pet sitter

[Petshop]

hi i am about to become a small animal sitter, iwas wondering how much i should charge per animal or how i would workit out. i would be doing reptiles, birds, rabbits guniea pigs,chinchillas,ferrets,small rodents etc. but there is a limit to spaceand i would only be able to take on so many. does any one have anyadvise or tips all would be very useful.

 

[becc_boland]

Would the owners be supplying food or would you?If you are charge a lil bit more otherwise im not sure. Not too muchbut enough to cover labour I guess.

Becc

 

[ayglnu13]

Hellopetshop! I am a petsitter...

Here are somethings to think about before starting...

1,) Are you insured? what would happen if you damaged something in their house?

2,) Do you have a contract for your customers tosign? Such as "I am not liable for any damages that could occur"ect.

3,) Do you have a form for them to fill out whenyou first start the pet sitting job? Some things you could include: vetinfo, emergency contact, behavioral problems, medicalproblems...

Here are some sites that I found very useful, the bottom one especially

www.petsit.com

www.petsitters.org

www.petsitcenter.com

www.petsitterhowto.com

http://ri.essortment.com/howtostartap_rrqn.htm

 

[Petshop]

helloayglnu 13 im not going to therehouses i would be taking them into my home. i will be taking in ( thisis a long list
rats,mice,chinchillas,degus,tarantulas,small snakes,smalllizards,hamsters,gerbils,ferrets,guineapigs,rabbits,parrots,cockatiels,lovebirds,canerys,finches,budgies,parakeets and toitoses and any other small rodent or bird. i will alsobe doing home visits for cats, fish and large reptiles in my local areaif needed. i am in the process of writing up a contract for older orsick animals saying i wouldnt be responsible if they diddieseeing as they are old or sick. i have a long list of questions on mycomputor so wen they phone i can take all their details down. but imnot how to price it i thought of putting them into different groupssmall, medium or large animals. have i done it right so far? i haveeven made cards to go in the petshop i work in.

 

[Petshop]

also i have found most sites only talk about cats and dogs nothing so far on small animals birds and reptiles

 

[DaisyNBuster]

I take my small animals to a petsitter and theycharge me £2.50 a night per animal. I would charge more for lookingafter the cats though.

Vickie

 

[Petshop]

but wouldnt large animals like rabbits be £4 a day as they need more care and attention. same with large birds

 

[bojay]

Wouldn't you be afraid of passing on diseases between animals?

I heard birds and bunnies do not go well together. Forexample, you should never have your rabbit cages in the chicken coupbecause they share too many common diseases.

 

[Petshop]

lol birds and rabbits wouldnt even be in the sameroom rabbits would be in a hutch and birds indoors in a cage. guineapigs would be indoors but still not near the birds
well they would be outside in the summer

 

[pamnock]

You've probably already looked into many of the sites with pet sitting info:

but here's a good one in case you missed it . . .

http://www.pet-sitting.info/pet_sitting_insurance.html

More on pet sitter insurance:

http://www.a1-pet-supply.com/57-pet-sitter-insurance.htm

Many pet sitting info links:

http://www.kittyfun.com/2/pet-sitting.html

What other pet sitters are charging:

http://www.brendasbirds.com/Boarding/boarding&grooming.htm

http://www.spoil-a-pet.com/prices.html

http://www.cambridgereptiles.org/boarding.php

I would highly recommend insurance. A waiver will not protect you from being sued for negligence.

Pam

 

[cirrustwi]

I would suggest making sure you know all aboutall the animals you might keep. For example: many reptilesrequire very different housing and feeding (you probably know this, butI thought I would mention it).

I don't know how you plan on separating the different species, but someproblems could be: just the smell of ferrets is enough to stress somesmaller animals if they are not used to it. There are manythings that can be spread through the air (this is a big problem withbirds). Larger birds will mutilate smaller birds if they areallowed to come into contact. You would need to keep theanimals on floors that can easily be disinfected because you would needto do this after any animal was out of their cage.

As for price, I would charge different rates based on who provides food(though most animals need to stay on the same food), if they bringtheir own cage or you have to provide one, different amounts of care,etc.

I didn't mean to sound discouraging, I've just had a bad pet sitterexperience. I now only use friends or familymembers. I would make sure you have insurance, as this savedthe person I had a problem with.

Jen

 

[Petshop]

im sorry to hear that wot happened?

i can assure everyone that i am a massive animal lover and would neverdo anything that would stress or scare them. i have books on all theanimals i have put on there that i would keep so i know a fair amountabout each of them.

 

[pamnock]

Do be prepared for the worst. While petsitting, I had a very expensive tortoise die, a rabbit chew off histesticle and require surgery anda dog get loose.

There is also the issue of pathogen exposure when bringing animals from different areas into your house.

Pam

 

[Petshop]

pathogen wot is that i have never heard of that before?



i dont think i am going to do very well because no one will try me because i am new to it.

 

[pamnock]

We all have to startsomewhere.You might be betterof starting with things like dog walking or working at the local humanesociety.

Pathogens are disease causing microorganisms such as bacterias and viruses.

4-H programs such as veterinary science would be very useful in helpingyou learn more about diseases and how they are transmitted.Many animals carry pathogens that can infect other species (forinstance, when I tortoise-sit, I must disinfect my hands before caringfor the other species of tortoises and I have to be careful not tocross contaminate dishes, feed, bedding etc.) Pathogens canalso be carried on clothing. I had to change clothes andshoes when going to different stables to avoid transmitting disease.

How are you at handling emergencies and injuries? Are youable to get prompt veterinary treatment for animals you will be caringfor?

If you are not well educated in the proper care of treatment, you couldbe sued for negligence -- certainly not even worth attempting gettinginto pet sitting if you are not very experienced with animals.

Pam

 

[Petshop]

if i got the animal proper vetinery treatmentthen that would be ok. not that i am planning for any animals to getill but its gona happen sometime.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

pamnock wrote:

Dobe prepared for the worst. While pet sitting, I had a veryexpensive tortoise die, a rabbit chew off his testicle and requiresurgery anda dog get loose.

OMG! that's awful

 

[pamnock]

Petshop wrote:

ifi got the animal proper vetinery treatment then that would be ok. notthat i am planning for any animals to get ill but its gona happensometime.

You could still be sued for negligence if the owner felt you were atfault for the need for veterinary care in the first place.There are also many cases where animal care takershavebeentaken to small claims court.

Certainly something to keep in mind if you want to go into business.

Pam

 

[cirrustwi]

Petshop wrote:

im sorry to hear that wot happened?

I had an older dog fall down the stairs. The sitter didn'tthink it was a big thing because the dog seemed "ok" to her.When we got home, she had sustained severe injuries to her jaw andteeth. It required several hours of very expensive surgery tofix it.

I also know someone who had a macaw who contracted a large birddisease. He suffered a long time and through many differenttreatments as this is a really rare disease and the vet had a difficulttime diagnosing it. The vet even took the bird home, but hedied there. This was a disease which only effects largerbirds such as macaws, cockatoos and tucans.

I had a case of cross species contamination in my own home.My vet was never able to diagnose the problem and none of my animalswere new, so I don't know where it came from, but I lost 3 ferrets, 1rat and 7 degus (my entire breeding stock) over a period of 3 weeks orso. All the animals seemed fine and went down veryquickly. The ferrets were the only ones who ever showedsymptoms and we were unable to save any who got sick. Theremaining animals were untouched. It was very strange.

I'm actually going to have a friend sit my pets for almost the entiremonth of May because I'm going to be out of town. I worryeven with her because she has several animals and I get concerned aboutcross contamination. She has tortoises and 1 species of themcarry the herpes virus, which is very contagious and expresses itselfdifferently over different species, but usually with a respiratoryinfection.

Jen

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I'm wondering if hotels allow bunnies right about now. I'm never leaving my little Bo Bee!!!