How to start a pet sitting business

To start a pet sitting business, you must determine what type of pet sitting business you want to start, assess your local pet sitting business landscape, and develop a business plan. For more details on these steps you can take to start a pet sitting business, reference this guide:

How To Become A Pet Sitter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pet sitter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Beth Stultz-Hairston

A pet sitter is someone who cares for a pet in its home while the owner is away. It could also include taking the pet on a walk. A pet sitter is responsible for providing food and water, brushing fur and teeth in the case of dog and cat, walking dogs, and cleaning litter boxes. They also give medications when necessary and take the pets to the vet if they suffer an injury or become sick while pet sitting them. Working as a pet sitter may sometimes require that you stay overnight at the owner's home so that you can let pets out for regular bathroom breaks.

To be a successful pet sitter, you should have a good rapport with animals. You should also be reliable and trustworthy, and you must have interpersonal skills, communication skills, and a love for animals. Pet sitters are not required to have any formal education but must be familiar with all the aspects of caring for pets. The median annual salary of a pet sitter is $23,760.

What general advice would you give to a Pet Sitter?

Beth Stultz-Hairston

President, Pet Sitters International

While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted professional pet-sitting and dog-walking companies, as it has a variety of other small businesses, we expect an influx of new job requests to come in once travel resumes and more pet owners return to the office (especially since so many people have adopted pets during this time!). For those who want to start their own pet-sitting companies, now is the perfect time to take steps to prepare to launch their businesses (e.g. learn more about the industry, research local competition, select a business name, get liability insurance, etc.). For pet lovers who desire to work for another pet-sitting company, instead of starting their own, it will be important for them to highlight not only their pet-behavior knowledge and pet experience on resumes and in interviews, but their flexibility and attention to detail as well, as companies are instituting new health and safety precautions to ensure pet-sitting services can be provided as safely as possible in the COVID-19 age.

ScorePet SitterUS Average

Salary

2.0

Avg. Salary $25,823

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate 28%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.48%

Asian 2.63%

Black or African American 4.28%

Hispanic or Latino 18.07%

Unknown 6.40%

White 68.14%

Gender

female 80.30%

male 19.70%

Age - 29

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 29

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.0

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.1

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a pet sitter

Explore pet sitter education requirements

Most common pet sitter degrees

Bachelor's

45.4 %

High School Diploma

21.8 %

Associate

21.8 %

Start to develop specific pet sitter skills

Skills	Percentages
PET	89.88%
Walkers	2.43%
Clients Homes	1.93%
CPR	1.05%
Topical Medications	0.57%

Complete relevant pet sitter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pet sitters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a pet sitter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pet sitter resumes.

Research pet sitter duties and responsibilities

Help managed the company and train new walkers
Cat and dog feeding, medicine, dog walking, cleanup; 5 animals : 3 cats , 2 dogs.
Provide constant supervision and companionship for elopement risk and suicide precaution patients.
Provide care for dogs, fish, cats, bunnies, birds, snakes, hamsters and most other household pets.

Prepare your pet sitter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pet sitter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a pet sitter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Pet Sitter Resume templates

Build a professional Pet Sitter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Pet Sitter resume.