How To Start Pet Sitting as a Side Hustle & Earn Money The Same Day!

Have you always fancied yourself a pet lover?

What if you could make some money by looking after someone else’s pet?

Well I’ve been doing it for over a year now and the money earnt through pet-sitting alone paid for a week’s holiday in Turkey.

Yep. Money outside of my usual salary afforded me and my girlfriend a week’s holiday in Turkey (and covered the expenses whilst we were out there!)

Having these holidays that don’t affect your usual salary/budgets is so rewarding.

The best news about all of this is that you can do it too through pet sitting!

So let me walk you through how you can start pet sitting as a side hustle and start earning money the very same day!

What is Pet Sitting

Pet sitting is the service provided for looking after someone else’s pet whilst they’re away.

But it isn’t as blanket as that.

Pet sitting is all about treating a pet like it is your own for the duration of their owner’s holiday/time away.

It’s a big responsibility! These are family members you are looking after and isn’t always a walk in the park! (pun absolutely intended)

Pet sitting can be done by either the pet coming to your home, or you stay over at the owner’s house and look after the pet in their home.

It’s a great way to meet new people and also get that pet love in your life if you currently don’t have any!

Why You Should Start Pet Sitting as a Side Hustle

The best reason why you should start pet sitting as a side hustle is because it doesn’t require any particular set of skills (other than a love for animals) and you can start earning money today.

Yep, it can be that easy to start earning an extra bit of cash on the side.

It is also a great indicator if you are thinking about getting a pet soon whether if it is the right time for you.

Pets are hard work and pet sitting is a great way to have a little taster into what it is truly like being a pet parent.

Not only could you meet new people, any family or friend that has a pet will also see you as a sudden pet expert. We’ve had a lot of referral work from friends/family about looking after pets when we definitely would have never been considered before!

How Much Money Could You Earn?

How much money you could earn from pet sitting is entirely up to you! You set the fees and rates meaning the power is totally in your hands!

Now it is important to note that if you charge too much, then you may not get a lot of business to start out with, but if you charge to little, then you won’t see a lot of profit to start with!

It is important that you set your rates fairly as to what you think your time is worth. I work from home all day as my full time job is remote and therefore it doesn’t require too much hassle to look after a pet.

Your situation may be different and for you to look after a pet, there may be more logistics for you to overcome that you would want to be compensated for.

For your reference, we currently charge £30 for 1 overnight stay. That gets multiplied by the number of days we are looking after the pet and if there are additional pets, we charge extra!

How to Start Pet Sitting

We use an app called Rover (not sponsored). You can find it on app stores across all devices as well as their website online (https://www.rover.com/uk/).

All you have to do is sign up, provide a few details about yourself, a photo id verification, write your profile and boom you are ready to go as a pet sitter. Be sure to be extra detailed in your profile so that you can build trust as a pet sitter quickly!

By giving as much information about you as possible, it allows those who are looking for pet sitters to get to know you better.

The more trustworthy you are, the higher the chance of you getting picked and paid!

The entire process takes about 15 minutes, but the side hustle income lasts a lifetime!

Important Things To Note

Whilst I’ve casually mentioned how easy pet sitting is to start, it isn’t as easy as you think it is.

There is feeding, walking, poop cleaning, general well being, ensuring you listen to the specific instructions for each pet. It is a lot of information to take on and it can be very tiring some days!

You can’t just not go for a walk because you can’t be bothered. You have a duty of care for the pet you are looking after. You would want someone to treat your pet the same!

And a lot of people meet you for the first time as they drop off their furry child.

It is crucial that your first impression matters. Be sure to make a note of some questions if you have them to help give you a better understanding of how to look after the pet.

This also puts some people at ease as it shows that you know what you are talking about.

Be sure to also take pictures! Every owner loves a ‘(p)update’ of their pooch so be sure to be at the ready with the camera!

Difficulty Rating as a Side Hustle

In terms of side hustles, pet sitting is very easy to start and only takes your time and energy to maintain.

There is no complex algorithm to build or difficult hurdle to overcome, it’s just whether you are ready to take the leap or not!

Difficulty rating: 2/10