When you have worked as a pet sitter with regular clients for a long time, most of what you do will become second nature. However, if you are thinking of setting up your own pet sitting business, or are about to start work with a new client, it’s a good idea to work from a checklist.

We have lots of handy tips about what to do on a pet sitting appointment and have created our own pet sitter checklist to share with you, including a free download for you to print off and keep.

What to do on a pet sitting appointment

Checklists are a great way to make sure that you don’t forget anything important, and they are useful for many areas of our life – household chores, holiday packing, party arrangements, work tasks, etc.

Working as a pet sitter is no different, and even when you become experienced, it can be easy to forget things if you are busy or in a new environment. That’s why we have created a pet sitter checklist that will help you double-check everything you need to do on a pet sitting appointment.

This is the checklist that we use on every pet sitting appointment.

1. Put on a fresh pair of disposable gloves to protect yourself and the pets from any cross-contamination.
2. Knock on the front door to make sure there is no one at home.
3. Enter the home and turn off the burglar alarm if applicable.
4. Say hello to the pets and make a quick fuss of them.
5. Give any medication needed.
6. Wash the pet’s food and water bowls.
7. Clean the pet’s feeding area with anti-bac spray.
8. Refresh the drinking bowl with clean water.
9. Serve the pet’s wet food.
10. Serve the pet’s dry food.
11. Clean out any cages, litter trays, and the surrounding areas, or poop scoop outside if requested. Put any dirty litter in a bag to dispose of in the dustbin.
12. Pet and play with the pets, using toys if preferred. Give treats with the owner’s permission. Some pets like a lot of fuss, others just look, and some will ignore you or carry on eating. Don’t feel guilty if a pet doesn’t want to play.
13. Take pictures of the pets to send to the customer.
14. Do any “extras” that your customer may have requested such as closing curtains, turning on lights, etc.
15. Read your pet sitter appointment notes. Check nothing has been missed from the owner’s requirements.
16. Check that you have the house keys BEFORE opening the door. Don’t lock yourself out.
17. Do a final check of the house to ensure it is secure and safe for the pets before leaving.
18. Lock the house doors upon exit.
19. Double-check the door is locked.
20. Put the dirty litter bag in the customer’s dustbin.
21. Fill out your report card and mark the pet sitting appointment as complete.

Report Cards

Report cards are a great way to show your customers that you care. Pet Sitter Dashboard makes them quick and simple to send. We use them in our own 5 figure business.

Download our free pet sitter checklist

We don’t like to keep our good ideas to ourselves, so have created a free pet sitting checklist for you to download.
Download Checklist PDF

Do let us know if you think anything else should be on the checklist, or if you have any other tips that will make life easier for pet sitters everywhere.

Click here to download your free pet sitter checklist.

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