In accordance with labor law in the State of California, Visiting Animal Friends (S Corp) limits our house sits and pet sits to 5 consecutive days of work, maximum, per employee. We expressly acknowledge that there will be more than one animal caretaker who takes on your animal’s care shifts to ensure quality, prevent unnecessary costs, and most importantly prevent burnout in our workers that way we are 110% available, dedicated, and communicative on behalf of your fur baby loved ones and our greater mission as an organization to improve the quality of relationships between people, as well as people and animals. We believe that animals can teach us so much. They teach us patience, how to rest, love, care, respect, understanding, support, and strength. We aim to be as communicative as possible, even during busy holiday seasons, and times when we have 10-15 animals in our care in one day. We have a team of 7 people and are growing. If you know anyone who wants an animal care job please send them our way. :)

Payment for our services is due three days after we confirm your dates for the booking. We are a simple operation and require simple transactions whenever possible unless there are extenuating circumstances. We acknowledge how personal this work is to each of our clients. The best way that you can support our mission and be a good client we want to keep is by being understanding of our limitations and boundaries and Please try to come to us with dates with decisiveness to keep our calendaring process as simple as possible. We serve more than 100 families and that number is growing.

Visiting Animal Friends requires that folks agree to the following terms for their house sits:

Our animal caretakers are available for 3 hours of diligent and mindful care per day of your house sit. We do not provide refunds under any circumstances.

Every animal under our care needs to be on a monthly or semi-annual flea and tick preventative with the exception of indoor-only cats. Some people, cats, and dogs have flea allergies and the risk of spreading fleas is high throughout the year in the population dense area where we live. There are approximately 7 million people, and approximately 4 million pets who live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please spay and neuter your animals, and please apply flea and tick prevention medication to any animal who goes outdoors. We highly recommend Comfortis and Trifexis for dogs and cats, they are derived from a mushroom and are eaten as a tablet instead of a topical alternative made from petrochemicals. As I write this there was an earthquake, and project 2025 is in the works, please just be kind to us and we will be kind to you. The world is hard enough given circumstances that are completely out of one person’s sphere of control and influence. Thank you for being considerate of us and all the animals and people with whom we have contact. We love your animals so much and we want everyone to be safe and healthy, 365 days per year.

We have a lot of work to do and we appreciate and require professional communication. We require respect for our daytime hours, and respect of our sleep hours, privacy during house sits (absolutely no cameras in bedrooms, and we must be made aware of any cameras in and around the home at the time of the meet and greet. We greatly appreciate reviews for our website and tips for our hardworking animal caretakers.

If your animal is an emotional support animal or service animal please disclose this at our meet and greet so we can take all of the necessary care precautions and special instructions to insure your ESA/service animal is thriving and happy, that they may better support you. Our goal is happy animals that people come home to, and positive experiences for clients when they receive our updates and photos. We provide updates during house sits by cell phone text messages or email during the hours of 8am-8pm. We cannot and will not respond to messages outside of these hours.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations received within 48 hours of the scheduled booking will be charged at full price.

Holiday rates may apply on federal holidays. If you would like a full price sheet of each of our services please email us at info@visitingaf.org and we will send you a copy of our price sheet for your records, and knowledge.

Leash aggressive dogs are considered on a case by case basis, please disclose and inquire.

Late Fee Policy: If payment is not received by 3 business days from the confirmation from VAF of your booking, or within 3 business days of an invoice due date, or for dog walks before services are rendered, there will be a $200 late fee. This fee simply covers the cost of running an additional payroll for our staff, and the associated taxes.

**We pay a living wage and include 401k and health care benefits for our employees. If you’re looking for work with VAF please email our general inbox at visitinganimalmedics@gmail.com.

**Clients who work in public education, are interested in becoming Angel Investors for Visiting Animal Friends, or work in labor organizing or other social justice causes or nonprofits, please let us know when we are in the process of creating your invoice.