(1) Legal responsibilities (of sitter and client) and liability issues. Have you got a good contract that you use with your clients? What about insurance? Have you consulted an attorney or at least gone over these matters with an experienced petsitter?

(2) Backup: What is to happen in case you are for some reason unable to show up for any visits you have agreed to do? I always get at least one name of someone I can call in that event. I also make sure there is another key nearby, whether concealed on the premises or kept by a nearby neighbor.

Best wishes with Furnanny 911! (Great name, by the way :).)