We love pet sitting. It’s been a great way for us to save money on accommodation while living like locals. Some of our pet sits have been;
- A short morning drive from a boulangerie (bakery) in Franco
- Within walking distance of Old Town sections of European cities
- A few blocks from Lake Zurich in Switzerland
- A quick drive from a theme park in San Jose (instead of $70/night at the local RV park)
- A short walk across a postcard village in England to the grocer
- A direct bus to Edinburgh Castle
- Next to a train station in Glasgow to name a few.
We even stayed in a small town in England on a street called “THE” street… it was the only one in town.
In many ways, we prefer housesitting to a hotel since we have more space to spread out, a full kitchen, and often laundry. We also feel like we’re enjoying life, not just being tourists at the Holiday Inn. We also don’t have pets while we RV (though we have friends who do), so for our boys, spending time with animals is a big perk, making a pet-sitting opportunity better than booking an Airbnb.
We have to be clear, though: Petsitting is not just about free accommodation; it’s also about caring for the homeowner’s home, plants, and pets while they’re away. Pet sitting comes with responsibility, not just free accommodation. While we often care for cats and dogs (because for a homeowner, a membership with Trusted Housesitters is much less than paying for a kennel) we’ve had the opportunity to house sit for some more “unique” pets.
To clarify: Along with cats, we had a hedgehog and three sugar gliders (flying squirrels) before we had kids, so we’re not strangers to unique pets.
Here are a few of our more “interesting” petsitting pets:
A Hamster in Edinburgh
A hamster seems like a typical pet, but this one occupied its own bathroom. It stayed there to protect it from the cat, but the day we were about to leave, the boys went to say goodbye to the hamster, and he was nowhere to be found, and we had to catch a bus to catch a train, to get to our next house sit that afternoon.
The plastic pipe in his cage had fallen apart at one of the joints, and the hamster decided he could take free reign of the bathroom. Thankfully, panic only lasted a few minutes as we found him in the corner, reattached the disconnected tube from his cage, and were on our way to catch the bus.
We’ve had hamster since, but now we just keep them in the cage unless we’re holding them.
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Goats in France
We’re not farmers by any stretch of the imagination, but we have visited many petting zoos and county fairs with goats, and we’re always quick to feed them if that’s an option. Goats are cool little animals who love to climb and play.
The goats in France were pretty easy to care for. We gave them grain each day for food and threw some plant clippings from the front yard so they could have a treat—oak and ivy, mostly. Well, mostly oak and ivy until I accidentally threw in some rhododendron, which is poisonous for goats. You can read more about how I almost killed that goat in France, but thankfully, everything was fine in the end.
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While I was distracted with reviving a goat, our youngest found a hedgehog in the bush outside, so decided to check him out, give him a snack, and return him where we found him.
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Tortoise (not a turtle) in Glasgow
Our middle son reminded us that turtles live in water (like a sea turtle, for instance) so what we were caring for was a tortoise when we visited Glasgow. He was allowed to go outside and could be on the trampoline since it was caged (but now while anyone was bouncing) and we kept his food dish stocked up with lettuce, celery, and carrots and would just replenish whenever he got through them all.
We could handle him or play with him on the grass while supervised. The owners said that one time they put him on the grass and went inside for a glass of water, and when they came out he was gone. It seems he had hidden in the shade under a bush, and a few days later, the neighbors down the street found him in their garden.
Chickens
Chickens are pretty straight forward. Most just need fed and for the eggs to be collected once a day. Some home owners rarely interact with their chickens (like when we were housesitting in England), while others (like this one below) let them wander through certain sections of the house. It’s interesting to be making breakfast when in walks a chicken to deliver the eggs.
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Bison Near St. Louis
At a housesit near St. Louis, we visited with 2 cats, but the homeowners also own a small herd of bison in a field across the road. Each day, we count the bison (roughly) to be sure that all 12 of them are there. Part of our house sitting responsibility is to ensure that the bison don’t get loose and to call a local rancher for help if they happen to get out.
Search for pet sits based on type of pet on Trusted Housesitters:
Search trusted housesitter listings by the types of pets
On Trusted Housesitters, you can search listings by specific types of pets. If you don’t like snakes for instance (like me, Adam) then you can specifically search for housesits without reptiles.
If you’re specifically looking for a housesitting opportunity where you can spend plenty of time sight seeing in a specific area, then you might search for listings where you can care for cats or fish who can be left during the day for longer than a dog who needs to be walked or let out.
You can also search for listings that are just homes (no pets) but they’re few and far between.
As an example, at the time of writing this blog post, there are just over 6,800 housesitting listings on Trusted Housesitters worldwide, and only five of them are listed as “no pets.”
There are a few different housesitting platforms, but since Trusted Housesitters is the largest, it’s most likely to have a listing that will match our location and dates. Here’s our review of Trusted Housesitters.
