Make money looking after cats in Nanaimo
Cat sitting jobs in Nanaimo, from the Old City to Harewood: home visits at the owner's address, booked around the owner's own trips. Cat visits in Nanaimo run CAD 20 to CAD 35 per 20 to 30 minute visit, and you keep up to 90% of every booking.
Get verified on Petme and take requests from owners across Nanaimo.
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Local know-how pays off in Nanaimo
Nanaimo's hard months for a cat sitter are wet, not frozen. Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1981-2010 normals for the Nanaimo A station put December precipitation at 184.3 mm, falling on 20.4 days of the month, so a winter visit starts with a check that windows and cat flaps stayed shut and the litter area is dry.
When owners travel
Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools (SD68) closed from December 20, 2025 to January 4, 2026 for winter break. Its spring break ran March 14 to March 29, 2026, two full weeks. July and August are the summer school break, the longest stretch of the school year without classes.
Know your Nanaimo areas
Nanaimo visits range from low-rise apartment units (8,235 in the 2021 census) to single-detached houses (22,215), the city's two largest housing types. Departure Bay holds the BC Ferries terminal with sailings to Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver.
Cat homes in Nanaimo
A cat visit in Nanaimo can be in a duplex suite as easily as a house: the 2021 census counted 6,040 apartments in duplexes, the StatCan category that includes a house with a secondary suite, out of 43,160 occupied private dwellings in the city.
Bilingual owners book faster
Canada is officially bilingual, and in Quebec, parts of New Brunswick and the Ottawa region owners search and message in French. A sitter who says in their profile that they work in French as well as English books faster in those neighbourhoods.
What a cat sitting job in Nanaimo actually involves
Visits run at the owner's address: food, fresh water, the litter box and some play, then a photo update. Where a Nanaimo house has a suite downstairs, the sitter confirms which door and which key belong to the cat's unit before the first visit, and keeps outdoor cats in if the owner asks.
Keys and access
Most Nanaimo owners hand over a spare key, a lockbox code or a smart-lock code at the meet-and-greet. Agree where the key lives and how you get in if the code fails, and confirm it before the owner leaves town.
The visit
Fresh food and water, the litter box scooped, a look at the cat and a few minutes of play or a brush. You note anything off, like a skipped meal or a hidden cat, so the owner hears it from you first.
The update
A photo and two lines in the app after every visit. Owners who cannot see their cat for a week live on those messages, and a sitter who sends them without being asked is the one they rebook.
Choose your services, set your own rates
Typical Petme rates in Nanaimo. You set your own price for each service, and keep up to 90% of every booking.
Drop-in cat visits
CAD 20 to CAD 35 per 20 to 30 minute visit
House sitting
CAD 40 to CAD 65 per night
Two clients in Nanaimo on twice-daily visits for five days is 20 visits. At CAD 28 a visit that is CAD 560, and you keep up to 90%. Holiday weeks stack two or three trips on top of that.
Nanaimo areas you can cover
Cat sitting in Nanaimo covers 13,510 one-person households, 31% of all private households in the city in the 2021 census.
Nanaimo's Animal Responsibility Bylaw No. 7316 caps any property at five cats over 12 weeks old (section 9.1), and section 60 requires every cat over 12 weeks to wear or carry identification such as a collar, harness, traceable tattoo or microchip. Dogs need a City licence under the same bylaw. Pet-care income is self-employment income, reported on form T2125 with your T1 return. GST/HST registration is required once taxable revenue passes the CAD 30,000 small-supplier threshold in four consecutive quarters.
Built for sitters in Nanaimo
Keep up to 90%
You set your rate. Petme keeps a low service fee, and you keep up to 90% of every booking.
Full schedule control
No assigned shifts and no minimum hours. Accept or decline each request and pause your profile whenever you need to.
Protected on every booking
CAD 32,000 in Protection Plan comes with every confirmed booking, so you are never on the hook alone if something goes wrong.
What Nanaimo owners look for in a cat sitter
Cat owners book on trust more than on price. The profile details below are the ones they ask about.
Comfort with shy cats
Many cats hide from a stranger for the first visit. Owners want to hear that you will sit with the cat, not chase it, and that a hidden cat still gets fed and its box scooped.
Reliability, twice a day
A cat on medication or a diabetic cat needs visits at the same time every day. Say what your schedule can hold in Nanaimo, and mention any medication experience, even with your own cat.
A tidy visit
Litter cleaned properly, nothing left out, doors and windows as you found them, and a message with a photo. Owners come home and look for those signs before they look at anything else.
How to start earning in Nanaimo
1. Download Petme
Download the Petme app from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Build your profile
Add photos, a short bio, and the Nanaimo neighborhoods you cover.
3. Verify your ID
Complete identity verification so owners can trust your profile before they book.
4. Set your rates and accept bookings
Set your own rates per service, choose your schedule, and accept the bookings you want.
Cat sitting jobs in Nanaimo
What new sitters ask before signing up on Petme in Nanaimo.
What do cat sitters make in Nanaimo?
Drop-in cat visits on Petme in Nanaimo run CAD 20 to CAD 35 per 20 to 30 minute visit. You set your own rate per visit, and you keep up to 90% of every booking.
What do I need to start pet care work in Nanaimo?
You need to be 18 or over, have a smartphone with the Petme app, and pass ID verification. Owners choose on reviews, availability and a complete profile, so it is worth describing the pets you have looked after, including your own, on your profile.
How do I apply?
Apply through the Petme become a pet sitter page for Canada, then build your profile: the services you want to offer, your own rate for each, and the Nanaimo areas you cover. Owners nearby send you booking requests, and you accept or decline each one.
How do I get paid for bookings in Nanaimo?
Payment runs through the app rather than cash at the door. Each confirmed Nanaimo booking is paid out to your bank account, and you keep up to 90% of what the owner pays. You set the rate for every service yourself.
Which Nanaimo neighborhoods book the most cat visits?
Cat sitting in Nanaimo covers 13,510 one-person households, 31% of all private households in the city in the 2021 census. Most cat owners book a sitter within their own neighborhood, so listing the areas you cover sharpens your visibility.
What does a typical cat sitting visit involve?
A standard drop-in runs 20 to 30 minutes: feeding, fresh water, litter scooping, playtime, and a photo update to the owner in chat. Many Nanaimo owners book one or two visits a day while they travel.
Can I fit cat visits around a job in Nanaimo?
Yes. You set your available hours and accept or decline each request. Morning and evening visit slots fill first, and you can stack several nearby visits around Old City and Newcastle into one efficient round.
What if something goes wrong on a cat visit in Nanaimo?
Every confirmed Petme booking, including drop-in visits, includes CAD 32,000 in Protection Plan for the cat in your care, at no cost to you or the owner. The same cover applies whether you sit in Old City or Newcastle.
Is this a part-time or full-time job in Nanaimo?
Neither in the employment sense. You work in Nanaimo as a self-employed sitter, so there are no assigned shifts and no minimum hours. Some people take a couple of bookings a week around another job, others fill a full week. You scale it up or down yourself.
How do cat sitting visits in Nanaimo work in the wet winter months?
The visit goes ahead in any weather, and the sitter checks the cat first. November is Nanaimo's wettest month, with 186.5 mm of rain in Environment Canada's 1981-2010 normals for Nanaimo A, so the sitter also checks windows, cat flaps and the litter area, then sends the owner a photo update.
What are cat sitting visits like in Nanaimo?
A cat visit in Nanaimo can be in a duplex suite as easily as a house: the 2021 census counted 6,040 apartments in duplexes, the StatCan category that includes a house with a secondary suite, out of 43,160 occupied private dwellings in the city.
Cat sitting jobs near Nanaimo
Cover more than one patch. Each city page has its own local rates and demand notes.
Start earning in Nanaimo
Set your own rate. CAD 32,000 Protection Plan on every booking, cashback that keeps your clients rebooking, and fast payouts to your bank.