Home pet sitting

For some animals, leaving home is the problem, not the solution. Territorial cats that hide for two days in an unfamiliar flat. Older dogs on a medication routine timed to the minute. Convalescing animals for whom a change of scene costs more than it gives. For all of them, moving the animal makes things worse — what makes sense is moving the person.

In-home care is exactly that: someone comes to your house, does what you would do, and leaves. How many times a day depends on the animal. A healthy adult cat is usually fine with one daily visit; a dog needs at least two, and often three. An animal on eight-hour medication sets its own calendar, and there is no room to improvise.

What changes compared with a standalone walk is the depth. Here the sitter does not just take the animal out: they serve food in the usual bowl, change the water, clean whatever needs cleaning, check for vomiting or diarrhoea, give the pill when it is due and stay a while. That while matters more than it seems. An animal that goes twenty-four hours without seeing anyone is not alone for a bit: it is alone.

There is a household side too. Many sitters collect the post, lower a blind, water the plants if you ask and leave the kitchen as they found it. That is not the contracted service, it is common sense: if someone enters your home twice a day for a week, the house looking lived-in is a useful side effect.

Trust runs higher here than in any other service, because the access is greater and so is the time. Which is why the meet-and-greet is not optional in practice: you want to see that person with your animal, show them where everything lives and tell them the things no form has a field for — that the cat only drinks from the tap, or that the vacuum cleaner sets the dog on edge.