What pet sitters actually do. The standard routine, demystified.
Feeding, walking, photo updates, medication if your pet needs it, watching for early signs of illness, and locking the door on the way out. Documented in real time so you can read it from a beach lounger.
A walk-through of the typical drop-in, dog walk, overnight stay, and recurring weekly visit. Plus what sitters document, what tools they use, and how to read a sitter profile before you book.
It is a real job, not a favor.
A pet sitter feeds, walks, plays, watches for problems, and documents the visit. The work is the same whether you are paying a friend $20 or a verified sitter $40. The difference is what backs the visit: training, insurance, a platform that can step in if something goes wrong. What you are paying for is the floor, not the ceiling.
Four common bookings, walked through.
The flow is similar across services but the time and depth changes. Below is what each one looks like in practice.
A typical 30-minute dog walk
Sitter arrives at the agreed time, greets the dog, checks the leash and collar, and goes. The walk includes water breaks in summer, a few minutes of sniffing, and a route that fits the dog rather than the sitter. Back at the door: water bowl topped up, brief written note, photo update.
A typical drop-in visit
Roughly 30 minutes. The sitter feeds, refreshes water, scoops litter if there is a cat, takes the dog out for a short walk or back-yard break, plays for a few minutes, and writes a one-paragraph update in the app. Photos before they leave.
A typical overnight stay
The sitter arrives in the evening, settles the pet, takes the dog for an evening walk, feeds, and stays the night. Morning routine: walk, feeding, photo update. They lock up before they leave, and they document anything notable.
A recurring weekly schedule
Standing time slot, same day every week. The sitter learns the dog: which corner of the couch, which bowl the cat will not eat from, which neighbor barks. After 6 to 8 weeks of repetition, the routine runs itself.
Six things a sitter does on every booking.
These are the baseline. Anything specialized (medication, senior care, post-surgery recovery) sits on top.
Feeding, water, medication
Following your written instructions exactly. Sitter notes the time of each feeding, refills water, administers any pill or topical that you set up at the meet-and-greet, and flags anything that looks off.
Exercise and elimination
Walks, yard time, or both. The sitter watches for the bathroom break, picks up after the dog, and notes pee and poop quality if anything looks unusual. Catches early signs of illness before you do.
Updates and documentation
Photo update after every visit on the Petme app. A short note on the visit. Timestamped so you know when the sitter arrived and left. Documentation is part of the job, not a favor.
Watching for problems
Limping, loose stool, food refusal, excessive panting, swelling, lethargy. A good sitter flags any of these in the visit note. For anything urgent, the sitter calls the on-record vet and Petme support.
House security
Locking up. Turning off lights. Bringing in the mail. Closing windows if a storm rolls in. The sitter treats your home like a shared workplace, not a hotel.
Special care when needed
Senior pets, post-surgery recovery, anxiety meds, subcutaneous fluids, eye drops. Sitters self-declare what they are comfortable with. The meet-and-greet is where you confirm whether the dog has the right sitter for the visit.
Three pieces of infrastructure behind every visit.
The sitter is the human side. These three are the systems behind them.
The Petme app
Sitters use the same app you do. Check-in, photo update, message thread, in-app payment. No emails, no SMS chains, no awkward Venmo asks at the end.
Your written care notes
Feeding schedule, walk times, vet number, meds, food location, leash habits. Most sitters ask for a brief written summary so the routine survives a forgotten detail at midnight.
Petme Protection Plan
Can contribute up to $22,000 toward eligible vet costs for an accident or illness during the stay. The sitter does not have to scramble for insurance, the platform handles it.
Four signals before you book.
You are not picking a stranger. You are reading a profile to decide whether the stranger is plausible. These four signals do most of the work.
Verification badges
Look for identity verification, background check, and any specialty badges (CPR, medication-comfortable, exotic-pet-comfortable). Badges mean the platform confirmed something concrete.
Real photo updates
Click through a sitter recent bookings and look at the photos they posted. Is it the same neutral phone-photo of a dog or are they real, in-the-home, in-the-moment shots? Real photos are a strong trust signal.
Read the lower-star reviews
Anyone can have a five-star streak. The interesting data is in the 3 and 4 star reviews: do the complaints sound reasonable, did the sitter respond, did the platform step in. Patterns matter more than averages.
How they write the bio
A specific bio (the breeds they have lived with, their walking style, their experience with senior pets) tells you who you are getting. A vague bio is a yellow flag, not a red flag, but worth probing at the meet-and-greet.
The questions first-time owners ask the most.
What is included, what is extra, what happens in an emergency, and how the relationship works in practice.
How long is a typical pet sitting drop-in visit?
What is included in a dog walk?
Do pet sitters give medication?
What does a Petme sitter document during the stay?
Does a pet sitter clean up after the pet?
What happens if my pet gets sick during a stay?
Do pet sitters stay the whole night for an overnight booking?
How do I tell if a sitter is good before I book?
See the routine in your Petme app.
Photo updates after every visit, time-stamped notes, in-app messaging, and up to $22,000 through the Protection Plan for eligible vet costs. 0% owner fee at checkout, cashback in your wallet automatically.