The person coming to your door
Tamara, and the way I work.
I look after animals in their own houses around York. I’ve been pet sitting through Rover for over a year, with genuine reviews from those bookings.
Tamara · York
How I ended up doing this
I’ve been pet sitting through Rover for over a year, and the reviews on this site come from those bookings. Some of the people I’ve sat for have said they would like to book me again.
So this is a one-person business, and it stays one. There is no team, no rota, no coordinator. I live with Skye, a golden retriever, and Charlie, a long-haired cat, which means mud, tablets, a litter tray and a shedding coat are already my ordinary morning rather than something I take on for work.
What that buys you is dull and important: the person who met your dog is the person who turns up, and I’ve stood in your kitchen before I’m responsible for it.
What a day in your house actually looks like
Your routine, not a version of mine.
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First thing
Curtains open, animals fed in the order they expect it, medication given if there is any, water changed rather than topped up. The dog goes out before anything else happens.
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Through the morning
A proper walk for a dog. For a cat, the litter tray, then twenty minutes of being available on the floor, which is usually when a shy one decides to reappear.
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During the day
Post off the mat, bins out on the right day, plants watered if you’ve asked me to. If I go out, I say so in the update, and I say when I got back.
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Evening
The second feed, the last walk, lamps on in the rooms you’d have lamps on in. This is the part a timer switch can’t do.
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Overnight
I sleep at your house. Arrival and departure are agreed with you before the booking and written into your care notes, so you know when the house is occupied and when it isn’t.
Regular photos and messages, at a frequency we agree before you go. If your cat has spent the whole day behind the sofa, that’s what the message says.
How I work
One named person.
This is a sole trader, not an agency. There is no rota and no other sitter to send in my place, so the person who comes to the meet and greet is the person who turns up on the night. If I’m not free for your dates you get told straight away, rather than being kept warm.
Overnight stays are £50 a night, and bank holiday nights start at £60. Drop-in visits are £15 for 30 minutes and £22 for an hour, the same price whatever day of the week it is.
I come to houses within about five miles of York for visits, and up to about fifteen miles for overnights. The places I cover are listed in full.
Before anything is booked
What a meet and greet involves
If we haven’t worked together before, this comes first. I won’t agree to look after an animal I haven’t met, in a house I haven’t stood in.
Free, and nothing is booked at the end of it
You can meet me, decide I’m not the right person for your animals, and say no. That’s a normal outcome, and I’d far rather it happened before a booking than after one.
It happens in the house I’d be staying in
Not a café, not a video call. I need to see the doors, the stairs, the garden gate, where the food lives and where the lead hangs. Your animals need to meet me on their own floor.
We write the care down together
Feeding, walks, litter, medication and doses, your vet, your emergency contact, and who I ring first. It goes in writing so nobody is relying on remembering a conversation.
Access is worked out face to face
How I get into the house, and how that access comes back to you afterwards, is agreed then rather than left to the day you fly.
What I take, and what I turn down
See all pricesI do
- Overnight house and pet sitting, in your home
- Dog sitting, with walks included in an overnight stay
- Cat sitting, usually two half-hour visits a day
- Half-hour and hour-long visits for other animals in the house
- The house as well: post, bins, plants, lamps
I do not
- Dog walking on its own, without a sit attached
- Daycare
- Boarding at my house — your animals never come to me
- Take a booking without meeting you and your animals first
- Take an animal I don’t think I can look after properly
Turning something down is part of the job. It’s cheaper for both of us than finding out on the first night. Anything else you want to check is on the questions and answers page.
Tell me your dates and I’ll tell you if I’m free.
Dates, your postcode and what animals you have. If the answer is no, you get a no rather than silence.
What happens next
I reply to say whether the dates are free.
We talk, then I come to your house to meet you and your animals.
Nothing is confirmed until after that.