Pet Sitting at 12: Cats, Fish and Holiday Cover

What you actually do

A family goes away for a week. Once or twice a day you let yourself in, feed the cat, change the water, clean the litter box, and spend ten minutes so the animal has seen a person. Then you text the owner a photo.

Cats are the main business, because a cat can't go to a kennel happily and can't be left for a week. Fish, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters are the same job and easier. Dogs need much more than two visits a day, so unless the family has other cover, that's usually a job for an adult.

Nobody is paying for cat food to be tipped into a bowl. They're paying to stop thinking about it while they're away, which is why the photo matters as much as the feeding.

What it costs to start

Nothing to buy. The animal's food, litter and toys are all in the house you're visiting.

What you do need is a page per family, in a notebook or on your phone. What the animal eats and how much. Where the food is kept. The vet's name and number, the owner's number while they're away, and anything the animal is odd about. Write it down while they're showing you, not afterwards.

Find your first family this month

School holidays are when this business happens: March break, summer, Christmas. Ask about four weeks before.

1. List the families you know who have a cat and who travel. Your parents can name several.
2. Ask a parent to message two of them: "Jacob is doing pet visits over March break, $12 a visit, and he'll send a photo each day." A message from one parent to another is how this business starts, because a key is involved.
3. Offer to come round while they're still home, so the animal meets you and they can show you where everything lives. That visit is unpaid and it is what wins you the job.
4. Do it once well and you have a customer for every holiday for years. Ask them at the end: "When are you next away?" and write it in your calendar.

What to charge

Charge per visit, and be clear about how many visits a day.

• One visit a day, feed, water and litter: $10 to $15.
• Two visits a day: $18 to $25.
• Add $5 a visit for a second animal in the same house.

A ten-day summer holiday at one visit a day at $12 is $120 from one family. Two families away the same week is $240 for about half an hour of walking and feeding a day. It's the best money per hour on this list, and it's because of trust rather than effort.

Say the total out loud before they go: "Ten days, one visit a day, that's $120." Never leave the number until they get back.

Ask what a pet sitting service charges near you, and understand that you're not competing with them on insurance or experience. You're competing on being the kid they already know.

Rules and staying safe

This is the section to read with a parent, because you're being given a key to someone's home.

• Only sit for families your own parents know. Not strangers, not from an ad.
• A parent knows which house you're going to and when. On the first few visits, go with them.
• Never let yourself into a house you were not asked to enter, and never bring a friend along.
• Never post anything showing the inside of the house, or the fact that the family is away. That one matters more than it sounds.
• Get the vet's number and the owner's number in writing before they leave, and ask what to do if the animal seems ill. If something is wrong, call your parent and then the owner. Straight away, not hours later.
• Don't handle an animal you're nervous of, and don't break up a fight between animals. A scared cat scratches hard.
• Wash your hands after litter, always.
• Get paid before the family leaves, or the day they get back, in cash or by e-transfer to a parent's account. Agree which one in advance.
• Hand the key back the day they return. Don't keep it "for next time" unless they ask you to.

What Jacob would do

Jacob is 15 and lives in a Toronto apartment building, which is the ideal place for this: dozens of cats, no gardens, and neighbours who travel. His whole customer base is within two minutes of his own front door, and he never needs a car or a bus.

He'd keep a page per cat in his phone, because he knows he'd otherwise forget which one needs medicine in its food. He'd send the photo at the same time every day, so a family in another time zone knows when to expect it. Being reliable in small visible ways is the entire product.

Once he'd done three holidays, he'd ask each family for the dates of their next trip and put them in his calendar. That turns a summer job into something that runs all year.

When it stops being fun

A cat that hides under the bed for a week and you can't tell whether it's eating. A litter box that has been used with feeling. A family who comes back a day late without telling you. Walking over in the rain on the last day of the holidays.

Also the worry, which is real: being the person responsible when something looks wrong with an animal somebody loves. That's why you get the vet's number in writing and why you call your parent early rather than late. Handle that part properly and this is the calmest business on the list.