This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with August Odenbaugh, a professional cat-sitter from Portland, Oregon. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
I originally wanted to be a veterinarian, and I worked in the field for most of my adult life, but I had to come to terms with the realization that being a veterinarian just wasn’t the right life path for me.
I was going to vet school, and while I knew it would be challenging academically, I just wasn’t able to wrap my mind around doing euthanasia and always being around animals that were sick and dying all of the time. It really got me to a place of burnout and compassion fatigue.
I realized that I had to do something totally different.
I knew I didn’t want to go back into the veterinary field, like management or assisting, because that’s the same beast. It would be the same high-stress, emotionally-taxing environment, just with a different title and lower pay.
Then the pandemic hit, and jobs were hard to come by anyway. Everything was really up in the air, and I just wanted a job where I could reclaim my love for working with animals. I wanted to do it my way, at my pace, and in an environment where the animals were happy, so I started pet sitting.
Like most pet sitters, I started off listing myself on the pet care app, Rover. I was doing it part time to supplement my income as best as I could. And since I was just getting started, I was taking any jobs that came my way. Any requests that came in, I accepted: dogs, cats, day care, walks, overnight stays at their homes, boarding them in my house — I did it all.
After a few years, I realized that I liked it more than any traditional job would offer. When I worked in veterinary offices, I may have been making more money on paper, but I was constantly working overtime, and when I did the math, I was making less per hour in the clinic than I was setting my own hours while pet sitting and working from home.
Plus, I was happier.
I made the jump to full-time cat-sitting
That’s when I pivoted and put all of my time, effort, and energy into marketing myself on the app as a full-time cat sitter.
I decided I wanted to do cats specifically for a number of reasons. First, I’m a cat person. I love animals, but I prefer cats over dogs, and so I just have more joy working around them. There’s also the profitability: Business-wise, cats are a lot more profitable, because they typically only require drop-in visits for half an hour to make sure that they’re all taken care of, and then they’re done for the day. That’s more efficient than caring for dogs, who need walks and to go outside every four hours, which eats up more time.
My clients love that I specialize in cats, and they love my veterinary experience even more. So, while I had a steady stream of clients on Rover, I expanded to another cat-specific app called Meowtel, which is where I get most of my business now.
Between the two apps, I’ve accumulated hundreds of 5-star reviews, and I’m able to be more picky about the clients I accept than I was when I first started out. It took me a few years to get to a point where I’m comfortable charging what I’m worth, but now I’m commanding a rate that pays my bills.
I charge $30 for a 20-minute visit, $45 for a 45-minute visit, and $50 for an hour. I’m also setting up better boundaries with my time, so I don’t accept more than eight bookings per day except during peak holiday seasons. The apps take a commission, which eats into my profits a little, but it’s worth it to keep my profiles active so I consistently have new business.
I recently relocated from Los Angeles to the Portland area and am focused on rebuilding my client base. Since the cost of living is lower here, I don’t have to hustle as much as I did while I was living in California. I’m getting back into music and art and thinking about going back to grad school, so I’m doing cat-sitting while also making time for other priorities in my life.
I can’t go back to corporate life
I actually don’t even feel comfortable applying for a regular job anymore. I know it sounds crazy, but if I go and work for Chase Bank or Whole Foods or anywhere else, even the federal government, which used to be considered such a stable job, I don’t know if I’m going to get laid off.
The economy is a mess; every other business out there is thinking about the tariffs, they’re considering downsizing, they’re doing layoffs. If somebody at a corporate job gets laid off, they’re not going to know what to do with their lives the next day. They’re just going to be back on Indeed or ZipRecruiter or whatever, trying to find a job, and they’re going to be flailing, trying to figure out what’s next and trying to put all their eggs into another corporate basket.
But every day, I wake up and choose to work. I get requests on the apps, and I can either say yes or no.
People are always going to need pet care. No matter what tariffs happen or how expensive things get, they’re still going to have to take trips for work or family reasons. They might not be taking as many vacations, but they’re always going to need care for their pets, and no matter how tight things get, people will find that space within their budget because pets are their babies; I know mine are, and they are for my clients.
So, I feel much more certain and much more confident working for myself in this climate, in this economic state, than I would working at a regular job. I’ve even looked at other jobs out here. I was in the final stages of interviews with a veterinary diagnostic company, and I got offered the job. It was a good, high-paying salary, about $80,000 a year, and I turned it down because I don’t know if that job is going to be actually secure.
I’m happy and making about the same doing what I’m doing now. And even if I make a little less, I’d much rather be doing something that I can fully get behind, something where I’m working for myself, and I know that my job is stable and secure.
Do you have a unique side hustle, or has your side hustle replaced your full-time job? Email Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert at ktangalakislippert@businessinsider.com.
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