General 

• The owner consents to images of their pet being posted on our social medias. 

• The owner is solely responsible for ensuring their pet (where applicable e.g. dog, cat, rabbit) is up to date with all vaccinations, flea, tick and worming treatments. 

• The owner must make sure that their pet (where applicable, e.g. cat and dog) is microchipped and that the pet sitter is provided with collar or harness with a suitable identity tag. 

• The owner accepts full liability for any vet fees or third party claims whilst your pet is in a sitter’s care, specifically for any problems concerning illness or injury that have not been disclosed to the sitter. 

• While the pet sitter will make all attempts to provide the animal with optimal care and welfare, the sitter will not be responsible or liable for any accident, injury, disease or death to the animal while the animal is in the care of the pet sitter unless we can be shown to be negligent. 

• The pet sitter will not be liable for the injury, disappearance, death or fines of any pet with unsupervised access to the outdoors. 

• The pet sitter accepts no responsibility for security of the premises or loss if other individuals have access to the home during the term of agreement. 

• The owner is to notify the pet sitter if anyone else has keys or access to the owner’s property other than pet sitter during the time the pet sitter is caring for owner’s home and pet(s).  

• The owner is to also notify the pet sitter of any cameras inside or outside the property. 

• It is understood that pet sitter shall not be held liable for damage done to client’s property caused by client’s pets during the period. 

• The pet owner will supply the pet sitter with correct amount of appropriate food and any medication (and instructions for their administration) that the animal will requ4ire while in care of the pet sitter. 

• The pet sitter is not responsible for damage incurred by the pet escaping due to faulty leash/collar/harness that is not properly fitting. 

• For house sitting services, the owner agrees to provide power, water and heating for the duration of the stay. 

• The owner is solely responsible for ensuring any behavioural problems, vet trips, underlying or recent illnesses and injuries are fully disclosed to the sitter. The sitter does not take responsibility if incorrect instructions are given. 

• The owner is solely responsible for any loss of keys that are left outside or hidden for sitter to find and understand they will pay the fee of getting a new key cut. If the pet sitter has the house key in their possession away from the property and something happens to it, then their own insurance will cover the cost of a new key. 

• We reserve the right to deny or terminate our services due to safety or financial concerns. 

• We reserve the right to stop providing services to a client whose pet shows aggression to us or other pets in the home that compromises ours or their safety. 

• In the case of an emergency, whether it be illness or injury, the pet sitter will make every effort to notify the contact numbers provided by the owner, and will disclose if the situation is serious enough for the pet to be taken to the vet. However, if the pet sitter is unable to notify owner or can’t get through to them, we reserve the right to make decisions regarding your pet’s health, provided it is at all times acting in the best interest of the animal and on the advice of a veterinary surgeon. 

• In the event of a pet going missing, we will continue to visit the client’s home as normal to provide care and send daily feedback until the client returns. 

• There is no deposit required at the time of placing booking. 

• There is no minimum notice for placing a booking, but we do ask that if you have requested a service with short notice (e.g. the night or day before) please contact us by text message via our phone number, disclosing all information about booking you are requesting (e.g. start and end time, date, service wanted etc). 

• Before bookings can be confirmed for new customers, you are required to fill out our form with your information and your pet(s) information. The form will be provided when we are initially contacted by you. 

• If you fail to fill in all required sections of the form, your booking either cannot go ahead due to lack of information or you (the owner) will take full responsibility for any issues due to required information left blank (e.g. contact numbers and alternate contact numbers, pet’s behavioural issues, pet health conditions, etc). 

• If the sitter you have requested isn’t available, if another is free then you will have the option to use them instead. 

• All bookings (with exceptions as to small animals or cats, unless necessary due to specific requirements or medications) must have a meet and greet with the sitter before the booking date for both parties to get to know each other and the pet to get used to the sitter. The owner must also disclose if they would like the sitter to collect a key prior to booking or if a key will be left somewhere for the pet sitter to access on the property. 

• Once the service commences, full payment is due in all circumstances. 

• Cash, bank transfer and Paypal payments are all accepted. 

• It is understandable that holidays get cancelled or moved and personal issues or illnesses are unavoidable so we try to honour that to the best of our ability. Please contact us as soon as possible in the event that your circumstances change for any reason. 

• Fees will not apply if booking is moved to a different date, or for short date bookings under £100. 

• If booking is cancelled 7 or more days in advance there is no cancellation fee. 

• If booking is cancelled 6 to 4 days in advance the owner is required to pay 20% of the booking total. 

• If booking is cancelled 3 days to 0 days in advance, the owner is required to pay 75% of booking total. 

• Charges are as advertised on our website. Please be aware our rates are non-negotiable. All additional charges are listed on the website. 

• Day sitting charges are per 4-10 hour day (e.g. between 10am to 8pm). Any day sittings that extend beyond this period will be charged as an overnight rate. Any more than one animal per household will have an additional charge as listed on the website. 

• Overnight sitting charges are per 12-24 hours (e.g. 12pm January 1st – 12pm January 2nd). Any sittings that extend beyond this period will be charged as a day or night rate (depending on time frames). Any more than one animal per household will have an additional charge as listed on the website. 

• Drop in charges are per 30 minute slots. There will be an additional charge to extend that time frame. 

• Dog walk charges are per 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 60 minutes. There will be an additional charge to extend beyond those time frames. 

- The holiday surcharge applies to each individual booking. E.g, 1 hour single dog walk on Christmas eve would be £30 instead of £20, or an overnight single dog booking from dates 29th October-1st November would be £190 instead of £180. Breakdown:: 29th- £45, 30th- £45, 31st- £55, 1st- £45.

• We keep an accurate record of customers bookings, and always email the invoices over on day of booking. If any amendments need to be made to invoice, the customer will be notified. If you have any queries regarding your invoice, please contact us as soon as possible. 

• During a booking, the sitter will contact the owner via message or WhatsApp to send updates or photos. During overnight bookings this will be done daily. 

• Once booking is completed, owner will receive a care completion card via the main Pitter Patter Pet Care phone number, including photos taken and a summary of how the service went. This will be sent 1-7 days after the booking. 

• We would like to remind customers that payments for invoiced amounts can be made from the day you book your service but are due at the latest by the day after last date of service (for example, for service provided from 1st January – 5th January, payment is owed by 6th January). 

• Please contact us as soon as possible if there is any issue with settling your invoice so that we can work with you to resolve this. 

• Whilst we hope it will not be necessary as we know and value each of our clients, in accordance with the ‘Late Payment Of Commercial Debts Act 1988 amended 1998 & 2002’, Pitter Patter Pet Care Services reserves the right to impose a £5 initial late payment fee if a payment is more than three days overdue, followed by an amount per day thereafter equivalent to the statutory interest rate until payment is received in full. (According to government guidance this can be up to 8% plus the current Bank of England base rate for business-to-business transactions). 

• Due to us making sure we help as many owners and their pets as we can, regular repeat bookings may sometimes have to be arranged to another date due to a different booking’s requirements, or the pet sitter being off work. While we will aim to keep this to a minimum, if this is the case where your booking has to be rearranged, you will not incur extra fees and will be given as much notice as possible. 

• We at Pitter Patter Pet Care generally only accept same household dog walks and not group walks at this time. There are sometimes exceptions, for example: socialising training. Please discuss any requirements with us. 

• It is to be understood that if owner’s female dog is in season, there is risk of possible pregnancy if owner’s request is to still take the dog out on a walk. The pet sitter will take every reasonable precaution to prevent this but accepts no liability should this occur. 

• Compromises can be made where booking can be changed to a drop in and dog will have access to the outside in their own property, and they can enjoy play and mental stimulation in other ways than a walk. 

· Dog walks will always be completed with the dog staying on the lead at all times, unless requested and agreed beforehand.

· Dogs walked off lead will only be done if owner has signed a form giving Pitter Patter Pet Care permission to do so, and consenting to the possible negative outcomes of this choice, prior to the walk. 

· We will provide the consent form on request, and it will need to be signed by hand, not digitally. 

 Banned dog breeds

· Any owner who’s dog is a banned breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and/or subsequently amended within the United Kingdom must: 

- Have the dog registered with the Index of Exempted Dogs (IED) and a copy of the life certificate is obtained and provided to us.

- Provide us with a copy of the public liability insurance certificate for the dog.

· Make sure all guidelines under the IED (Index of Exempted Dogs) are strictly adhered to:

- Must be neutered

- Must be microchipped

- The dog will be kept on a lead no greater than 1 meter in length and will be muzzled at all times when in a public place

- Must be kept in a secure place so it cannot escape

· The dog to handler ratio is 1:1 at all times.