A first-time pet host's guide

Hosting is less about being good with animals than about being clear in advance. Most stays that go badly do so because something was assumed rather than agreed — how long the dog would be alone, who was paying for the vet, whether the cat was allowed upstairs.

The animals are usually the easy part.

Before you say yes

Be honest about your actual week

Not your ideal week. Count the hours the animal would genuinely be alone on a normal Tuesday, including commuting. If that number is six or seven, that is fine for many adult dogs and most cats — but it needs saying out loud before the arrangement is made, not discovered afterwards.

Owners are generally far more relaxed about a clearly stated six hours than about a vague "he won't be alone much" that turns out to mean the same thing.

Check with everyone you live with

Everyone, individually, before agreeing. A housemate who did not get a say becomes a problem on day three, and it is the visiting animal who absorbs the tension.

Think about your own animals honestly

A resident pet who has never shared their space with another animal is a genuine consideration. Older animals in particular often cope poorly with an energetic visitor, and they cannot leave.

Consider also whether your own pet's vaccinations are current, and whether you are comfortable with the small but real risk of illness transmission.

Say no to the wrong match

This is a skill, not a failure. Declining a puppy that is not yet house-trained, a dog whose reactivity you are not equipped for, or a stay that clashes with a busy fortnight is the responsible answer.

Owners who know what they are doing actively prefer a host who sets limits. It signals that you will be honest with them during the stay too.

Agree the specifics in writing

Not a contract — a message you can both scroll back to. Cover:

• Exact drop-off and collection dates and times, and what happens if the owner is delayed.
• Who supplies food, bedding, medication.
• Money: whether any is changing hands, how much, and when.
• Vet costs: who pays, up to what amount, and by what mechanism.
• How often you will send updates, and how. Agree this explicitly — it prevents both the anxious owner messaging six times a day and the owner who hears nothing and assumes the worst.
• What happens if the stay needs extending.
• What happens if either of you needs to end it early.

That second-to-last point catches people out. Trips get extended. Decide now what happens, rather than negotiating it while someone is stranded in an airport.

What to get from the owner

Ask for these before the animal arrives, not on the doorstep:

• Written care instructions — feeding amounts in grams, timings, routine.
• All medication in original labelled packaging, with a written schedule and a surplus.
• Their vet's details, plus the out-of-hours practice.
• A signed treatment authorisation with a stated financial ceiling.
• Vaccination records.
• Microchip number and a recent clear photograph.
• Two contact numbers: theirs, plus someone who can make decisions if they are unreachable.
• An honest account of behaviour — triggers, bite history, escape attempts, separation anxiety.

If an owner is evasive about behaviour, treat it seriously. You are the one who will be managing it.

Preparing your home

Walk through at animal height, the day before.

• Check the garden perimeter properly. Fence height, gaps at ground level, gates that do not latch, and anything stacked near a fence that could be climbed. Actually test the gate.
• Set up an airlock at the front door if you can — a hallway that can be closed off means a delivery does not become an escape. Doors and gates are how most animals get out, not fences.
• Move what needs moving. Medications, cleaning products, chocolate, grapes, xylitol chewing gum, and any houseplant you are unsure about — lilies in particular are severely toxic to cats.
• Lift cables and small objects to a height a bored animal cannot reach.
• Prepare a space that can be closed off. A separate room with a door is the single most useful thing you can offer. It gives the visiting animal somewhere to decompress and gives you a way to separate animals safely.
• Decide your house rules in advance — sofa, bed, upstairs — and apply them consistently from hour one.

The handover

Do it at your home, and do not rush it. Twenty minutes is reasonable.

• Walk through the care instructions together rather than accepting the paperwork silently.
• Have the owner give one dose of any medication, then give the next one yourself while they watch.
• Ask them to show you how the harness fits.
• Confirm the contact numbers actually work — call one.
• Ask what the animal does when they leave, so you know what is normal.

Then encourage a short goodbye. Prolonged, emotional departures make settling harder. It is a kindness to say so gently.

During the stay

Keep to their routine, not yours

Feed at their times, walk roughly when they walk, use their commands. Almost everything else about the animal's world has changed; the routine is the one thing you can hold constant.

Send updates that are actually reassuring

A photograph and one specific line beats a paragraph of generalities. "Ate all his breakfast, slept through the night in the crate, two good walks" tells an owner more than "he's doing great!"

Send them at a predictable time. An unexpected message from the host is briefly alarming; a daily evening update is not.

Report problems early and plainly

The instinct is to wait and see, partly out of not wanting to worry someone on holiday. Resist it. An owner would much rather hear "he's eaten less than usual today, probably just settling, but I wanted to flag it" than discover on day five that something had been developing since day two.

Protect yourself as well

• Photograph the animal on arrival, and any pre-existing issue you notice — a sore ear, a limp, a patch of missing fur. This protects both of you.
• Keep the written dose log. It is your record as much as theirs.
• Keep messages on the platform rather than moving everything to private text.
• Check whether your home insurance has anything to say about it, particularly if money is changing hands.
• Do not agree to anything you are not equipped for out of politeness once the animal is already in your house.

Collection

Return everything, including the half-empty food bag. Give an honest account of how it went — including anything that did not go well. An owner who learns their dog cannot be left for five hours has been given something genuinely useful.

And if it did not work, say so kindly but clearly. "I don't think I'm the right fit for Bella" is a complete and acceptable outcome.