Pet sitting is this a realistic idea?

loulou123

Thank you again for the replys

Paulwf - would be definately viewing it as a up your income idea and not a full time job and i also understand that one week i may be running around doing several jobs and then have very little work for a month or more. Also the "popular times" of the year to need services such as these, would be fine with me, as i never take a holiday in summer time and have no commitments around xmas apart from my normal working hours. Also thank you for the advice on pricing and tax info - which is an area i know very little about.

Kimso - unfortanetly im nowhere near Cardiff but thank you for the ideas and the good luck message.

Amber sunshine - thank you for your ideas, there is one local reptile shop to me (but not a good one) and my OH is a member of the local reptile society thingy, so that would definatley be a good place to advertise. As i said in my earlier post, i hope the fact that i am willing to deal with these exotic pets may create a niche market for my services.

flossy_splodge

loulou123 wrote: »

Thank you again for the replys

Paulwf - would be definately viewing it as a up your income idea and not a full time job and i also understand that one week i may be running around doing several jobs and then have very little work for a month or more. Also the "popular times" of the year to need services such as these, would be fine with me, as i never take a holiday in summer time and have no commitments around xmas apart from my normal working hours. Also thank you for the advice on pricing and tax info - which is an area i know very little about.

Kimso - unfortanetly im nowhere near Cardiff but thank you for the ideas and the good luck message.

Amber sunshine - thank you for your ideas, there is one local reptile shop to me (but not a good one) and my OH is a member of the local reptile society thingy, so that would definatley be a good place to advertise. As i said in my earlier post, i hope the fact that i am willing to deal with these exotic pets may create a niche market for my services.

A close friend of my DD does in fact do this as her full time job.
She has had a decal made for the side of her car (not that expensive I gather) and she dog walks during the day and also pet sits when owners away.
However she obviously became known to the customers before they entrusted her with their house keys!
Just take it slowly and if it works the way you want it to. then go for it and if it doesn't what have you lost?
This girl is very happy, has a non routine job, is with a wide assortment of animals and makes enough money to live on (just)!!
But there are things she could do to minimise her expenses, she just doesn't like any 'input' (advice!!:rotfl:) so you could do better.
Very best of luck.
:T

Mr.Mulla

I feel that this is possible however you have to be sure of your market. Why not have a survey and ask around first

loulou123

flossy_splodge wrote: »

A close friend of my DD does in fact do this as her full time job.
She has had a decal made for the side of her car (not that expensive I gather) and she dog walks during the day and also pet sits when owners away.
However she obviously became known to the customers before they entrusted her with their house keys!
Just take it slowly and if it works the way you want it to. then go for it and if it doesn't what have you lost?
This girl is very happy, has a non routine job, is with a wide assortment of animals and makes enough money to live on (just)!!
But there are things she could do to minimise her expenses, she just doesn't like any 'input' (advice!!:rotfl:) so you could do better.
Very best of luck.
:T

Thank you for your answer, very nice to hear of someone else making a real go of this (especially as a full time job.)

I know it could be very slow when i start up, but am hoping that word of mouth and advertising will help once i have a few jobs under my belt. Thanks again.

flossy_splodge

You could try and get 'linked' to a particular vets practice for referrals?
Good Luck and I'm sure you will be successful.:beer:

PasturesNew

If you don't have any ties, another potentical "niche" would be to target professionals who live alone and are often kept late at work without notice ... you could charge a premium service (and hold their keys) to go in on demand. So, you might get a text at 5.40 saying "can't make it home, please feed Fido". If you've no commitments then you are able to drop everything and go do it.... for the right price, but this will partly depend on where you live. i.e. near a large city.

jo70mo

My nephew atarted a dog walking and pet sitting business in march. it is slow but it is in profit and he is getting known. he has a limited area as he can't drive yet.
he has a steady £30 a week of work at the moment but then other jobs have been coming in quite frequently for anywhere from 1 day to 28 days while someone went to Australia.
he is insured and has proper contracts etc. I would say he has made over £400 since he got his first job at the end of March.
however he has had to be quite flexible about hours etc.
I bought him a fabulous book from amazon which has been like a bible with sample contracts and alsorts of really helpful tips and things we just hadn't thought about.here is the link to it.
we managed to get him to number 2 on google when you search dog walker or petsitter for his home town and he is in plenty of the free directories.
lots of posters and flyers in local shops/ pet shops etc and delivered leaflets through lots of doors locally. also as he has his own dog and meets other dogwalkers he has got business through them too.
If you want any other info I'd be happy to help if I can.
Jo x

pullup

What do you think would be a realistic price to charge for dog walking or looking after a guinea pig for a week? Would you have a both a weekly/daily price or price each job individually? obviously it would be cheeper if you had the animals in your own home. Can you offer services such as rabbit/guinea pig washing or nails clipping? Do you live near Northamptonshire? becasue I have 6 guinea pigs and a cat that I need someone to care for in August for 2 weeks!

moonrakerz

flossy_splodge wrote: »

You could try and get 'linked' to a particular vets practice for referrals?

I don't think a Vet would be giving "referrals" - he could lead himself open to all sorts of things if it goes wrong.
The best my Vet will offer is:- "we've not heard any bad reports about....."

[Deleted User]

I did dog sitting in my own home when people went on holiday. I was working as a dog groomer at the time (Saturday job) and customers were always asking if we knew anyone so I offered and it went from there....in fact it went mental?!?!?!? I had dogs pretty much all year round, I had one for 8 weeks whilst the owner was in Hospital and then recovering from cancer. In the end I had to cut back because I just kept saying yes and could never do anything myself (like go away for weekend or days out) I think there is a big need for this certainly in my area. I charged £10 per day most kennels are £16 upwards for a cage, where as I let the dogs live in with us, only had one incident of damage where a dog scrathed the paint off my door x