The short answer: pet sitting in Canada prices as a ladder. A 30-minute drop-in visit runs $20 to $30, a cat sitting visit $20 to $28, an overnight in the client's home $40 to $70, and a week of overnights about $280 to $490. Toronto and Vancouver sit at the top of each range. Here's the 2026 picture, with a separate section on cat sitting, and how to turn it into your rate.
Pet sitting rates across Canada (2026)
Rates step up with how much of your day, and your night, the job takes:
| Service | Typical range | City averages |
|---|---|---|
| 30-min drop-in visit (dog) | $20–$30 | $24 (Vancouver), $25 (Toronto) |
| Cat sitting, per 30-min visit | $20–$28 | $21 (Calgary, Montréal) to $25 (Toronto) |
| Overnight pet sit, client's home | $40–$70 | $50 (most cities), $56 (Vancouver), $60 (Toronto) |
| Dog boarding in your home, per night | $32–$61 | $40 (Montréal) to $50 (Vancouver) |
| Week-long pet sit (7 overnights) | $280–$490 | $350 (most cities), $422 (Toronto) |
Ranges from Rover Canada's city price guides for dog sitting, cat sitting, dog boarding and pet house sitting (for example Toronto house sitting and Vancouver dog sitting), checked September 29, 2026. Rover dates its Toronto data September 2025 and the other cities' data May and June 2026. Prices are what sitters list on Rover, before GST/HST and Rover's owner service fee; the sitter's payout is lower after Rover's sitter fee.
What should you charge?
Two picks and a slider — your range, your projected income.
That's the plan — Biller is how it actually lands in your account.
Go independent — keep your full rateEstimates from this guide's market ranges — your market decides the rest.
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Start free — no credit cardCat sitting rates in Canada
Cat sitting is mostly drop-in work. Healthy adult cats do well with one or two visits a day to feed, scoop the litter, refresh water and play, so you're paid per visit rather than per night. Kittens, seniors, cats on medication and very social cats are the exception: they're the clients who need an overnight sitter. Here's what cat sitters list on Rover in five cities:
| City | Drop-in visit | Average visit | Overnight in the owner's home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | $20–$27 | $25 | $42–$70 |
| Vancouver | $20–$28 | $23 | $40–$70 |
| Ottawa | $20–$25 | $23 | $45–$65 |
| Calgary | $20–$25 | $21 | $40–$60 |
| Montréal | $20–$25 | $21 | $40–$60 |
From Rover Canada's cat sitting price guides for Toronto (data dated September 2025), Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Montréal (June 2026), checked September 29, 2026.
- Extra cats add about $7 to $9 a visit, or about $16 to $20 a night on an overnight sit.
- Longer visits. A 60-minute visit adds about $12 to $14.
- Holidays. Holiday cat visits averaged $26 to $30 and holiday overnights $54 to $70 in the same guides.
- Two visits a day is two visits at your normal rate. Don't discount the second one; it's the same drive.
When a client asks what a cat sitter costs, quote per visit, say how many visits a day you recommend for their cat, and give the total for the trip. That's the number they're comparing.
What moves the price
- A second dog adds about $12 to $15 a visit on a drop-in, and about $27 to $34 a night on an overnight sit, according to Rover's Canadian guides. More work, but not double.
- Puppies, seniors and medication. Rover's Toronto guide shows puppy drop-ins at about $28 against $25, and puppy overnights at about $67 against $60. Injections, timed medication and pets who can't be left alone cost more; name the surcharge on the invoice.
- Holidays. Rover's holiday averages run about 15 to 25 percent above normal: in Toronto, about $30 for a drop-in and $71 for an overnight. If your holiday calendar fills months ahead at regular rates, you've underpriced it.
- Platform or independent? Rover takes a service fee from each booking: 20% as standard, or a tiered 30%, 15% and 10% in its pilot cities. It's a fine place to find your first clients and an expensive place to keep your best ones. See Rover's fees in Canada and what sitters keep.
Dog overnights, boarding and house sitting
Overnight dog sitting and boarding dogs in your own home have their own city-by-city numbers, multi-dog and puppy rates, and bylaw limits on how many dogs you can board. They're in our dog sitting and boarding rates guide.
If clients ask you to mind the house too, or you're offering home-watch visits to snowbirds with no pets involved, see the house sitting rates guide. It also explains how paid house sitting differs from free-stay exchanges.
Setting your own rate
The table tells you what's plausible. Your floor tells you what's sustainable, and the floor most sitters get wrong is the overnight:
- Price the overnight for what it takes. An overnight is not one hour of work. It's roughly 12 hours on site, an evening routine, a morning routine, and the fact that you can't be anywhere else. At $40 a night you're earning a few dollars an hour of committed time. Anchor in the upper half of your city's range once you have reviews.
- Count travel between drop-ins. Four visits across town can eat half your day for two billable hours. Cluster your route by neighbourhood, or price far-flung visits higher.
- Protect your holiday dates. Holiday bookings are dates you can't resell at the last minute. Many sitters ask for part of the fee up front on holiday bookings, or use a stricter cancellation window for them.
- Write your policies once. Cancellation terms, vet emergencies, keys and duties. Our free pet sitting contract template covers these, so you never negotiate them live.
Then position inside the range: insured, experienced with medication, sending photo updates on schedule, with a professional booking-and-invoice flow. That sitter credibly charges in the top third of every row above.
Are you undercharging?
Five quick questions. Be honest — nobody's watching.
Are you booked solid more than two weeks out?
A full calendar is the market telling you your price is too low.
Have you raised your rates in the last 12 months?
Costs went up this year. If your rate didn't, you took a pay cut.
When you quote a price, does anyone ever say no?
If nobody ever pushes back, you're leaving room on the table.
Do you charge for travel time — or build it into your price?
Unpaid driving between sits quietly eats your real hourly rate.
Do you drop your price whenever someone asks for a deal?
Discounting on request trains clients to always ask.
Priced about right
You're showing the classic signs of healthy pricing — price pushback now and then, regular raises, travel accounted for. Your next win isn't the rate, it's the time you lose to admin between sits.
You're leaving money on the table
A couple of undercharging signals showed up. The fix is usually one honest raise for new clients — $5 more per sit on a full week is thousands a year you're currently donating.
You're seriously undercharging
Almost every signal fired. Booked solid, never raising, never hearing no — that's not luck, that's a price well below what your market would pay. Raise your rate for every new client starting this week; your regulars can follow later.
Going independent from the platforms? Here's your storefront.
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Not ready? Try the free invoice generatorPet sitting insurance in Canada
You're responsible for someone else's animal and, often, their home and keys. Pet sitting insurance in Canada usually combines general liability (if you damage a client's property or someone is hurt) with animal bailee coverage (if a pet is injured, lost or falls ill in your care). Your home or tenant policy may not cover business activity, especially boarding in your own home, so ask before you rely on it. Ratehub says general liability for a small pet-service business typically starts around $300 a year. Get quotes for your own situation, and mention your coverage when you quote: clients ask.
When GST/HST starts to apply
Pet sitting is a taxable service in Canada, but you don't charge GST/HST until your revenue crosses $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, the CRA's small-supplier threshold. It's closer than it sounds: a busy calendar of overnights plus a daily round of drop-ins can cross it within a year, and holiday premiums speed it up. Once you're over, you register, add tax to every invoice and remit it. The full rules are in our plain-English GST/HST guide.
The threshold sneaks up on sitters because bookings arrive as a stream of e-Transfers nobody adds up until tax time. Keep a running total of what you've been paid, and check it every quarter.
Rates compiled September 2026 from Rover Canada's city price guides for dog sitting, cat sitting, dog boarding and pet house sitting. Rover's sitter fee from Rover's Canadian help centre, checked September 29, 2026.
Common questions
How much should I charge for a 30-minute drop-in pet visit?
Most Canadian sitters charge $20 to $30 for a 30-minute drop-in in 2026, based on Rover's city price guides, with averages of about $24 to $25 in Toronto and Vancouver. That covers feeding, litter or a quick yard break, fresh water and a photo update. If a client wants two visits a day, price each visit.
How much does cat sitting cost per day?
Cat sitting is usually one or two drop-in visits a day at $20 to $28 each. Rover's averages run from about $21 a visit in Calgary and Montréal to $23 in Ottawa and Vancouver and $25 in Toronto. An overnight cat sit in the owner's home runs about $40 to $70 a night.
How much should I pay a cat sitter?
Expect to pay about $20 to $28 per 30-minute visit, plus about $7 to $9 a visit for each extra cat, and more on holidays. For kittens, seniors, or cats that need medication or company overnight, a sitter staying in your home runs about $40 to $70 a night.
What should I charge for an overnight pet sit?
Overnights in the client's home run about $40 to $70 a night in Canadian cities. Rover's averages are about $50 a night in most cities, $56 in Vancouver and $60 in Toronto. You're on site all night plus the morning and evening routines, so price it as your premium service, not as one long drop-in.
How much should I charge for a week of pet sitting?
A week of overnight pet sitting runs about $280 to $490 in Toronto on Rover, and averages about $350 in most other large Canadian cities. A small discount (5 to 10 percent) for long bookings is fine; deeper discounts give away your busiest dates.
Should I charge more for boarding in my home or sitting in theirs?
Sitting in the client's home usually charges more, because it takes over your whole night. Boarding a dog in your own home runs about $32 to $61 a night, against $40 to $70 for an overnight in the client's home, but boarding lets you host more than one dog at a time.
Do pet sitters need insurance in Canada?
It isn't legally required everywhere, but most professional sitters carry general liability insurance plus animal bailee coverage for pets in their care. Ratehub says general liability for a small pet-service business typically starts around $300 a year. Many clients ask about it before they book.
Do I need to charge GST/HST on pet sitting?
Not until your business revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, the CRA small-supplier threshold. After that you register, add GST/HST to every invoice and remit it.