The 10 Best Pet Sitter Services
Where is the Best Place to Find a Pet Sitter?
Are you planning a fun getaway, but you're worried about your furry friends? Sometimes you can find a relative or a neighbor to watch your puppy, lizard, or bird. However, that doesn't always work out, and you still need someone you trust to watch the extra members of your little family who can't travel with you. Thankfully, there are lots of services that help connect pet owners to pet sitters out there today.
While pet sitters used to be a word-of-mouth service, or based on who you knew locally, the addition of pet sitting services online has made it much easier to find animal carers anytime you need them. Online platforms provide a convenient way for pet owners to find reliable and trustworthy pet sitters. With just a few clicks, pet owners can connect with potential sitters from the comfort of their homes.
Saturday, December 2nd
2023 Pet Sitter Service Reviews
Bark
Bark is an online service marketplace that connects customers with local pet sitting professionals and various other service providers. With its user-friendly website, Bark simplifies the process of finding and contacting pet sitters in your area. By entering your location and specific care needs, Bark selects professionals who meet your criteria and allows up to five freelancers to provide quotes. The platform's inclusivity extends to a diverse range of pets, offering tailored services for rabbits, reptiles, birds, and more. For these reasons, Bark ranks as the #1 option for finding a pet sitter, especially if you need help with medical concerns or exotic pets.
Rover
Established in 2011, Rover is a leading online platform that connects pet owners with independent pet sitters specializing in both dogs and cats. Offering a comprehensive range of services, including overnight boarding, in-home sitting, and dog walking, Rover caters to the specific needs of pet owners. Their user-friendly website allows pet parents to specify their requirements and browse a curated list of available sitters in their local area. Rover offers a secure service with sitters who undergo background checks and are vetted by the platform. For these reasons, Rover is a top choice for affordable and reliable pet care services for dogs and cats.
Pet Sitters International
Established in 1994, Pet Sitters International has emerged as the world's leading association for pet sitting, offering a wide range of resources and training opportunities to its 6,000 professional pet care provider members. What sets Pet Sitters International apart in the saturated market of pet sitting services is its commitment to empowering licensed pet sitters with the knowledge and skills to handle any situation that may arise. To achieve this, Pet Sitters International requires its members to undergo comprehensive training in various areas, including animal first aid, body language, pet CPR, and ethical practices. Unlike individuals who view pet sitting as a casual hobby or a way to make extra money, Pet Sitters International sitters treat the animals they care for as their foremost priority. While it is more expensive than many sites out there, the novelty of this option makes it one of our top choices.
House Sitters America
Established in 2007, House Sitters America has been a leading platform connecting house sitters and homeowners, driven by a strong commitment to innovation and improvement. Their user-friendly website simplifies the process of finding house or pet sitters and provides exceptional support to members. With a focus on connecting pet owners with sitters who stay in the pet owner's home, House Sitters America stands out from other services. While external reviews are limited, the platform receives positive feedback from users who appreciate timely communication, reasonable prices, and the trustworthiness of the professionals. Despite a lower BBB rating, House Sitters America remains a highly rated option, particularly for those seeking in-home pet sitters.
Trusted Housesitters
Trusted Housesitters was founded in 2010 by Andy & Rachel Peck with the goal of ensuring the well-being of pets in their own homes during their owners' absences. Over the years, Trusted Housesitters has grown significantly, expanding its operations to 130 countries and accommodating over 30,000 verified sitters. With options for house sitting locally or internationally, sitters love this site as a way to bundle vacationing with pet or house sitting. This is a great service with amazing security features. However, if you're just looking for a more casual pet sitter, this site may be a little too much work, especially if you want to find a sitter on short notice. For this reason, Trusted Housesitters isn't one of our top picks, but is definitely worth checking out for your next pet sitter.
Wag
Wag has been providing pet care services since 2014, specializing in dog walking and cat care. With a focus on convenience, Wag offers a solution for busy pet owners who struggle to provide adequate attention and exercise for their dogs. The service allows users to choose from a pool of professional dog walkers and pet sitters in their area, complete with features like training for sitters and personalized report cards after each interaction. Wag has received an average rating of 3 out of 5 stars and an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau, indicating a satisfactory user experience. Although primarily known for dog walking, Wag's services are worth considering for both dog and cat owners seeking reliable and trustworthy care.
Care
Care is a one-stop shop site for all types of care including children, seniors, individuals with special needs, and pets. While there used to be a membership fee, Care now offers free access to its pet sitter database. However, Care offers sitting for dogs and cats but lacks comprehensive filters for exotic pets or specialized medical care during initial filters, which ranks it lower than other companies in this review. Customer ratings are mixed, with decent customer service feedback but low overall star ratings. Although Care has a large database, the lack of thorough filters and customer service challenges make it less desirable compared to other pet-specific sites. For these reasons, it isn't one of our top pet care options but is still worth a look.
Sittercity
Founded in 2003, Sittercity is an online one-stop-shop care service that aims to provide solutions for parents seeking childcare and adult care services as well as pet care. However, despite its well-designed website, Sittercity falls on the lower end of the rating spectrum due to poor reviews. Although they offer an impressive range of pet types and filters, customer reviews highlight issues with low interaction from sitters and difficulties in resolving problems with Sittercity's customer service. While Sittercity is accredited and rated "A+" by the BBB, we recommend that you explore alternative options with higher ratings and a stronger customer-centric approach before considering Sittercity for pet care services.
Pet Sitters Associates
Pet Sitters Associates might appear a little confusing to customers at first, especially if they're expecting a traditional pet sitting website. While Pet Sitters Associates does provide pet sitters, trainers, home-sitters, and pet transportation services, the main focus of this site is insurance for pet businesses. Because of this, listings may be limited - like fewer pet sitters than other websites and not as many options for unique or exotic pets. While the site has a positive BBB rating, the limited number of reviews raises questions about customer experiences. Overall, Pet Sitters Associates offers a decent service, but it may not be as comprehensive or user-friendly as other pet sitting services in this review.
Pet Sitter
Pet Sitter operates as the pet sitting subsidiary of CareGuide, overseeing multiple caregiving service provider websites. Offering three subscription plans, Pet Sitter allows users to initiate contact with pet sitters based on their needs. However, a drawback is that the services seem to be limited to dogs and cats, as these are the only pets mentioned on their website and FAQ. While Pet Sitter offers flexibility in sitting styles, there are security concerns as caregivers are not required to have prior experience or undergo verification processes. Customer reviews are generally negative, with a low average rating on Sitejabber and complaints from pet sitters about limited communication with potential clients. Considering the limitations and issues with Pet Sitter, you'll want to explore some of the more reliable pet sitting services in our evaluation.
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One of the primary benefits of using an online pet sitting service is security. According to a survey conducted by Pet Sitters International (PSI), approximately 40% of pet owners preferred using online pet sitting services or apps to find pet sitters. One of the main reasons for this is that users found a higher level of trust in online pet sitting services.
The same survey by PSI mentioned above showed that over 70% of pet owners felt confident in the professionalism and reliability of online pet sitters. This is partially due to the qualifications and details about the individual pet sitters provided on pet sitting sites.
Furthermore, pet sitting websites and apps offer a wide selection of pet sitters with various backgrounds, experience levels, and availability. This allows owners to find the perfect match for their specific needs and requirements, even on short notice.
So, how do you find the best place to hire a pet sitter? There are so many choices out there today, it can seem overwhelming when you start browsing. With your furry family members involved, we understand why you want to take extra care in finding the perfect match.
If you're not sure where to start, we've got your back. Here's a list of things to help you narrow down your search for the best pet sitter.
- Price: Many pet sitting sites are free to use. Although some do charge for memberships, this could be worth it depending on the features you're looking for. Keep in mind what you're willing to pay for and compare those features to the free services.
- Pet Types: While lots of pet moms and dads have puppies or kitty cats, some pet parents have more exotic animals like birds, reptiles, or fish. It's important to make sure that the sitting service you're looking at offers options for the type of pet you have.
- User Interface: Shopping online is popular everywhere nowadays. For that reason, there's almost no excuse for a poor user interface. Keep away from sites that frustrate you, and make it easier on yourself to find that next pet sitter.
- Security: For a lot of pet sitting situations, you're letting a stranger into your home. To that end, you want to make sure a pet sitting service does the background security checks for you before you hire. Look for things like ID verification or background checks before you hand over your house key.
To help you feel completely confident about leaving your pet in the care of someone else, Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked the most popular places to hire a pet sitter out there today. We hope this will make choosing where to find someone to take care of your furry friends a stress-free process so you can enjoy your vacation and know your family is in great hands.
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