[EckyX]

This weekend I tried using a pet sitting app for the first time (Rover). I'm out of town until tomorrow, making a total of 4 days I'll be gone. I hired a sitter to walk my dog, feed my cat, and just glance in on my chickens, twice a day. He had dozens of glowing 5 star reviews.

I have a Wyze cam in my kitchen which can see the front door. My camera's SD card seems to have failed so I don't have full recordings, but I do have 15 second clips from when it detects motion.

On the first day, the sitter arrived with a stranger who looked a bit rough around the edges. I watched remotely and though I didn't feel well about it, they didn't appear to do anything abnormal, just fed my dog, let her out. I let it slide but kept an eye on things.

The second day, the sitter brough another dog into the house. We have a cat, and as strange as it sounds, some pullets in one of our bedrooms, who are in an enclosure that would not keep a dog out. I felt some concern when I saw the dog run down the hall. When I reached out to the sitter, communication was minimal. "Walked the dog, fed the animals" sort of thing.

Today, he claimed a check-in with the app, but my camera shows he never visited, and my animals were not fed, let out or provided water. He hasn't responded to texts, so I called Rover and made a report. By the time we get home tomorrow my animals will have been without food and water for 48 hours, if I can't, from 2000 miles away, find someone else to come in on zero notice, possibly with no key (if the sitter never returned the key provided to the side door).

Since he checked in with the app saying he actually arrived, but I have evidence against it, I know it was willful and he hasn't just gotten sick or had some kind of injury or accident that has prevented him from coming. So, assuming a best case where none of the animals are seriously harmed, what kind of liability is typical? What should I do?

[LTU2]

The duty here is a reasonable standard of care. This means proving food, water, protection, etc. If they breached that, then the question is one of damages. Although they no doubt were uncomfortable without and food and water, they still survived without egregious harm.

If they needed medical attention after this breach of duty, then you are entitled to be compensated for it. As for emotional damages, you probably have no legal recourse, but that would take an Attorney in your state to determine.

Here is some case law on pet negligence. This is just to illustrate the various cases in American Jurisprudence. The 3rd case is from Vermont, but has no bearing on a "dogsitting" case but read it anyway. There are other pages with VT cases also.

All you can probably do is raise Hell with them.

https://www.animallaw.info/cases/top...damages?page=2

[EckyX]

Thank you!

[LTU2]

Originally Posted by EckyX

Thank you!

Most welcome!