Pet or plant-sitting... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

black-saturn wrote: »

So do you think this is something which my 13 year old animal mad daughter would be able to do? She would be interested in looking after peoples small animals such as rabbits, hamsters etc in her own home for about £10 per week.

Of course you know your daughter, and I don't know how responsible she is etc. etc. However, I don't see any reason why not, particularly if you have had animals of that sort before.

I get the people who I sit for to fill in a form containing what they want me to do, agreed price, dates, and a disclaimer (i.e. don't sue me if you cat gets run over / fish dies / dog hurts itself etc. etc.). I'm quite happy to email it to anyone who wants it, just PM me if you want it.

I guess extending from this dog walking services could be offered?

Do you think that would be a hit or a miss? just thinking of it being a bit colder outside some older people might not want to go out in it or, as with my grandparents, they are getting too frail to give their dog more than a ten minute walk, and he could do with more. Bit of much needed exercise for myself too!

Trouble is, who reads those little notices put up in supermarkets? perhaps an advert in the newspaper might be better?

Dog walking has a fair amount of money in it (probably £7 an hour, so significantly above min. wage), if you don't mind those cold days yourself! I decided to opt out of dog walking (unless in conjunction with pet sitting) as I'm not around every weekend (divorced parents) and I don't want to be out for an hour every evening, when I'm up to my eyeballs in coursework. But if you do it then for pete's sake don't let it off the lead, as dogs often won't respond to anyone but their owners.

My notices on the village noticeboard were quite successful, but I would guess that an ad in Trade-It (which is free) or the local paper (which may or may not be free) could also work well - if people bother to read the classifieds.

The other option is a leafleting campaign, putting them through doors, but that is expensive in terms of paper and ink (unless you can do it at work) and time consuming.

When I am asked to go into a house (some jobs are outside only) then I will offer to move post, switch lights on and off and water a small number of plants for "free"

I would be very careful who I allowed into my home to pet-sit. I have been unpleasantly surprised to discover that a most peculiar couple living near me are now providing such a service. I have been told that they have had work in various parts of the country. When sober they are well-spoken and seem quite genuine. I know for sure he was bankrupt just a few years ago and since then he has run up debts all over the place. She has mental health problems and they seem to know every trick in the book to get all the benefits going ... even down to supposedly living apart. I did a bit of detective work and actually found their website which looks pretty impressive and as my DH says "Imagine being away on holiday & knowing that THEY were sleeping in your house".

black-saturn wrote: »

So do you think this is something which my 13 year old animal mad daughter would be able to do? She would be interested in looking after peoples small animals such as rabbits, hamsters etc in her own home for about £10 per week.

If you were to go ahead with this where does your daughter plan to put the animals you take in, bearing in mind you already own a number of small animals (what animals do you have, btw?) and does she/you have appropriate transport to be able to take any animal that might become sick/injured whilst in your care to the owner's vet?

Just a couple of things you might want to think about

I have seen an ad for a company called PALS4PETS who recruit people who are used to dogs but don't have one at the moment to care for them at home during hols, hospital stays etc. I think it's just dogs but it might be other pets too. Don't have a website address but they should be easy enough to find.

black-saturn wrote: »

We will look after the animals in our home. We have a rabbit, guinea pig and 5 mice at the moment. The vets is straight over the road from me so I won't need transport.

Do you have sufficient facilities in your home to provide a separate "quarantine area" to house these animals then? It certainly wouldn't be advisable to keep them in the same room due to risk of passing on infection/disease etc (to your own animals as well as clients animals) plus you'd need a quarantine area should any of them become sick whilst staying with you, and your daughter would need to learn about barrier husbandry and how to effectively put it into practice. Ideally you would also have a separate outbuilding to house the "holiday animals" unless you live in a large enough house to keep them completely seperate.

I just wonder whether you've both really looked into it all properly as there's a lot more involved to all this than you might realise. Also, would all your clients be happy for you to use the vet local to you? Some might prefer you to take them to their own vet.


ETA: You might want to have a look at this site for some ideas of what you need to do ... http://www.rabbitranch.co.uk/ ... they do the same service that your daughter is wanting to do. It might be worth dropping them a line for some info and advice in setting up.