Taking care of a dog is no easy feat, especially when it belongs to a stranger and it has very serious health problems. Imgur user Ladykryptonitex shared a story about how she rejected an offer to dogsit a dog named Junie, who has diabetes, because her owner was incredibly demanding… and the pay wasn’t stellar, either.
The owner had an entire list of demands, ranging from the fact that the dog sitter would have to spend 90% of their time with the doggo to the suggestion that the dog sitter would have to pay for any emergencies out of their own pocket. Oh, did I mention the cameras? Yup, the owner has cameras installed in her home to keep an eye on things.
Have a read through Ladykryptonitex and the dog owner’s full message chat below and let us know what you think of the entire situation in the comments. Would you have refused the work offer for just 110 dollars for the entire week? Do you think the owner is far too demanding? Share your thoughts with all the other Pandas!
Meanwhile, scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview about dog health and fitness with the PDSA, the UK’s leading vet charity. While we can’t be 100% certain why some dogs develop diabetes while others don’t, genetics and being overweight both play a role in increasing your pet’s risk of getting the disease.
A part-time dog sitter shared a message exchange between them and a very demanding dog owner
Image credits: SmokeAbeer (not the actual photo)
The cheap dog owner wanted the very best care for her pooch, however, she wasn’t prepared to pay much for it
The dog owner became passive-aggressive when the sitter rejected her
The Imgurian’s post got over 97.8k views and over 2.3k upvotes. Most of the commenters agreed that the dog owner was completely out of line: she was far too demanding for the price tag that she set. Don’t get us wrong, diabetic dogs definitely need to get the love, care, and attention that they need. However, this care doesn’t come cheap. And if you want the best for your pet, you need to be willing to pay for the best.
According to Vetsulin, diabetes occurs in dogs when their bodies make too little insulin, stop making it altogether, or have an abnormal response to insulin. Glucose builds up in the bloodstream, instead of entering cells, and leads to hyperglycemia. As a result, the dog’s body has less energy to function than normal and leads to weight loss, a ravenous appetite, urination far more often, and increased thirst. Diabetes affects roughly 1 in 300 dogs. It’s more common among older pets.
PDSA Vet Anna Ewers Clark enlightened Bored Panda about keeping our best pals healthy, specifically, with regards to dog diet and fitness. She told Bored Panda that diet and exercise are “both really important” when it comes to keeping our canine buddies healthy.
“It’s essential to get the right balance between the two to help keep your dog at the ideal weight and shape. As a general rule if your dog eats less they will lose weight and if they exercise more they will burn fat and gain muscle—just like people! There are also lots of other benefits of an ideal diet and the right exercise routine, for example, improving your dog’s heart health and reducing the risk of certain medical problems,” she said.
According to PSDA Vet Anna, your dog will need daily exercise to be a healthy and happy pooch. “This includes their walks and also games like fetch or playing with toys. You might want to consider getting fit together by going running or taking up a dog sport such as agility—just remember to start out slowly so you can both build up your stamina,” she explained to Bored Panda.
Meanwhile, you can’t forget about a proper diet. “In terms of food, we recommend feeding the right amount of a high-quality complete, manufactured diet suitable for your dog’s breed, size, health, and lifestyle. There are plenty of these available and they come in lots of different forms—just check the packaging so you know they’re complete, meaning they contain all the nutrients your dog needs,” Anna said.
“The number of calories (or amount of food) your dog needs each day will depend on their daily exercise routines—as a general rule, the more active your dog is, the more calories they will burn each day so the more food they will need. This means if your dog starts doing less exercise, you’ll need to cut down their food,” the vet noted about the importance of keeping everything balanced for the sake of your pet’s long-term health.
Here’s how some internet users react to the entire story. Most were on the dog sitter’s side
People thought it was entirely unfair to make the sitter shoulder so much responsibility for so little pay
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I have a diabetic dog. He is a ton of responsibility. He gets sick at the drop of a hat and often without warning. He is susceptible to everything under the sun. He requires constant monitoring of not only his glucose levels, but water intake, food intake, how much and often he pees and poops. He is actually at the vet right now for an emergency appointment because he has stopped eating. Never would I ever put this responsibility on anyone else. My life revolves around him. If he can't come with me somewhere, I don't go (meaning overnight trips). I love him to pieces and would never be able to leave him with someone I don't know.
Also worth mentioning...his emergency appointment today will most likely cost between $500-$700...I know this because it isn't his first one. How do you put that kind of expense on a dog sitter?!?!?
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Had a nerve not to inform her that dog is diabetic. It should come before everything. And yes... all expenses for emergencies of DIABETIC DOG falling onto hired girl? delirium
Our vet has our credit card number in their files. If we're out of town and there's a vet emergency, WE take care of any expenses. The sitters know where the carrier is and have the address and phone number of the vet.
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I house sat and watched 2 dogs for a family member for 10 days and was given 600 bucks. Thier house/ dog sitter cancelled last minute. They offered me 800. This woman is insane and out of touch with reality.
We had a diabetic cat for a long time. When we were traveling, we had to book two visits a day for him to be fed and get his insulin. We paid $20.00 per VISIT. That's 40 bucks a day to look after the diabetic and the other cat who had no problems. We considered ourselves lucky to find anyone who was willing to do that.
Ours was also around $20 per half hour visit. That included giving one cat a pill each time, feeding them in separate rooms and play time if possible. She didn't really have to worry about the litter box, my mom came by at night to do that and give them a snack and company. I thought that was reasonable as she was fully licensed.
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For 24 hour service she should have her dog stay at kennel for the week. Most have it so you can watch the pet on video at any time and have someone on staff 24 hours. It is expensive but that is how life goes.
Exactly, she'd have to pay for the vet treatments. Oh and a fair price for care. She loves her dog so much, but she won't pay for her.
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Huh. I pay my sitter $30 per day to keep my dogs in her home when I am out of town and I provide all of the food. She works from home and has a fenced in yard so walking isn't even a requirement. I think I am getting by dirt cheap with her rate and even offered more. I could not imagine a scenario where I cheap out on my little guys' care. When I plan for vacation, their care is part of the expenses that I plan for.
As a dog sitter, THANK YOU. You're one of the good ones. And believe me we complain to our friends about the bad ones.
Load More Replies... When I was first reading it, I thought $110 meant $110 PER DAY, and I still thought her ask of being there 90% of the time was unreasonable. I pay $50/day for drop ins. Plus she's administering meds - subcutaneous fluids, not just a pill. Then expecting her to pay for any vet emergencies! Nope. Her dog has a chronic condition. The dog will be stressed with the owner gone, no matter how good of a sitter she has. One vet appointment and the sitter is massively in the hole. Who on earth would take this job? The dog owner's attitude, aside from her insane requests, would've had me noping out of that, too. It's been my experience that people like that will find any excuse they can to not pay you.
You want full time care for your dog, you need to be prepared to pay fulltime prices. If this is 7 days, its less than $16 a day. That's not even market for drop-by feeding and walking. Expecting a dog-sitter to pay for emergencies - especially for a diabetic pet - is ludicrous.
"You don't want my services? That's good because I don't want this work."
Wow. I have an amazing cat sitter. I also have a note on file that I will cover any vet expenses occured while I'm away and I let the vet know when I'm away. A good sitter is worth their weight in gold, not 50 cents an hour!
I dog sat a relatives elderly, blind, diabetic dog for a long weekend for free and never had this much bullshit put on me (both the relative and the elderly dog are anxious types). Hell, I even got a gift from her 3 day holiday!
Yeah, nope. This person would get the F you and the horse you rode in on response. The poor dog.
I did in home pet care and unfortunately this is not unusual. This sitter handled it better than I might have
I had an owner that wanted me to take care of their dog for free because I was going to get to spend the week living in their really nice house
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$110 PER DAY, you pay all medical. All I would pay is the cost to put your dog down if something happened on my watch. Doggo's health cost is on the owner at all times.
This is a joke right? Please tell me it's a joke! It cannot be real! This kind of people can't even exist and especially having pets ffs!!!!
Hi... I have 11 birds ranging from a love bird to 3 macaws. One hates men, one is chill and one hates everyone and everything. We also have two doggos, a leopard Gecko, a Beardie and a snake. You are to come LIVE at my house while we're out of town, play with all the birds (you will get bit get over it) feed my snake a live mouse and the gecko and beardie crickets that you will also have to buy. You will also clean my house and text me when you go to the store and back for crickets and a mouse and we will pay you with free wifi and a comfy couch... .Oh and you have to furnish your own food? any takers? (obviously sarcasm but that's what this crazy lady sounds like) I hope you reported her. Good God. Also, only one of my macaws will bite you she hates everyone, and thats whey when we get sitters we tell them do NOT take her out. lol. Good lord.
I’m with Jenn in that my moms former cat was diabetic and she was very tied at home. If your trusting someone with the responsibility of a diabetic animal expect to pay for the extra care and monitoring unless someone offers it for less or free. Like family maybe, but this lady is just a snobby poor personality brat.
She needs to hire a professional dg carer for that. Like with real qualifications. Her trip may have been even an emergency but unfortunately this is the responsibility we take on when we get a pet :( also her bad attitude didn't help.
We pay $100/day to our dog sitter, plus we go for groceries together before we leave to make sure the dogsitter has everything they’d like in the house while they are there. This woman paying $110 for a dog with medical concerns for that length of time is out of her (completely entitled) mind. I feel bad for her dog, tbh.
Dear Junie's Owner: You are not the Queen. Even QE2 pays her staff more than that to watch her dogs! Get a clue, Entitled person for No Reason!
Why do they both sound like its the same person text themselves? They way they're ESOL, "Yes I will do this. I agree to this" "Yes that is true" Forget texting, who talks like that? All these short sentences. One contraction in the enitire convo, and all the way at the end, when the author was getting tired of typing and was ready to fiiniish the fake story
What's the betting that the entitled dog owner couldn't find anyone, went on holiday without the dog anyway, and the dog died.
You wonder if her "trip out of town" is actually her trying to find someone idiotic enough to accept her offer because she knows the dog needs medical attention but she can't afford it. Better to refuse to pay a sitter or reimburse them because her precious baby got predictably sick.
If she were offering $110 a day, and $330 for Memorial Day (triple pay for a holiday), I may be able to recommend my 12-year-old nephew, but with no “out-of-pocket” emergency care expenses—that right there is a “WTF? NO!”
I have a diabetic dog. He is a ton of responsibility. He gets sick at the drop of a hat and often without warning. He is susceptible to everything under the sun. He requires constant monitoring of not only his glucose levels, but water intake, food intake, how much and often he pees and poops. He is actually at the vet right now for an emergency appointment because he has stopped eating. Never would I ever put this responsibility on anyone else. My life revolves around him. If he can't come with me somewhere, I don't go (meaning overnight trips). I love him to pieces and would never be able to leave him with someone I don't know.
Also worth mentioning...his emergency appointment today will most likely cost between $500-$700...I know this because it isn't his first one. How do you put that kind of expense on a dog sitter?!?!?
Load More Replies... Had a nerve not to inform her that dog is diabetic. It should come before everything. And yes... all expenses for emergencies of DIABETIC DOG falling onto hired girl? delirium
Our vet has our credit card number in their files. If we're out of town and there's a vet emergency, WE take care of any expenses. The sitters know where the carrier is and have the address and phone number of the vet.
Load More Replies... I house sat and watched 2 dogs for a family member for 10 days and was given 600 bucks. Thier house/ dog sitter cancelled last minute. They offered me 800. This woman is insane and out of touch with reality.
We had a diabetic cat for a long time. When we were traveling, we had to book two visits a day for him to be fed and get his insulin. We paid $20.00 per VISIT. That's 40 bucks a day to look after the diabetic and the other cat who had no problems. We considered ourselves lucky to find anyone who was willing to do that.
Ours was also around $20 per half hour visit. That included giving one cat a pill each time, feeding them in separate rooms and play time if possible. She didn't really have to worry about the litter box, my mom came by at night to do that and give them a snack and company. I thought that was reasonable as she was fully licensed.
Load More Replies... For 24 hour service she should have her dog stay at kennel for the week. Most have it so you can watch the pet on video at any time and have someone on staff 24 hours. It is expensive but that is how life goes.
Exactly, she'd have to pay for the vet treatments. Oh and a fair price for care. She loves her dog so much, but she won't pay for her.
Load More Replies... Huh. I pay my sitter $30 per day to keep my dogs in her home when I am out of town and I provide all of the food. She works from home and has a fenced in yard so walking isn't even a requirement. I think I am getting by dirt cheap with her rate and even offered more. I could not imagine a scenario where I cheap out on my little guys' care. When I plan for vacation, their care is part of the expenses that I plan for.
As a dog sitter, THANK YOU. You're one of the good ones. And believe me we complain to our friends about the bad ones.
Load More Replies... When I was first reading it, I thought $110 meant $110 PER DAY, and I still thought her ask of being there 90% of the time was unreasonable. I pay $50/day for drop ins. Plus she's administering meds - subcutaneous fluids, not just a pill. Then expecting her to pay for any vet emergencies! Nope. Her dog has a chronic condition. The dog will be stressed with the owner gone, no matter how good of a sitter she has. One vet appointment and the sitter is massively in the hole. Who on earth would take this job? The dog owner's attitude, aside from her insane requests, would've had me noping out of that, too. It's been my experience that people like that will find any excuse they can to not pay you.
You want full time care for your dog, you need to be prepared to pay fulltime prices. If this is 7 days, its less than $16 a day. That's not even market for drop-by feeding and walking. Expecting a dog-sitter to pay for emergencies - especially for a diabetic pet - is ludicrous.
"You don't want my services? That's good because I don't want this work."
Wow. I have an amazing cat sitter. I also have a note on file that I will cover any vet expenses occured while I'm away and I let the vet know when I'm away. A good sitter is worth their weight in gold, not 50 cents an hour!
I dog sat a relatives elderly, blind, diabetic dog for a long weekend for free and never had this much bullshit put on me (both the relative and the elderly dog are anxious types). Hell, I even got a gift from her 3 day holiday!
Yeah, nope. This person would get the F you and the horse you rode in on response. The poor dog.
I did in home pet care and unfortunately this is not unusual. This sitter handled it better than I might have
I had an owner that wanted me to take care of their dog for free because I was going to get to spend the week living in their really nice house
Load More Replies... $110 PER DAY, you pay all medical. All I would pay is the cost to put your dog down if something happened on my watch. Doggo's health cost is on the owner at all times.
This is a joke right? Please tell me it's a joke! It cannot be real! This kind of people can't even exist and especially having pets ffs!!!!
Hi... I have 11 birds ranging from a love bird to 3 macaws. One hates men, one is chill and one hates everyone and everything. We also have two doggos, a leopard Gecko, a Beardie and a snake. You are to come LIVE at my house while we're out of town, play with all the birds (you will get bit get over it) feed my snake a live mouse and the gecko and beardie crickets that you will also have to buy. You will also clean my house and text me when you go to the store and back for crickets and a mouse and we will pay you with free wifi and a comfy couch... .Oh and you have to furnish your own food? any takers? (obviously sarcasm but that's what this crazy lady sounds like) I hope you reported her. Good God. Also, only one of my macaws will bite you she hates everyone, and thats whey when we get sitters we tell them do NOT take her out. lol. Good lord.
I’m with Jenn in that my moms former cat was diabetic and she was very tied at home. If your trusting someone with the responsibility of a diabetic animal expect to pay for the extra care and monitoring unless someone offers it for less or free. Like family maybe, but this lady is just a snobby poor personality brat.
She needs to hire a professional dg carer for that. Like with real qualifications. Her trip may have been even an emergency but unfortunately this is the responsibility we take on when we get a pet :( also her bad attitude didn't help.
We pay $100/day to our dog sitter, plus we go for groceries together before we leave to make sure the dogsitter has everything they’d like in the house while they are there. This woman paying $110 for a dog with medical concerns for that length of time is out of her (completely entitled) mind. I feel bad for her dog, tbh.
Dear Junie's Owner: You are not the Queen. Even QE2 pays her staff more than that to watch her dogs! Get a clue, Entitled person for No Reason!
Why do they both sound like its the same person text themselves? They way they're ESOL, "Yes I will do this. I agree to this" "Yes that is true" Forget texting, who talks like that? All these short sentences. One contraction in the enitire convo, and all the way at the end, when the author was getting tired of typing and was ready to fiiniish the fake story
What's the betting that the entitled dog owner couldn't find anyone, went on holiday without the dog anyway, and the dog died.
You wonder if her "trip out of town" is actually her trying to find someone idiotic enough to accept her offer because she knows the dog needs medical attention but she can't afford it. Better to refuse to pay a sitter or reimburse them because her precious baby got predictably sick.
If she were offering $110 a day, and $330 for Memorial Day (triple pay for a holiday), I may be able to recommend my 12-year-old nephew, but with no “out-of-pocket” emergency care expenses—that right there is a “WTF? NO!”
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