How to Start Up a Pet Sitting Business From Home

If you are looking for a great way to boost your income without the need to confine yourself to an office, here’s an idea: why not start a pet sitting business from home?  Home business ideas can be great if you have the skills and mindset to be successful with them.

Work From Home

There are many home business opportunities for dog lovers, and pet care can be as fun as it is rewarding.  If you own your own home and have enough room, you can allow pets to come to your space and provide a day care of sorts.  Another idea is to create a home business around providing visits to the homes of the pets, or providing walks and a poop scooping service.

Check Your Home Insurance

Of course, you need to know the legalities of the services you want to provide.  If you are keeping animals in your home, you may want to look at your insurance policy to make sure your home allows multiple animals to be kept under one roof.  Most cities limit the number of allowable pets per home to comply with health legislation.

Draft a Short Contract for Protection

It’s also a good idea to pay your local lawyer a small sum to draft a short contract for your clients to sign, absolving you from financial responsibility should something bad happen.  Accidents can and do happen in any line of work, and as most people think of their pets as member of their family, things can get very heated very fast if anything happens to their pet while they are away.  While the pet is in your charge you can and will be blamed for anything that happens to them, whether or not it is your fault.  

Don’t Take in Sick Pets

Ensuring that all animals are up-to-date on vaccinations and that you have the contact info of a reliable local vet is also important.  Do not take in any animal who is or appears to be sick.  With some sicknesses like feline influenza, a single sick animal can infect every animal in the house in a matter of hours.  This clause can and should be added to the contract.  Do not take delivery of the pet without having the owner sign the contract for each animal and verify that they are not currently sick with any communicable diseases.

With the right setup and the ability to advertise around town, pet sitting can go from a fun hobby you offer friends to a viable idea for a very successful home business.  All it takes is a bit of work and a love for our four-legged friends.