Have you ever hired a dog walker or a pet sitter? I interviewed dog walkers for Riley this week and it was enlightening experience. Who knew it could be so complicated?
Did you know that most pet sitting contracts say that if something bad happens to your pet sitter while they are watching your pet, you are responsible for all of the medical bills?
Whoa!
Can you imagine just how costly pet bites, scratches, and diseases can be?
What if you pet bit your pet sitter's hand? It could damage nerves in their hand and cripple them for life. If not properly treated by a doctor, cat bites can become deep abscesses that spread infection throughout the body damaging internal organs. Did you know that your cat might carry Cat Scratch Fever? In some people, this infection can be deadly. Parasites can be spread by pets too; roundworms are transmitted through pet's poop and causes blindness in rare cases.
I was not prepared to pay millions of dollars in medical bills. Are you?
Even if these situations are rare, that a contract felt like a gamble. Unfortunately, every dog walking company I interviewed had this clause in their contract.
I had to ask myself, if that much is on the line, how does anybody hire a dog walker? Here were a couple of questions I asked the companies and their responses:
