Become a pet sitter with Petym
Updated By PetymFacts checked against official sources on
Quick answer
Apply with your city, the services you want to offer and your experience with pets. Before listing, Petym verifies your identity with PAN and records a 24-hour vet near you; if you host pets it also sees a video walk-through of your home and your society's permission. You finish pet first-aid training before your first booking.
You are paid after each booking, through Petym. Owners pay the price on Petym's rate card, but your payout share is not decided yet, so this page gives no earnings figures. The payout terms will be in the sitter agreement.
- Meet your sitter first, free
- PAN-checked, first-aid trained
- A photo every day
- Pay through Petym, never cash
How do you apply to become a Petym sitter?
Fill in the application
Your city, the services you would like to offer, your experience with pets, and whether you would host pets in your own home. The form is on this page.
Verify your identity with PAN
Petym verifies your identity with PAN before listing you. Owners see your profile, never your PAN.
Name your 24-hour vet
A 24-hour vet within reach of where pets will stay with you, so every emergency plan is decided in advance.
If you will host: the home checks
A video walk-through of your home by Petym, your housing society's permission for paid pet sitting, and a pet limit for your home.
Complete pet first-aid training
Before your first booking. It covers what to do in the minutes before a vet.
Go live when your city opens
A city opens for bookings when its sitters have passed the checks. Then owners can request you, meet you free and book.
Who can become a Petym sitter?
Anyone in one of Petym's 14 launch cities who is good with animals, reliable, and passes Petym's checks.
Petym is opening in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. You need to live in or near one of them, because sitters work locally: in owners' homes nearby, or in their own home.
There is no degree you must hold. What owners look for is experience: a dog of your own or a family dog you grew up with, years with cats, fostering or volunteering at a shelter or with community animals, work at a vet clinic or grooming salon, or sitting for friends and neighbours. Petym asks about it on the application, and owners will see it on your profile.
You need to be calm with animals and with people, punctual, and honest when something goes wrong. A sitter who tells the owner straight away that a dog skipped dinner is worth far more than one who hides it.
Students, people working from home, homemakers, retired people and those between jobs can all sit. What matters is whether you can give the time a booking needs, every day of it.
What does a Petym sitter do in each service?
Offer the services that fit your life. Each one asks something different of your time and your home.
| What you do | Where and when | |
|---|---|---|
| Overnight pet sitting | Stay in the owner's home, keep the pet's routine, feed, walk, give medicines as written, send a daily photo update | The owner's home, evenings to mornings, every night of the booking |
| Drop-in visits | Feed, refresh water, scoop litter, play, give medicines, check the home | The owner's home, at agreed times, one or more visits a day |
| Dog walking | Walk on a lead at the times the dog knows, pick up waste, note anything unusual | Around the owner's neighbourhood, usually mornings and evenings |
| Pet boarding | Sitter a dog in your home overnight, with its own food, bed and routine | Your home, which needs the walk-through and society permission |
| Doggy day care | Look after a dog in your home during the day, with walks, play and rest | Your home, during the owner's working day |
| Special-needs care | Care for pets on medicines, seniors or pets after surgery, exactly as the vet instructs | The owner's home or yours, as agreed; injections only if a vet has shown you how |
Every service includes the daily photo update, the plan followed as written and logged, and the emergency steps.
What are the checks, and why does each one matter?
Six checks, all before you are listed or before your first booking. They protect the pets, the owners and you.
- PAN identity check
- Identity verified with PAN before listing. It shows owners that the person at their door is who Petym listed. PAN is issued by the Income Tax Department, which runs a public service to verify a PAN's status. Income Tax Department, Government of India (e-Filing portal)
- Home walk-through
- For sitters who host pets: a video walk-through of your home by Petym, to see where a pet would sleep, eat and play, and that balconies, windows and gates are safe.
- Society permission
- For sitters who host pets: your housing society's permission for paid pet sitting, so a booking is never stopped at the gate.
- Pet first-aid training
- Before your first booking. Veterinary first-aid guidelines name pet sitters and dog walkers among the people most likely to give first aid before a vet. RECOVER Initiative (Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, 2026)study
- A named 24-hour vet
- A 24-hour vet within reach of where the pet stays, decided before any booking.
- Pet limit for your home
- For sitters who host pets: a limit on how many pets your home may take at once, so each one gets proper care.
How much time does sitting take, and how does availability work?
As much or as little as the services you choose. Overnight sitting takes your nights; walks and visits fit around a day.
Overnight sitting is the biggest commitment: you sleep at the owner's home every night of the booking, which may be a weekend or two weeks. Many sitters who work from home or study choose it because the day stays mostly free between the morning and evening routines.
Drop-in visits and dog walks are short and fixed in time. A cat may need a visit in the morning and another in the evening; a dog walk is usually early morning or evening, and in summer it moves to the coolest hours. These fit around a job or college if the timings work.
Boarding and day care happen in your home. They need you to be there, and they suit people who are at home most of the day.
Petym will ask which services you want to offer and when you are free. How you set and change your availability on Petym will be explained before bookings open. Busy times are predictable: Diwali, Christmas to New Year and the summer holidays, when many families travel at once.
How will you be paid?
After each booking, through Petym. Your payout share is not decided yet, so there are no earnings figures here.
As published
- When you are paidAfter each bookingThrough Petym, once the care has been given.
- Who pays youPetymOwners pay Petym, never you directly. Do not take cash or UPI from an owner.
- What the owner paysThe rate card priceSet for each service and city on the Pricing page, with no booking fee on top.
- Your share of that priceNot decided yetThe payout terms will be in the sitter agreement before bookings open.
- What raises the earnings for a bookingMore careMore pets, more visits or walks, medicines, longer bookings and festival dates all mean more work.
Petym will not publish example earnings until the payout terms are set in the sitter agreement. Any earnings figure for Petym you see elsewhere did not come from Petym.
What if you want to host pets in a flat?
You can, with your housing society's permission for paid pet sitting. Petym checks it before listing you.
Paid hosting
Why permission is needed
Keeping your own pet is protected: AWBI's guidelines say societies cannot ban pets or bar them from lifts. Hosting other people's pets for money is a different matter, and your society should agree first. Animal Welfare Board of India
In writing
What to ask for
A letter or email from the society's committee or managing secretary saying they have no objection to you hosting pets for paid pet sitting.
Day to day
Keep neighbours on side
Leash dogs in all common areas, pick up after them, and avoid the lift at rush hour if a neighbour is nervous. Animal Welfare Board of India
Other services
If the society says no
You can still offer overnight sitting, drop-in visits and dog walking, which happen in owners' homes and outdoors.
What does pet first-aid training prepare you for?
The minutes before a vet. First aid never replaces one; you get the pet to a vet as soon as possible afterwards.
- Staying calm, checking the situation, giving the first aid needed and calling the vet. PDSA
- Bleeding, bite wounds, choking, poisoning and seizures, the common emergencies first-aid advice covers. PDSA
- Heatstroke in an Indian summer: recognising the signs early and getting to a vet fast.
- Moving an injured pet: keeping the head, neck and spine still, on something flat and firm. Merck Veterinary Manual
- Calling the clinic ahead so it can prepare for your arrival. Merck Veterinary Manual
- Getting the pet to the nearest open veterinary clinic as soon as possible after first aid. RECOVER Initiative (Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, 2026)study
Is pet sitting right for you?
Some common ideas about pet sitting work, and what it is really like.
You may have read
Pet sitting is just playing with dogs.
Myth
What the sources say
Play is part of it. So are scooping litter, cleaning up accidents, giving tablets to a cat that hates them, walking in monsoon rain and getting up at 6 for a dog that will not wait.
You may have read
Anyone who loves animals will be a good sitter.
Myth
What the sources say
Love helps, but owners need reliability most: being on time, following the plan exactly, and telling them the truth when something goes wrong.
You may have read
Overnight sitting means a free stay somewhere nice.
Myth
What the sources say
It is a responsibility for someone's pet and home. Guests, parties and long outings are not part of it.
You may have read
A trained sitter can handle any medical problem.
Myth
What the sources say
First aid covers the minutes before a vet. Diagnosis and treatment are the vet's job, and the decision is the owner's. RECOVER Initiative (Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, 2026)study
How do you stay safe as a sitter?
Your safety matters as much as the pet's.
Do
- Meet the owner and the pet at the meet and greet before the first booking, and say no if a dog's behaviour is beyond your experience.
- Ask about bites, guarding of food or toys, and fears before you are alone with a pet.
- Make sure the society gate knows you are coming, so you are not stopped at night.
- Keep the owner's care sheet, the vet's number and the 24-hour vet's address on your phone.
- Tell someone you trust where you are sitting overnight.
Don’t
- Do not take payment outside Petym, even if an owner offers.
- Do not give an injection a vet has not shown you how to give.
- Do not walk more dogs together than you can hold safely, or let a dog off the lead in a public place.
- Do not post photos of an owner's home or address online.
What makes a good Petym sitter?
The same things owners would want from a friend they trusted with a key.
Follow the plan as the owner wrote it, and log it as it happens. Send the photo update every day without being asked. Tell the owner straight away when something is off: a missed meal, a tablet spat out, a limp, a dog drinking much more than usual.
Know the welfare basics. PDSA's five welfare needs are a good checklist for every day of a booking: a suitable environment, a suitable diet, room to behave normally, the right company, and protection from pain, injury and disease. In India, AWBI's guidance adds that neglecting to exercise a dog kept confined is an offence of cruelty under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Know the city's seasons. In May, walks move to early morning and late evening and the coolest room becomes the pet's room. In the monsoon, paws are dried after every walk and ticks checked for. At Diwali, windows are shut, curtains drawn and the dog stays in on the loudest nights. During a power cut, you know where the inverter switch is before you need it.
Never decide on treatment yourself. In an emergency you call the owner and take the pet to the nearest 24-hour vet on Petym's list for the city, with the care sheet. The vet and the owner decide what happens next.
Apply to become a Petym sitter
Questions owners ask
How do I become a pet sitter in India with Petym?
- Apply on Petym's Become a sitter page with your city, services and experience. Petym verifies your identity with PAN and records a 24-hour vet near you; if you host pets it also sees a video walk-through of your home and your society's permission. You complete pet first-aid training before your first booking.
Are Petym sitter jobs salaried?
- No. Sitting with Petym is independent work paid by the booking: by the night, per visit, per walk or per day. You choose which services to offer. You are paid after each booking, through Petym.
How much can a Petym sitter earn?
- Petym cannot say yet. Owners pay the rate card price through Petym, but the sitter's payout share is not decided, and Petym will not show earnings figures until it is. The payout terms will be in the sitter agreement.
Which cities can I sit pets in with Petym?
- Petym's 14 launch cities: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. None is taking bookings yet; a city opens when its sitters have passed Petym's checks.
Do I need a PAN card to sit for Petym?
- Yes. Petym verifies every sitter's identity with PAN before listing them. PAN is issued by the Income Tax Department. Owners see your Petym profile, never your PAN number, and you should never send your PAN to an owner.
Does Petym provide the pet first-aid training?
- Every sitter must complete pet first-aid training before their first booking. How the training is arranged will be explained to you after you apply. It covers the minutes before a vet: bleeding, choking, heatstroke, seizures and moving an injured pet.
Can I offer only dog walking or only cat visits?
- Yes. Offer the services that fit your time and your home. Walking and drop-in visits suit people with fixed daytime commitments; overnight sitting takes your nights; boarding and day care need you at home and need the home checks.
What do I need to host dogs in my own home?
- A video walk-through of your home by Petym, your housing society's permission for paid pet sitting, and a pet limit for your home, on top of the PAN check, the named 24-hour vet and first-aid training every sitter completes.
Can an owner pay me directly instead of through Petym?
- No. Owners book and pay through Petym, never the sitter directly, and you are paid after the booking through Petym. Taking cash or UPI outside Petym takes the booking out of the record that protects both of you.
What happens if a pet falls ill while I am sitting?
- You call the owner straight away and take the pet to the nearest 24-hour vet on Petym's list for the city, with the care sheet, vaccination record and medicines. You give first aid on the way if needed, but never decide on treatment yourself.
Keep reading
Services that help
- Overnight pet sittingA sitter sleeps in your home and keeps your pet's routine going.
- Drop-in visits30 or 60 minute visits at home, one to three a day. Best for cats.
- Dog walking30 or 60 minute one-to-one walks, your dog only, at your dog's times.
- Pet boarding in a sitter's homeYour pet stays in a checked sitter's home, not a kennel.
- Doggy day care in a sitter's homeDaytime care for your dog in a sitter's home while you work.
- Special-needs pet carePuppies, seniors and pets on medicine, cared for to your vet's plan.
Free tools for this
Sources
Each source was opened and read on the date shown. How Petym checks its sources
- Income Tax Department, Government of India (e-Filing portal): Verify your PAN: user manual (opens in a new tab)
- Animal Welfare Board of India: Guidelines on pet and street dogs, their care-givers, and residents' welfare and apartment owners' associations (26 February 2015) (opens in a new tab)
- PDSA: First aid for pets (undated) (opens in a new tab)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: What to do in a dog or cat emergency (opens in a new tab)
- PDSA: Your pet's 5 welfare needs (opens in a new tab)
- Animal Welfare Board of India: Circular and guidelines for pet owners (1 June 2020) (opens in a new tab)
- RECOVER Initiative (Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, 2026): RECOVER guidelines: first aid for dogs and cats, clinical guidelines (opens in a new tab)