u/Decent_Green183

Years ago, when I had just started on Rover, a dog in my care suffered severe heat stroke. Rover was made aware of it in graphic detail, and so was the owner. The dog survived, but for reasons unknown to me, the owner refused veterinary care afterward.

And that, apparently, was the correct administrative procedure. Rover never investigated. Never followed up with me or the owner. A dog had just suffered heat stroke to the point of nearly dying, but without a cancellation and a veterinary invoice, we were in the clear 👍

Fast forward to another dog I was sitting who started showing symptoms of a UTI within hours of arriving. The owner scooped up their dog, took them to the vet, was very chill about it, just requested to cancel the remainder of the stay. And suddenly, that was the incident worth investigating.

It’s so backwards it still bugs me. What exactly are they encouraging here? Not taking a dog to the vet?

You know how there’s a way to see a log of all the “cases” Rover has ever opened against you? Well, I checked mine. It’s full of petty things, like cancellations, and not a mention of the heat stroke.

Are you guys friends with any other pet caregivers in your area? Do you ever get together or do anything to build a local petcare community?

It’s a dream of mine, and I’ve been considering reaching out to some of the petcate folks I’ve been admiring from afar. I’d love to have a local community where we can share experiences and support each other.

I have people I get to hang out with and a sense of community in other areas of my life, but I’m definitely missing that in my professional life as a pet caregiver

I switched to business hours over a year ago after getting burnt out and wanted to share my process and experience in case it helps anyone improve their work-life balance.

I sent an email blast with my work hours to my existing clients and have a doc with my schedule and policies that I share with new/potential clients before we book.

My schedule is as follows:

— Routine updates and general inquiries are handled between 8 AM and 5 PM Monday through Friday, unless I’m doing a walk or a drop-in during my offline time (I usually send updates after each walk/drop-in no matter when I’m doing them if the owner is not home) or if it’s an emergency.

— Drop-offs and pick-ups can be scheduled for between 8 AM and 7 PM. If their appointment is between 5 and 7 PM, they’re welcome to message me any time before 7 PM on the day of the appointment, including weekends.

I also have an intake form that all of my clients are required to fill out. It keeps everything organized in a single spreadsheet and helps avoid unnecessary back and forth.

Besides collecting info, I use my intake form as an opportunity to set expectations for my clients and have them sign off on my policies.

Most of my existing clients were very understanding of my boundaries.

Now, new/potential clients are a different animal. At first I was worried this would turn away a lot of people, so I decided to make exceptions for first-time bookings with weekend drop-offs to help alleviate anxiety. To my surprise, not a lot of people took me up on it.

I don’t know how many pet parents chose not to hire me because of my policies, but I haven’t noticed it affecting my income.

I’m sharing this because it has been working very well for me and I really regret not doing this sooner. While there are a lot of perks to running your own business, as sitters, we work weekends, don’t get a lot of time off, and burnout is a real thing. Protecting our mental health is extremely important in this profession.