I'm a full-time cat-sitter AMA

[bellissimiaow]

I started cat-sitting in 2016 as a little 'side hustle' alongside my full-time job to make a little extra money to support my kids. Fast forward to now I've packed in my (nice safe, well-paid Accounting!) job, have a team of 10 cat-sitters and over 200 clients with more being added all the time.

Business is absolutely booming and I live, breathe and sleep cats all day every day

Because they have such cute little faces that you can just squish and those toe-beans, and the way they push your hand with their heads when they need a stroke. Any those little chirps and when they go keh-keh-keh when they see a bird.

I would say the tabbies tend to be the friendliest and most placid on the whole, although my own tabby boy Reggie is the exception to this as he has some long standing issues.
Tortoiseshell cats in general tend to be very inquisitive and a bit feisty - there are exceptions but the ones I know do live up to their naughty-Torty reputations.
Ragdolls are very popular especially with first-time cat owners and I can see why as they're wonderfully easy-going and good natured.
I have a few Bengal and Siamese cats which although are beautiful to look at, are incredibly intelligent and need a LOT of stimulation and attention and can get very frustrated or stressed when their owners aren't around. There's no way we can just put down food for them and leave, they would tear the house apart They are quite difficult to look after and I imagine quite demanding to own. If they don't get enough exercise they can become aggressive out of frustration and if they are stressed they can urinate around the house or rip things apart.
I personally prefer a cat who like to sit on my lap and snore ha ha!

I thought perhaps you might be our cat sitter (also has about 10 sitters I think, uses the app and does stay and play) but she also offers dog walking so I guess not!

Out regular cat sitter booked through her business is just wonderful and her daily updates with photos (so many photos!) are a twice-daily highlight on our holidays! They always have a great play session together and she is obviously bonkers about cats.

Costs are roughly similar to what you are charging - the visit fee is slightly lower but we pay a fuel fee on top so overall about the same. She covers a wide, rural area so having a variable mileage fee makes sense I think.

Obviously there will always be an element of trust involved and we say to people that in-home cat sitting is not necessarily right for everyone. Only you know whether you feel comfortable allowing a stranger into your home.
We always arrange a Meet & Greet visit before any bookings go ahead so that I and the cat sitter can call at the owners house to meet them in person. We go through the cats routine and the owner shows us where they eat, litter trays etc. and can ask any questions.
Cat-sitters have to have a DBS check and references and we also encourage owners to use security cameras or cat-cams to reassure them.
We currently have a 100% 5-star review record across both Google and Facebook so I think that really helps people to see that we are a trustworthy and genuine business.
However I completely understand that some people could abuse that trust and it does worry me when taking on staff.

What's the minimum age for a cat sitter? DD (13) has created a nice little job for herself over the last year, feeding various cats in our road but also staying to play with them as she's cat crazy.
Any chance of her being able to expand it, or is she too young to be part of a wider set-up?

A Bengal cat that I had to take out for a walk on a lead and harness at each visit, round a naice housing estate to the duck pond and back. He was lovely but I was so scared he'd run into the road. Once he leapt up onto a 8ft wall and looked like he was going to jump down the other side with me frantically hanging on to his harness trying to get him to come back down! Then he decided to climb a tree! My heart was in my mouth.

I think your set-up sounds great. I am a bit horrified at the price. I usually pay £12 in the South East. It has been hard to find someone reliable. I found a lovely sitter for £10 a day (1 visit per day) and she did a great job but she is young and does it for a bit of extra cash so I don't know if she will keep doing it.

I would love to jack in my job and become a cat-sitter but I worry about the seasonality. I also wonder if you can ever take your own holiday!

What do you do with half-dead 'surprises' that the cats bring home? I know I'd go to pieces with that!

Have you ever had a cat fall seriously ill or found dead whilst looking after then? If yes how did you deal with the situation?

Do you take care of cats at your house as well as visit them in theirs?

Whats your favourite part of your job?

Whats the strangest request you E had regarding care of a cat?

Most of us have only ever had the odd dead mouse to dispose of, although we've had a live blackbird in a kitchen once! It was ok, just needed an escape route.

Oh and I once went to feed the sweetest little cat to find she'd turned into a maniac bird-murderer in the night - blood and feathers all over the owners utility room!

My worst was a diabetic seizure which was life-threatening as I found him unconscious. I rang the owner whose daughter rushed straight over and whisked him to the emergency vet. Thankfully he was ok and I still look after him now. If I hadn't been able to contact the owner I would have taken him straight to his vet myself and owners sign a waiver to agree to this.
I'm forever terrified that a cat will die in our care - touch wood it's never happened yet but I feel that as we grow the chances are more likely. There have been a couple of near-misses where a cat has died very shortly before we've been due to visit them. I do need to think about a policy of what to do if this ever happens actually.

Have you ever turned up to a house and found it's been burgled or the animals have gone nuts and trashed it?

I have an indoor cat. I presume most of the cats you sit are outdoor cats. How does that work? Do they come back when you call them? Do they have collar activated cat flap access? How do you know that they are around?
Or, do they stay in? How do outdoor cats cope with confinement?

I turned up once to find there had been a major leak and there was hot water literally POURING through the ceiling in a poor lady's house. I was only visiting once a day so I don't know how many hours ago it had happened but the whole house was like a sauna, windows were all steamed up and the wallpaper was peeling off the walls The poor cat was sitting on the stairs going "WTF is this??" Thankfully no burglaries.

I've had to call a locksmith out a couple of times where we've been given the wrong key or the owner has left a key in the other side of the door and we can't get in.

I can't think of a time (yet!) where the cats have trashed the house. Some are much messier than others though so can take longer to clean up after - mainly litter tray-related incidents!

No I've got 4 cats of my own at home so we don't bring any home - plus our whole ethos is to keep cats in their own homes in familiar environments so as not to stress them with car journeys and unfamiliar sounds, smells and places. Many can become so traumatised by a trip away from home that they vomit, stop eating or develop serious anxiety so we try to keep them in as much of their normal routine as possible.

Favourite part of the job is just all the absolutely amazing cats I get to meet (and fall in love with!) I do get very attached to them and am genuinely heartbroken when any of them die. Cat owners on the whole are brilliant too - they are a certain type of person, we seem to connect immediately and although most of them start with 'this will make me sound crazy' nothing anyone can say will sound crazy to me because our cats are our babies and we will do anything to care for them in the same way you do.

People ask us to leave the radio or tv on for them, we send them videos and photos all the time which they love. We've been asked to hand-feed cats, some get lonely so we just go round and sit with them. Cats have their own entire bedrooms, lots have catios now. People spend a fortune on them and that's fine because they're their babies and we understand that.

I think that's why we've become so popular and people seem completely happy to pay more I had to increase the price because I simply couldn't cope with the demand and I actually still can't, but at least now I know it's the people who appreciate that we're all passionate cat owners ourselves and will love and care for their cats as well as just the basic feeding etc

Im wanting to be a full time cat sitter in chicago...how did you go about getting so many clients to make this a full time job for you. I was able to get four clients at christmas time but they haven't needed me since....how do I go about getting more clients? any help you give me would be greatly apprecialted...you can email me directly at [email protected] I love cats and really want to make this my full time job...I volunteer at a cat shelter and have cats and have dealt with different temperaments and personalities. Thank you so much...please help : )