703: Cat Sitting Roundtable: A Maturing Industry

Written By Collin

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What if cat sitting isn’t a side-service anymore, but one of the fastest-maturing lanes in professional pet care? Collin sits down with Beth Pasek (Finicky Cat), Shannon Hendon (Ocala Pet Sitting), and Grace Taylor (Furever Friends Cat Sitting) to unpack why cat-only services are growing, what “maturing” looks like in client expectations, and how education around stress, behavior, and enrichment is reshaping demand. They discuss how veterinary-adjacent care shows up in real homes (especially with medical cases) and why language, scope, and standards matter as specialization increases. The group also tackles pricing, staffing, team structures, and the realities of cash flow when revenue is seasonal and peaky. The takeaway: cat sitting is not a fad, it’s segmenting, professionalizing, and creating new opportunities for operators who build standards and stick to them.

Main topics:

  • Cat sitting industry growth and maturity

  • Cat stress, behavior, enrichment

  • Medical cats and scope

  • Pricing, staffing, team models

  • Technology, automation, reliability

Main takeaway: “Businesses live and die on cash flow.”That’s true in every industry—but it’s especially true in cat sitting, where busy seasons can feel like a tidal wave and slow months can sneak up fast. The answer isn’t panic pricing or breaking your standards to “stay busy.” It’s knowing your patterns, planning ahead, and building a model that’s honest about the highs and lows. Your care can be excellent and still fail if the business side isn’t stable. Cat sitting is growing—so let’s build it to last.

About our guests:

Beth Pasek runs Finicky Cat Sitting and Behavior in Cleveland, Ohio, with a cats-only focus and deep experience supporting behavior and medical-needs cases.

Shannon Hendon is the founder of Ocala Pet Sitting in Central Florida and the Vice President of the Florida Pet Services Association, bringing two decades of industry experience and a cat-only transition perspective.

Grace Taylor owns Furever Friends Cat Sitting in Baltimore, leading a cats-only team specializing in medical cats and building systems to support high-touch care at scale. Together, they represent a wide range of approaches to feline-focused business models and standards.

Links:

Beth Pasek — Finicky Cat Sitting & Behavior (Cleveland, OH)

Shannon Hendon — Ocala Pet Sitting LLC (Ocala, FL)

Grace Taylor — Furever Friends Cat Sitting (Baltimore, MD)

Built for Cats (Shannon & Grace's joint education platform)

Organizations & Resources Mentioned

Ohio State University — Indoor Pet Initiative (Dr. Tony Buffington's work on cat enrichment)

Fear Free Pet Professionals (the Fear Free Certified® designation referenced)

Feline Veterinary Medical Association (Feline VMA) — formerly AAFP — Cat Friendly Veterinary Professional designation

Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) — International Cat Show (held in Cleveland)

Florida Pet Services Association (FPSA) — Shannon is VP

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Pet Sitter Confessional, its hosts, or sponsors. We interview individuals based on their experience and expertise within the pet care industry. Any statements made outside of this platform, or unrelated to the topic discussed, are solely the responsibility of the guest.

A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

Provided by otter.ai

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Cat sitting, professional pet care, client expectations, stress and behavior, enrichment, medical cats, business growth, industry trends, cat-only services, veterinary partnerships, operational challenges, pricing strategies, team management, niche specialization, industry education.

SPEAKERS
Shannon Hendon, Grace Taylor, Collin, Beth Pasek

Collin  00:02

Welcome to Pet Sitter Confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by our friends at Time to Pet and Pet Sitters International. What if cat sitting wasn't just a side service anymore? One of those also ands, I need you to take care of my dog, and, oh, also, and I have a cat. What if it's gone from that to one of the fastest maturing portions of professional pet care? Well, that's why I'm excited to be sitting down with Beth Pasek, Shannon Hinden, and Grace Taylor to unpack why cat-only services are growing, what maturing really looks like in the form of client expectations, and how education around stress, behavior, and enrichment is totally reshaping client demand. Let's get started.

Beth Pasek  00:49

I'm Beth Pasek, and I operate Finnicky Cat Sitting and Behavior, based out of Cleveland, Ohio. I'm cats, all cats, all the time.

Shannon Hendon  01:05

Shannon, how about you? I'm Shannon Hendon, and I am the owner and founder of Ocala Pet Sitting in Central Florida, and I've been in business for 20 years and started with all pets, dogs, cats, horses, and I transitioned, started transitioning to cats only in 2020 as quite a few of us, I think, did, and I am also the Vice President of FPSA, the Florida Pet Services Association, and I just love our industry, so yeah, that's me

Collin  01:44

and Grace.

Grace Taylor  01:47

Hi, I am Grace Taylor. I live in Baltimore, and I'm the owner of Forever Friends cat setting. We started out as Only Cats, now we have - we're still only cats, we specialize in medical cats, and we have about 20 people on our team,

Collin  02:03

and so we've got quite the range of experiences here, and businesses, and all sorts of stuff. So I am really curious. My very first question here is, I want to get from your perspective, how would you describe the current state of cat sitting in that industry,

Beth Pasek  02:22

I described the current state of the cat sitting industry as growing, but it's also maturing in that the cat owners are far more educated about cat behavior and the needs of cats than what they were just even five years ago. There's a lot of focus, and has been a lot of focus on understanding the how stress and anxiety place into a cat's life overall. And then, especially with cat centers coming in, and we're able to articulate and recognize through the Ohio State University studies that just even changing caregivers creates a great deal of anxiety for our cats.

Grace Taylor  03:18

Ohio State's amazing. I just had a little nerd out moment there. If we're gonna already just go to have a side note, best one of the best veterinary hospitals in the research coming out. If you want to do some reading like that, you can't go wrong there, but I'll steer back on the in terms of the state of the industry. I think we're just at a very exciting time. You nailed it with the word maturing there. there, there's a potential and a for so much growth and and for people to the quality of care and the standards to be explored and and that's just so exciting to me to see that conversation to come to the forefront and then also the aspect of it can be extremely profitable, and it can be done in a business sense, and knowing that those don't have to be exclusive.

Shannon Hendon  04:08

Yeah, and I'm definitely seeing a marked increase in cat-only, cat-focused pet sitter services offering a very high-end care standard of care for cat clients, and we're coming to understand the needs of cat parents, which is can be very different from dog parents, you can say, and I find we are starting to really separate ourselves from traditional pet sitting that was kind of all inclusive and I agree with Grace, it's a really exciting time for the opportunity is there for so many people who really maybe they were in pet sitting, you know, like me started out but they really feel. Called to cats, and so this is an exciting time for that in our industry.

Collin  05:07

There was a word that every single one of you used. Not only were you excited, but you also talked about the growth, and I am curious, why do you think that growth is happening now? I mean, I just, from observationally, I have seen it in our own business in the past five years of this just market increase. We've seen just like Google searches, you can see how many people are just solely searching cat sitting in my area. Those have gone through the roof. What do you think is driving that? And then there's a secondary thing of is this a temporary thing, is this a fad in the industry, or is this this actually have structural change to what's going on?

Shannon Hendon  05:49

Yeah, I personally do not see it as a fad at all. I feel like this is just going to take off, and then I liken it to, you know, in 2020 we had such a shift in pet ownership, and people, you know, really prioritizing different things as far as their pets, and so many, I can also say a lot of people are choosing not to have children now, and their cats are becoming their children in a lot of ways, and you know, I see this in other, you know, countries, in Japan and in Europe, where cat-only sitting has, you know, been more prevalent than it has been here, and I see that as a trend in our society as a whole, and the Cool, and like Liz said, the pet parents with the internet and everything, they're really getting much more education, and they are understanding their cats more, so then their expectations of us are going up along with it, right?

Beth Pasek  07:00

Definitely, that I absolutely agree with you, Shannon. The other part of that, and I guess I would say, phrase it this way, because I basically live in the heart of the Cat Fanciers Association hometown, that you know, when we're, we're drawing, you know, over a weekend, you know, 30,000 cat lovers a day to the international show. We're in a unique position that we're in, that unique position that we get to really connect with cat owners and those people who are coming to the show, they're coming from all around the country, so they actually bring that knowledge back to their own regions, which is really, you know, incredible, and when you also think about, you know, when we talk about the modern cat, I mean, domestication for modern cats is only been around about 100 years, other, you know, otherwise they were at the cats worked in the barns or whatever, and they, we didn't have to train them to do anything, and now we've brought them into our homes, and that whole domestication symbiotic relationship has to be understood, and cat owners are learning that no, these are not dogs, they have their own specific needs that need to be met on a regular basis, so the shift is not just structural within the cat sitting industry, it's also cultural within the cat community as a whole.

Grace Taylor  08:50

I think I know Shannon and I have talked about this ad nauseum, and I think I understand where it comes from, but that's the comparison of cats and dogs, right? I think there's been so long, like, oh, I'm a cat person, I'm a dog person. Well, dogs do this, cats do this, and that's really, I believe, a mindset that a lot of people have in this industry of, like, oh well, dogs are easier, or cats are more difficult, or finicky, and they kind of, they're doing that comparison, and I do think that's a limiting thing that people, that can happen with the growth, that, and I don't, I'm talking out loud now, as this is just like the things that I think about in the shower, and I'm wondering if you're seeing Beth, because you're so engrossed in the cat world. If you're seeing that there's a, an intentional break of trying not to be like, well, cats do this differently than dogs. Like, let's view cats as their own being, kind of deal. Does that make sense?

Beth Pasek  09:57

That does make sense, Grace. Is that there? I do think there is a break, that a cultural break that is happening in there, from the standpoint that as the consumer is learning how to care for their cats better, they're realizing that, yeah, you know, yes, we can click or train a dog, and we can click or train a cat, but the way that the way we actually accomplish that is is actually different from the way we accomplish it with a dog, so maybe

Grace Taylor  10:38

sorry,

Beth Pasek  10:39

that's okay, there is, you know, so there is a bit of a break there, but it's coming from a species standpoint that we are now, you know, a dog is not a dog is not a horse and a cat is not a dog, there is no to understand the cat as their own species, which we didn't always have that understanding before.

Grace Taylor  11:12

I feel like I've gone into enough homes where they've been like, oh, I have a nice cat, he's kind of like a dog, or have you heard that? Like,

Beth Pasek  11:20

yes, and there are there are species that the main coon is known for being the dog of the cat world, yeah, they do have some breeds have do have that dog-like behavior, but even those kinds of owners, we do still need to recognize this is not a dog, this is a cat, and you know the cat needs certain kinds of enrichment versus what the dog will need,

Shannon Hendon  11:53

which, yeah, right, yeah, which, what you made a great point about, you know, the different species, I think we're seeing a lot of differentiation now of the cat itself, and recognizing, you know, we're not dumping all cats into this category of, like, you know, they're self-sufficient, you know, it's like they're they're all independent or they're all this, and and cat owners are starting to really understand their breed and the different personality types, and so that's all along with the education.

Grace Taylor  12:28

Yeah, I think the framing and word choice matters so much because that leads to a different mindset, and so, like, and then your mindset going back to the business, it just, it matters how you, if you're, how you're framing and wording the animal. It matters how you're going to set up your business and how you're going to approach them. And I just, I find that part very fascinating.

Collin  12:52

I like that framing of, for way too long it was basically dog and not dog, and then it became dog and cat, and even Shannon, you mentioning of the breed specific kind of behaviors, I mean, if I were to throw out Boxer, Pincher, Doberman, and Lab, everybody has these immediate mental models of those dogs and proclivities and things to do, and what they need, but if I were to throw out Maine Coon, Persian, Siamese, Sphinx, what is coming to our minds, and, and so, a big part of that, though, is I know early on, Beth and Grace, you had both mentioned, like, Ohio State doing some of that work. How has that work influenced what we're talking about here, as more people have done more of this actual like ground truthing and work from the veterinary side.

Beth Pasek  13:50

Well, actually, Dr. Tony Buffington did, he's through Ohio State University, he's now also associated with fear-free, and he actually years ago, and I mean this was years ago, they actually did a whole study on how to develop the home environment for the cat, they really laid the groundwork for the enrichment within the home for the cat, and when I, when I switched over completely to cats only, and I was going to some of the events and shows, I actually had the Ohio State packet printed out and would hand that out as opposed to creating my own, because the information in that packet was so valuable, not only to the cat owner, but to how I designed my business was based, Guthing didn't create it. And I saw Grace's cat in your head, seriously.

Shannon Hendon  15:04

Yeah, it's fantastic. It's so important, you know, and also the enrichment, and like you're saying, the design of the home for a cat. I mean, that's also quite new as well, you know. We've gone from cats being kind of outdoor, and like you said, indoor, outdoor, and now we're, you know, recognizing that there's a lot more owners that are keeping them inside and treating them more as a family member, and you know, when we treat them as a family member, well, then yeah, of course, they need furniture and toys, and you know, enrichment. Yeah,

Grace Taylor  15:44

I heard you say, Beth, that you switched over from to being more cat-focused. Did I hear that correctly?

Beth Pasek  15:52

Yes, you did.

Grace Taylor  15:53

So I find that interesting, because I, when I have conversations about the cats in the industry, I have, you know a different perspective, because I started as cat only, so I have a lot of things for Shannon, understanding what that shift looks like, and that mindset looks like for business owners who are like, well, I spent 10 years of my life building up this dog walking business with dog, and now, and we used to come in, and there'd be a cat, but it'd be like we're walking fluffy, here you go, here, here's your food, let's go walk the dog. And I am wondering, around that time you made the shift, were there any like, what maybe, what were the motivations, were there some fears you encountered, what were the exciting things? Can you kind of talk a little bit more about that, because I find that part very interesting, and I think that's what a lot of other pet fitting businesses are going through exactly at this moment.

Speaker 1  16:49

Sorry, Grace's applause.

Beth Pasek  17:06

Actually, Grace, for me, the when I made the transition, it was literally, I sat down with my numbers because I was really struggling, you know getting dog walking clients, you know that kind of thing, because here on the west side of Cleveland, I mean we have several half million million dollar dog walking businesses, so the competition here was quite fierce, and when I sat down and started looking at my client mix and the clients who were actually leaving me reviews, they were all, it was 90% cats, so for me it was, oh, hello, you love cats anyway, let's go, and so true, and that when I made that transition and reintroduced and rebranded my company and introduced it back into the vet circles, the veterinarians were the veterinarians, the vet techs, the desk managers were like, oh my god, we so need someone like you, and of course, their first, their first question was, Do you do diabetic shots?

Shannon Hendon  18:31

Yes, yes, same exact experience, Beth. It's like we're living the same life. I

Beth Pasek  18:39

mean, you live the same life, and, and that just showed that, that even with these larger pet sitting companies that do all the animals, there was still this, this need from a medical standpoint of pet sitters that could go in and actually handle medical needs caps.

Collin  19:07

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Susan M.  19:11

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Collin  19:28

If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give Time to Pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting Time to pet.com/confessional So this, this gap is this an operational thing with traditional pet sitting business models, is this a gap in knowledge? Where do you think, like, why is this opening there in the market?

Shannon Hendon  19:53

I definitely feel it is a gap. Yeah, you, you pinpointed that for sure, Collin. And you know, a lot of times we say that a big part of what we do as professional pet sitters is a collaboration between the client and the vet, right, and so if this is, you know, partly why when we go to a vet and say, hey, I'm going to be cat only now, and I have all of this knowledge. The veterinarians are very excited to hear that, because you know, you've talked about this on, you know, tons of your podcast episodes before, about how we can recognize things the client can't and see changes, and if you're a pet sitter that doesn't have, you know, full complete knowledge of cat behavior, which is way different than dogs. Then you might miss that. Yeah,

Grace Taylor  20:49

yeah.

Shannon Hendon  20:49

So, yeah, that's a great point. We are really filling that gap, and more are needed.

Grace Taylor  20:56

Yeah, but and I would.. I am very excited to challenge also, because you.. we all laughed when you said you went to the vets, and you went to people, and they were like diabetic cats, like you're doing all cats, you must be here for the diabetics, and I, it's interesting that that is where they're like, you're already niching, let's niche you even further, and I think that's because there is this thought that we only need this cat specific care and expertise for cats with more specific like special needs cases and I think there's such a big opportunity for like the in between and that is an education thing that it's you have to go out there and advocate and educate your potential clients, like just because you know Fluffy isn't diabetic or doesn't need any medication, doesn't mean they don't need the specialized one two times a day care, and like we can provide this, you know, this is what differentiates us from a 15 minute visit or something like that, yeah. So

Shannon Hendon  22:03

I find, and the vets are definitely, of course, coming from the medical standpoint, and part of what I've done with the cat, especially the cat-only veterinarian in my town, is to kind of explain more of how it works with us and help them understand that we don't have a cat that's like in an exam room and we can just so easily give them the insulin and so educating the veterinarians also on what we do and how we can recognize signs and behavioral things that they often don't have an answer for that may not be medical, but we are filling that gap as well, and myself personally, I don't love or want to specialize in diabetic cats. I will do like the easier cases, but so there's going to be, you know, later, and even further niching down, I think, are people like Grace, who are running businesses that are able to do that, you know, even at a higher level.

Speaker 2  23:14

Playing with this camera, your stupid camera, look, this camera is everywhere, you it's

Grace Taylor  23:25

supposed to be able to pause there. We know

Collin  23:30

this has been fantastic. I need to take this note at 32 but

Beth Pasek  23:35

I do see that a lot of this is going to be going forward there. that there is a structural change that we are going to have have cat sitting businesses that are like Shannon, that that do basic basic cat care, and then we have what I, I call outcome-based care from the standpoint of that we're dealing with these higher end cases, you know, that we're dealing with the diabetic cats, we're walking in, we're doing sub q fluids, we're, you know, recognizing the hyperthyroid cats, we're dealing with cats with Mycoplasma, I mean, just from my own, my own business, there's not a week that goes by that I don't have a medical needs high level cat in my business, and you know, let this last year I had three hospice cat cases in my, in my business, and not every pet sitter is going to even want to deal with hospice level care.

Collin  24:52

It's interesting to hear how cats kind of went from the also and animal in a home, right? I have a dog also. And a cat to like kind of jumping the shark way over to this hyper niche intense medical need, I know for us when we get calls for cats it's well I wouldn't normally need you but now they need sub q twice a day, oh okay, sure, and so now I love how Grace, you mentioned like now there's this opportunity to backfill out and across into more of those expansive cases of those enrichment visits, those daily or twice daily visits. How, what the need, meeting the true needs of the cat there, but that also draws into a question as far as pricing, because we did go from my cat is not there, right? You don't see the cat, so why are you charging me for this? We go all the way on the other end to these high-needs, high, high-end specialty cats, like you're talking about, Beth. What? How is pricing working for you, and kind of, what are the perceptions of cost of service that you're seeing with people,

Beth Pasek  26:02

I I am actually starting next month. My rates are actually going up another $10 I see the hands left, and that really is a reflection of that. this I actually deconstructed much of my business model over the past year, and with move made a change to what I now call outcome-based care, so that I have a bait, I have one rate, I'm, you know, I'm selling, I'm selling 20 to 40 minutes of my time, potentially more, because of the types of cases that I deal with, and notice that I'm saying cases and not clients, so there is a, there's even a shift in my language, we've, we've moved from, you know, cat client to cat cases, and recognizing that because I'm dealing with some of these higher need medical care cats, there's times where I'm going to walk into a home and I'm going to have to drop everything and be like we're on our way to the emergency vat, or I'm sitting here waiting for Lap of Love to come in, so you know, at that point, that's I started to realize that, you know, the structure of having a tight efficiency schedule wasn't going to work for my business model anymore.

Grace Taylor  27:48

Yeah, I was so curious. I'd love to hear more and like nerd out over how bad effected your scheduling with, because I believe you have a team, correct?

Beth Pasek  27:58

I'm down to myself at this point.

Grace Taylor  28:01

Okay,

Beth Pasek  28:02

okay.

Shannon Hendon  28:04

So then, yeah, like, so then your hypermission specialized that way, for sure.

Beth Pasek  28:09

Yeah, and, and even just finding staff members that can step in on some of these cases. When I was, did try to hire, and I'm bringing in a vet tech, and you know, night before she's taking on one of the clients, and she's texting me, and she says, I'm what, looking on Google on how to do an asthma asthmatic cat. Oh,

Grace Taylor  28:33

interesting,

Beth Pasek  28:35

and I'm thinking, okay, you know, at some point I would, I would think, because I'm not a vet tech, I would think at some point we would know how to do that. That would not be a YouTube training moment. Of course, I met her that morning that following morning, you know, to walk her through how to, how to, how to do an asthmatic cat puffer

Grace Taylor  29:04

Collins clearly trying here,

Collin  29:06

but you know, Beth, you mentioned that that tight efficiency model that maybe a lot of us mindsets in like typical traditional pet sitting come from of here's my window, here's my route time, here's my window, here's my route time, here's my window, here's my route time, and you know, that sounds like that's not always the best case, at least for moving from that. Shannon and Grace, you both have employees. Have you seen that tension in tight efficiency versus the care and the cases that you're taking on?

Shannon Hendon  29:37

Yeah, there's definitely, you have to be very intentional about it, for sure, and for me, I, you know, I went to cats only because I really love the enrichment aspect of it, and I don't necessarily like, I'm very good at, you know, medical cats, I'm no expert, but. Um, it's not my passion, and so, and it's very difficult, like, you know, Beth is saying to hire for that, you know, and then train for that, you know, as, like, I'm not a vet tech, so I don't have that background, so, yeah, you know, I, I struggle. I wish there was a bet in my town that I could say, okay, this is above my pay grade. I would love to have you know

Beth Pasek  30:34

that out,

Shannon Hendon  30:37

you know, and, but you know, just hiring a cat sitter themselves is, you know, can be different than hiring a dog sitter. I do find that I didn't realize at first that I personally, not to blow, you know, smoke on me, but like I can understand all animals, mostly, but as I started growing a team, I realized, oh, not everyone can do that out in the hiring world, and I've noticed, okay, this sitter, I'm not sending them to dogs anymore, in this sitter, they're not great with cats, like, if the cat don't give the cat alive, but you know, if it's a, you know, a more intense cat or something, they're afraid, and then their energy is giving off bad mojo to the cat. So I do have to be very intentional, and the clients I take, and the services I offer, and what I don't offer, unfortunately, and that is hard for me, because they are expecting that I'm a cat sitter. Of course, you should do everything, and there is a level that I have to say no to. They might have to be medically boarded, and that's, yeah, that's level,

Beth Pasek  32:03

and I think Shannon, that that's where we all have to, we all have to be careful in the gaps sitting end of it, that we don't have scope creep of what the job actually

Grace Taylor  32:17

is, things, so it sounds like I'm finding this all fascinating, because such a large portion of my, my of our clients here at Forever Friends are medical cats, and we have a team model, like we have it, so like in theory, and it works, I'd say 99% of the time, any team member, it does. We have examples this week. It works 99% of the time. And what are the fail safes I put in to make sure it works 99% of the time? What resources are am I availing to the team members at the very beginning in terms of shadowing and learning these skills, and, and showing me that they can do it, and make the decisions, and have the critical thinking that I would in that situation, because I made this mistake in the beginning, where I just assumed everyone thought the way I did when I went in. I know, I know, shocking, not accurate, people did not walk it. I rare, I know, but so I find that I think that there is a world in which it can absolutely be a team, and there's even an option, and I had played around with this, where let's say you have a larger team, like I have, like 20 peak sitters or more, you could have a team of five that is those smaller specialized cases, and not every sitter has to be a good example, sub q fluids. Not everyone on my team is trained for sub q fluids, and it's not because they're not willing, they all have to be willing, it's because I can't force a cat to hear, let's practice on this cat kind of deal, yeah. And so I really have to be careful of our protocols and procedures and documentation, and I do use the term case for those higher end ones. We have a, we actually started in terms of operationally, my team lead and I, we have a case file, or like a running incident report on those more specialized cats. It's a separate time to pet, like a private.. what are those

Beth Pasek  34:35

called? The checklist,

Grace Taylor  34:37

no, in the actual profile of the time to pet for the client. There's like a private window that only the admin can see, and we have a field. Thank you. Yes, a field, and we, we spent extra amount of time, and then to bring it back to the business aspect, that means I better be charging for that high touch, and sometimes that means. Since it needs to, all I need to make more money on the non cases that are less high touch, so it averages out.

Beth Pasek  35:12

I would be really interested, Grace, on how you go about finding those staff members.

Susan M.  35:20

Oh

Shannon Hendon  35:21

yeah, it's fascinating to me too, Beth. Like, hey, give me some more training while I'm here. Yeah, it

Beth Pasek  35:29

may very well be because of your demographic area.

Shannon Hendon  35:33

That's what I was gonna say. She's in the large city with, you know, many more people, and it is way different from the town I live in, in a lot of ways, but she definitely has some secret sauce there. So, yeah,

Grace Taylor  35:51

yeah, I think that it, I do think it is a model that can be replicated in other areas. It's very much kneeling down who that avatar is, and there might, there are some things that maybe your schedule is a little more varied, and you have to carry a bit more of a higher team, like of a larger team versus a number of visits they get, because you're having these people that are have a high amount of empathy and care, but they're also, they're doing it more as a passion than I'm paying my bills with it, I know a lot of them are, but they are a lot. Most of my sitters have full-time jobs already, like we have principals, we have people who have literally can buy their own house, and they still do this as a passion job, and and that's where I think the difference in the mindset I've seen, yeah, and yeah, I would love, like, 36 please. Putting out the universe, I'll take another 10 sitters. All right, goals, 2026

Beth Pasek  36:53

I was just recently excited, I happened to trip across a gal out on the East side of Cleveland, who is cat sitting and high medical needs, and her and I are trying to get a time schedule, so we can sit down and have coffees together and get to know each other, because she's on one side, as if you've ever come to Cleveland, Cleveland is East and West Side, and the two sides don't meet.

Shannon Hendon  37:26

Okay, so you're gonna meet in the middle.

Grace Taylor  37:28

We're gonna meet Romeo and Julia,

Collin  37:32

just not how it ends. I think that this is an interesting point in that as we look to have niched service and specialized clients. It means that our team has to meet at a higher level, which does mean that we have to have what we have to, we have to have a higher rate that we're paying those people, because we expect more from them, which does also then influence our pricing on the other end to the clients, so we can service out clients, so it's, it's a coming from like a general pet site, pet sitting generic kind of like everything's the same basic block hair at times. It's like we still want high level for them, but this really what I'm hearing here is, as this, as the cat sitting side increases and becomes even more specialized and more robust, there is going to be a need for talent in that side of the industry that has a higher level and expectations on them that we as businesses have to be ready and able to train and then make sure we're compensating them well for and that's all got to balance out in how in our operations

Shannon Hendon  38:38

yeah and I will say this, and I was very shocked and surprised, and one of the reasons why I was afraid to make that full leap into cats only. But cat parents are willing to pay, and they are willing to pay for lots more time, you know. People I see in the group saying all the time, there's no way someone's going to pay you to stay, you know, live in overnight for a cat. Yes, they will, and they love it, and their cat loves it, and they tell their friends, and yeah, you know, like that's saying, yes, they will, that is, I think one of the big things that we can advocate for, that yes, this is possible. It is possible to sustain a cats-only business and raise our rates more, because we are niche and specialized, especially now in this market we're in, and they're willing to pay it, you know, there's clients out there that have disposable income, and I can't afford my service. I tell this everyone all the time, I cannot afford my service, no. But thank goodness I have a team that can do mine, but there are lots of clients out there. That we just have to find them and present what we're doing

Beth Pasek  40:04

well, and I think, too, a lot of that comes from with cat owners. They actually do see it as a continuity, continuity of care situation. Grace is going,

Grace Taylor  40:21

favorite

Beth Pasek  40:22

phrase. It's a continuity continuity of care situation that you know it's how do you phrase it. How many, how many cat owners are actually going to call on their neighbor to come over and kill the cat?

Speaker 3  40:39

Yeah,

Beth Pasek  40:40

it's opposed to, oh yeah, come on over, pill the dog, you stick it in peanut butter, and on the end of a spoon, and you mix it off. Well, a cat doesn't do that, you know?

Grace Taylor  40:52

I mean, that churro is a powerful thing, but yeah, in general, for sure.

Beth Pasek  40:57

Your owners do see it, it's it, I think. Cat sitters are probably one of the closest veterinary adjacent practices that is not really a vet.

Speaker 3  41:14

Yeah, yeah,

Grace Taylor  41:16

I think we have to be very careful with that wording and that framing, though, because people will start to expect certain things from

Beth Pasek  41:24

us if we, if we

Grace Taylor  41:25

say that client-facing,

Beth Pasek  41:26

absolutely, Grace, absolutely, because I have, there are times where you know I have clients that pick up the phone and call me before they call the vet,

Shannon Hendon  41:35

yeah,

Beth Pasek  41:36

and there are times, you know, there are times where you know that has to get turned around. Okay, these are the symptoms. Let me repeat them back to you. This makes sure you highlight this with your veterinarian when you talk to your veterinarian, so it's really putting the when we get into these high end, this high niche area, we do have to be careful, careful how we say it, but you know that's where you know, like I said, it's almost veterinary adjacent, so like even you know being elite fear free certified, and you know being feline VMA cat-friendly veterinary professional. I still have to be really careful what I say to a client on the cat-sitting end of the business. Yeah,

Shannon Hendon  42:35

and using the, the, you know, I find that I listen to everything the client, you know, throws at me, and I can pick out, you know, a small phrase or word they said about the cat that they may not tell their vet, you know, like you're saying, Beth, and I'm like, this is something, you know, these things are are the things you should really point out to the vet, because in make your list, and you know, because the vet doesn't, you know, necessarily get the whole picture otherwise, so it's really important, I think we do, you know, fill a great partnership

Beth Pasek  43:13

there, even in field notes, when I, there's a, I think one of my earliest field notes was, you know, highlighting when a client called me, and I turned that right around, and lo and behold, you know, all four cats in the house had giardia, and it's like I can't diagnose that, all I can do is say, you know what, this is gastrointestinal, let's get you over to the vet, and oh, oh, oh, so you know, Luna had just had a loose bowel movement, you know, it might be a good idea, you know, see if they'll take that, that, that sample right away, and you know that, so you know it's really just helping owners, you know, recognize that, that a, that's not normal, and b, let's get you over to the vet, even though in the back of my mind I'm already thinking, okay, it's potentially x y or z, but you can't say it's x y or z, because that's practicing veterinary medicine, and you can't go there.

Grace Taylor  44:23

Yeah, I think that is, I mean, if we want to do a call back to a lot of what Collin and I talked about when we did our episode, is becoming that expert, the trusted source, and then that expert connector. Like, I can't answer that, but I know Dr. Budgie over at Eberhard, they're amazing, or you need someone you're scared to get, you know, fluffy to the vet, you know, the home vets comes to here, like there are resources, or they're having litter box problems, I know someone who is a cat behave. Of this, and becoming like they still trust you, and they still want to be I still want to be a person they feel they come to when they have a concern, because there's a value beyond, they don't, they think about me more than just when they're going on a trip, and to me that makes a client that is more loyal and a client that is more long term, I and so becoming like the overall value of who you are is not just like those those visits,

Collin  45:33

which is

Beth Pasek  45:33

something,

Shannon Hendon  45:33

and that's important. Sorry, Collin, I was going to say that is important, and when you're talking about the business model, because you know this is still cat sitting, it's not regular like Monday to Friday dog walking type of income, so you know the more value we can provide to them, the stronger our business, you know, model will be.

Collin  45:57

And now a word from our friends at Pet Sitters International.

Speaker 4  46:00

Hi, this is Megan at Pet Sitters International. We know you're busy as a pet care business owner, and finding quality training options for you or your team may feel like an impossible task. That's why we created Pet Sit Pro, a monthly online training subscription that gives you a new mini course each month, taught by a pet expert. Plus, you can access dozens of past trainings and PSI staff certificate modules, great for onboarding. We offer affordable plan options, whether you're a solo sitter or manage a team. Visit Pet sit.com/psc to learn more and get a special promo code.

Collin  46:35

Well, that brings a good point, as far as just business and model and revenue. Of many people get out or they get frustrated with pet sitting because of the ups and the downs and the unpredictability of when I'm going to be busy versus when I'm not. How have you all seen that play out with with cat sitting and the the opportunities for reoccurring revenue in the business

Shannon Hendon  47:02

I I've been talking with Grace a lot, because she has some amazing marketing ideas. So, this is my go-to marketing cat marketing expert here, and we have been thinking a lot about, you know, the types of reoccurring revenue we could create for cat clients, and there are definitely some things I'm playing with, as far as, like, you know, the reoccurring litter box cleaning, especially my client avatar are mainly active retired seniors in Florida, and I'm in demographic where they have, you know, a lot of surgeries and other, you know, medical needs themselves, where they would, you know, they call on us to just come scoop regularly, or a, you know, an adult child from out of state calls me and says, my mom needs help, you know, scooping her box, you know, she's having this or this, and you know her back hurts, or what have you. So there is definitely an opportunity for that, and then we could get into the whole huge discussion on the businesses now that are adding the robot cleaning, like take a part, repair it, you know, become a whole expert on that, that can be its own, like whole business there, and hire, or you know, so I've considered hiring people specifically for that, and because that's only increasingly, we could talk probably for five hours on these litter robots, I'm sure,

Speaker 1  48:39

yeah,

Shannon Hendon  48:39

but so there is another, you know, talk about another gap. There's one right there that keeps presenting to

Grace Taylor  48:46

us. Yeah, I hear this discussion a lot in the Facebook groups, and when we go to these conferences about, well, and I get it, there are times I hear about the nine to five, the nine to four dog walking, because that seems to be a huge trend that's going on right now in our industry. Let's turn every business into a 94 nine to four dog walking company, and if it doesn't fit that model, that which is what we want, we're going to make them pay with before and after hour and all of that, and that is certainly one way, and it's been proven it works for that, you know, that clientele. When it comes to cats, I think that it's twofold. One, from a business perspective, you do gotta watch your, your cash flow, and you have to figure out what your, your trends are in, in your ups and downs and needs within your specific geographic area, because it is different for each geographic area. I am now have several years of data, and I can overlap, and I can see pretty close where I'm going to need shopping increases, where I am going to have an increase of need on the admin side to get those new people on board, and how can I, how can I make a spread that out a bit. More part of what I've been doing is really trying to tell people they can onboard a couple hooks ahead of time and get that in earlier, and that way it's spreading out the admin and the non-billable hour and the stress on me, because now I'm not managing everyone out in the field during the high peak time, plus onboarding everyone at the same time, and that has been a very strategic mind shift. Additionally, I would say finding ways that you people don't know that there are certain services that they could ask for, it like this idea of I live in Baltimore, and we have a lot of people that have since everything opened up again a few years ago, have to go back to DC, and they will be there from seven to eight at night, and so they will go in and we'll do midday visits, and that's something that people are just shocked to hear in the industry, but we, they're our top clients, because they're consistent ice weekies, they're they're consistent, and they are so grateful. They, you know, you're now giving you have the opportunity to not just take care of their cat on a more consistent basis, but the emotional connection with the, the, the human is now they're having a meeting that's, I'm sure, not as fun as playing with their cat. They got cat pictures, so those are, you know, opportunities to offer. And then the other thing I just rolled out, sorry to keep going, I'm very passionate about this topic, is people, since people don't know that this is available, I don't necessarily focus on my top 10 clients. My top 10 clients, they are bought in, they, they are full line of sinker, forever friends, diehards, they need our services. I go back and I look at maybe 2340 top, and I go, hey, we're rolling out this, I'd love to, you know, gift you this 50% you know, etc. Will you help us develop this, you know, give us feedback, so now they feel like they're part of the process, and they're part of this thing, and we've got a couple people where if they're once a week now enrichment midday because of this, and that that adds up, and we got a lot of feedback from them on how to make that for other people.

Collin  52:21

Beth, how are you thinking about business revenue in the model, and reducing or just rolling with the variability that can come from cat sitting in the type of vacation care?

Beth Pasek  52:33

Um, I actually just roll with the variability, so you know there are the months where I have 200 visits to do your face, just went, oh my god, and, and then you know, I look at, you know, this, you know, the January, where, okay, we had, I had 75 so it really is, you know, not so much, you know, trying to generate that extra revenue from my standpoint as a solo sitter, because I know if I bring in too many new people, January, February, March, I have to, I'm gonna have to take care of them for Memorial Day, July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, so you know there is a bit of from my standpoint that the my downtime is baked into my year at the beginning of the year, right after the holiday, so you know people talk about burnout and that kind of thing, and I look at it from the standpoint that no, come January I'm gonna, I'm gonna just, I'm gonna chill for a few weeks, and I need that without

Grace Taylor  53:51

making the solo sitter thing look pretty appealing,

Beth Pasek  53:55

and I'm going to enjoy that. Yeah,

Beth Pasek  54:00

you know, from my standpoint, most of my days are, you know, I start at 7o'clock in the morning, go to about 11 o'clock in the morning, and then I pick back up from tea time through closing time at seven, but that whole midday window for me is remains wide open.

Shannon Hendon  54:21

I have come to love my January, February. I, I don't hate it that it's slow, like just like that, but you know, I'll say one thing that I found fascinating was when I was looking into, you know, I really want to do cats and the trends and who my best cat clients were, and I realized they were the retired, you know, active seniors. I now have data that's showing me they're not traveling very much during November, December, and my summers are way past. At now, and you know, I don't, it so it really matters, you know, your client avatar, but I've seen this big shift to where, you know, yeah, we're, we're busy-ish, but I can have more relaxed holidays now, and my summer is slammed because they are all traveling to see their grandkids in the summer when the kids are out of school and I recently had one of my clients say, because I was curious, you know, why are you not traveling very much during the holidays, and they said, well, you know, when you're a bit older, the family comes to you, and so, you know, if you, and I'm like, oh, you know, that that's true, so really understanding what's going on, and you know something to think about when you transition to, you know, if you're going to transition to cap focused and your client avatar changes, you know, with that, then your financials are also going to shift, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, I've just find it fascinating. There still are the highs and lows for me, but they're much different now.

Beth Pasek  56:08

They're much different, and it's some.. and you know, once you realize where that is going to fall out for your business, that you can plan financially for that time, so such that, that you know, during the summer, just because you have all this extra income coming in, you're not spending actually budget that January, January is coming when it's really slow in January, you know, I want to be able to go, you know, take my vacation. I want to be able to go to see the Cleveland Orchestra or the Cleveland Ballet, or I want to be able to do these extracurricular activities that maybe I don't get to do over the summer because I'm busy.

Grace Taylor  56:59

Yeah, I would say that for me, love, hate, interest of the year is certainly cash flow, and I think we shy away from that a lot as business owners. It's not a, it's not a glamorous, fun thing, and so I,

Beth Pasek  57:14

you have to talk about it, though, for, for being a cat, cat-only business, whether you have a team of 20, because you have 20 paychecks that you, you're expected to support, or you're a solo sitter, like me, you know, I still have to pay my own bills.

Grace Taylor  57:31

Oh yeah,

Beth Pasek  57:32

so you know that, that is, you know, cash flow is something that you do have to be really articulate about that, you know what it is, where it's coming from, and when it's going to arrive.

Grace Taylor  57:50

Businesses live and die on cash flow. Yeah, and that's just the reality of it. I don't think most businesses fail in this industry because they're not giving good care. I think probably a lot of them are cash flow.

Collin  58:02

We see it mostly when how people are billed for their clients, so you're getting paid beforehand, are you getting paid afterhand, are you budgeting appropriately for the slow months versus the busy months, and and how are you balancing that out? And I think it's, it's really important from what I'm hearing, of we've got three basically different perspectives here of Beth and of Grace and of Shannon, of how to roll with this, and what that means, and how you structure your business in this of generating the extra revenue, rolling with it, finding a middle ground. It's all important when you look to how you operate, and I know that all of you have these wonderful perspectives on this. Where, where do you see.. I mean, this.. it's not.. we talk about how this is an exciting time for the cat sing industry, and for cat sing businesses, and kind of.. we're taking off here in the last five years or so. Where do you see it moving in the next five, next 10 years from your

Shannon Hendon  59:05

I feel like we are sitting on, you know, really a bubble of this part of our industry that is, you know, like we said, new and exciting, and the the number I can just tell by, you know, when I go to conferences or speak to people online, the number of people that reach out to me and ask about this type of service from other pet sitters is a lot. Like, I could spend a lot of time talking about it with them, so there is a huge interest in it, and it, yeah, it's a lot. It's going to be big. This is not going away.

Grace Taylor  59:51

I'm very passionate about those, as Sharon says. This is not going away. I think that there are very there. A lot of growth opportunities, not only just for the level of standards of care, but also for the profitability and the growth of businesses, and we're really digging into that over here with Shannon and I. I think another thing, and this might be surprising to hear from me, is a caution against that we have a, I will speak for me. I have shiny optic syndrome sometimes when it comes to marketing or businesses, and I hear a lot of people talking about, I'm going to start a cat-only arm of my business, I'm going to do this and that, and yes, please, I would love more specific cat care, but are we, is this the right niche, and maybe we don't niche, you don't need to niche all the way, but there's a level to bring up the standards of care within the model you have, so just being careful of how we approach the shiny new object from a business owner perspective, and that's really what Shannon and I have been discussing a lot in our Facebook group called Built for cats the business of feline care, and we would love, we welcome everyone to come join us and explore this topic, because it's, it's, it's not going away, and we're, we kind of work together as an industry to figure out how to approach

Beth Pasek  1:01:19

it. From my standpoint, I think we're going to see, we're going to continue to see some structural change yet within the niche. I think as more cat sitters pursue more certifications, as they deepen their behavior knowledge, as they become more medically astute, the niche is going to continue to evolve. We're going to see an evolution, I think, where we're going to see more specialists, more formal partnerships, a higher degree of professionalization across the niche niche in general, and I think as the competency rises, the price point is going to follow, and specialization is going to be restructuring the industry.

Grace Taylor  1:02:18

Yeah,

Shannon Hendon  1:02:19

I love what you said there, Beth, about you know how we are going to increase, you know, in the industry, and I think that that brings up the entire industry as a whole, you know, the more education and you know notice we get in expanding this, you know, other arm of pet sitting, the more you know the whole industry is lifted up with you know all types of care, but I think especially the cat sitting that is such going to be such a large part of that,

Collin  1:02:57

and Grace, you mentioned the tempering of that shiny object syndrome, as somebody who has domains and logos and brands thought out for businesses that, while I'm never going to start like they're, but they're just there in case I get an extra five minutes in my day, right? Like we are just, I think, as a whole, going to see, as happened with pet sitting and dog walking, people were doing it, they did it with excellence. They opened, they created the space, they grew the market. And then you have people who come in from behind and think, oh, look what they're doing, it's easy, I can make some money here. And so I mean, we see, I mean, we see all over place, every industry where we're growing the market in front of us, we see people come in from behind and go, this is easy. I can do this. So we also have to be ready from this perspective of being right here. We're just at the really the tippy tip of the spear right now, pushing forward. I mean, you three and many other people are pushing forward. We haven't quite yet seen the back filling of the cheaper, the fly-by-night services, the those things come in yet, but we know it's coming because the

Beth Pasek  1:04:07

outel is out there.

Collin  1:04:09

Yes, you know it. So we just have to be ready and continue to to market and talk about our advantages, our expertise, and what we are providing. I think that that's really that edge that we have to continue to keep as, as this is being pushed forward.

Grace Taylor  1:04:29

I would say one of the biggest things reaffirm this week for me, and I will give it from the mountain tops, is figure out your standards and stick to them, and do not lower them just because of a new client or anything, you have your standard, you have your educated protocols for a reason, and keep that, because that is what's going to keep your business moving forward and surviving through all the clients and all the ups and downs of when of client. And flow, so,

Shannon Hendon  1:05:01

and that goes for all of us, really, you know, with everything, but I will say, like, you know, as specifically for people who are wanting to transition from the dog world to cats only, it's really hard to turn down that money of the dog clients that continue to call me every single day, and you know it's very tempting to say, oh, that that dog lives close to me five days a week, you know, I could use that, maybe I want to do both, but you know, I think you know, stick to your convictions, and like you said, your standards of

Grace Taylor  1:05:43

hair, because

Shannon Hendon  1:05:43

I find my model, I would split too much between the two, so I personally couldn't do both. So, like, you really have to think about that, and where your time is going, because I wanted my cats to get the very best care, and that does mean being prepared to say no to all these other leads that are coming in for me still, and that SEO for me has been out there for more than, you know, 20 years, so you know what, that was the beginning of the internet, so I don't think those I can ever get, I had a Myspace, okay, it's still out there, so, so that's been really important for me to really find my boundaries and stick to them.

Collin  1:06:35

Well, I know that this is a really big topic, and we're again just feels like we're just still in the early stages, and there's a lot going on. There's a lot of changes for people who are listening, who are thinking about making the transition in their business, or have already started a cat sitting business, and maybe looking for some help, and to pick your brain. How best can people get connected with you, Beth. Where are you found?

Beth Pasek  1:07:04

You can find me on Facebook under Liz, not Beth, but you can find me under Liz Past. You can connect with me on Instagram at Finicky Cat, and you can find me on Field Notes.

Collin  1:07:21

I will say I'll have those links in the show notes as well to everybody. I have really been enjoying Beth, your field notes series that you have been writing. These have been excellent, very eye opening, and I absolutely enjoy these every time you publish. So I've been really excited about that.

Beth Pasek  1:07:34

Thank you.

Shannon Hendon  1:07:36

I do too. Yeah, I just want to take the opportunity to say I've been following you for a while, and you know I read your book, and you know your field notes, and it's been a real pleasure for me here, you know. Of course, of course, you, Collin, you know I love you, but yeah, so I love your field notes. Keep doing the great work there, Beth, and I hope we can connect more after this, too,

Collin  1:08:02

Shannon, how can people get connected with you?

Shannon Hendon  1:08:05

So, well, you can always find me on Shannon Hendon on Facebook, but Grace and I, we kind of mentioned earlier, have created a Facebook group called Built for Cats, and that is leading into a new platform that we are working on to support the cat sitting industry as a whole, and we're going to be leading discussions and providing, you know, educational resources, and a lot more, you know, in depth, and what we talked about here, cat specific, you know, training, training for cat sitters, marketing. My girl here, Grace, amazing at the marketing, and drumroll, Grace. Do you have a tow?

Grace Taylor  1:08:53

We may or may not have a built for cat podcast coming up at some point very soon, so we are just excited to just continue providing spaces to have these conversations. I just want to thank Beth for being willing to answer all the questions, because I think that is what's going to really help elevate this industry, is having these discussions as a whole. And so, yeah, I am very excited to see how it moves forward.

Beth Pasek  1:09:22

Yeah, I think it's been a real.. it's been a.. I think this has been a really great conversation. Thank you, Collin, for opening the door for it.

Collin  1:09:30

Well, I really appreciate all of your time and all of your insights and expertise. I know that we, the industry, wouldn't be where it is without all of your.. you and your input and all the things that you're trying experimenting with your business, so it means an awful lot that you came on today and shared, and I'm so excited for where everything is headed, and I know this is not the last time we're going to have this conversation too, so a lot of fun stuff coming up here. Thank you, every single one of you, for coming on today. It's been a real pleasure.

Beth Pasek  1:09:58

Thank you, Collin. Um. Thank you,

Grace Taylor  1:10:00

Kyle, for being such a voice in this industry.

Shannon Hendon  1:10:03

Adore you, the OG.

Collin  1:10:05

I have a lot of fantastic takeaways from my conversations with Beth Pasek and Shannon, but one of the ones that I was surprised to come across was really when Gray said that businesses live and die on cash flow, and it's so straightforward, and it's so simple, but it's incredibly powerful and true, especially in a business model where we also are trying to balance and deconstruct the business model from tight, rigid time structures to more care, full-blown based care and outcome-based care. How do we hold these two together, and what efficiencies can we have on the business and operations side to allow for that kind of care. How am I pricing upfront? How am I scheduling? How am I route planning? How am I building a client base and working within the proper service area? It turns out that all of those aspects that we tend to think of after the fact, right, to make the madness work, all of those are incredibly important to give and to generate and to provide high quality professional cat care. It's all tied together when the field operations are nailed down, and when the operations are nailed down, our clients are served better. We want to thank our sponsors today, Time to Pet and Pet Centers International, for making this show possible. And we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and we'll be back again soon. Bye.

Collin https://www.collinfunkhouser.com
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