Pawshake - Experienced pet care with peace of mindLoving pet sitters who treat your pets like familyAt Pawshake, we connect pet parents with friendly, reliable and vetted pet sitters. So whether you are going away, need someone to drop in to check on your pet while you’re at work or take your dog for a sniff around the block, we’ve got a pet loving sitter for you.Loving home environments - no cages!Your pets will stay in loving home environments and be treated just like family. Pawshake pet sitters are able to cater to your pet’s needs and are also a great alternative to dog boarding kennels or catteries.Get daily updates about your pet and relax knowing that they will get plenty of love and attention while you are away.Convenient, safe and flexible pet careSimply, search for a sitter, arrange a free meet and greet and then confirm your booking online. Payments are held securely by Pawshake until the booking is complete. There are no subscription fees and you only pay for the sitter you choose. Pet parents can also leave a review at the end of each booking to share their experience with other pet parents.The Pawshake Guarantee All bookings are covered by The Pawshake Guarantee which includes veterinary coverage, Happiness Guarantee and in-house customer support.
pawshake.com (pawshake.com) has 6,520 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.
Website
pawshake.com
Category
Pet Services
Location
Portola Valley, California
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
About these reviews
Replies
The company replied to 10% of reviews.
Latest
Most recent review: October 2026.
Edits
Reviews are shown as their authors wrote them. The company can reply, but cannot edit them.
Score
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Gemakkelijk om oppas in de buurt de vinden. Financiële afhandeling.
SL
Stefan L.
Ciano is een bekwame kattenoppas.
Ciano is een bekwame oppas voor onze 2 katjes.
Iedere dag kregen wij foto's, en een kort berichtje, over hoe de dag was verlopen.
Vandaar de volle 5 sterren.
JP
Jochen P.
Perfect verlopen
Perfect verlopen
GB
Gill B.
I am a new starter in the paid pet…
Update 2: So an extremely rude company to deal with too. The point is I am trying to build up a good portfolio, I have put a lot of effort into what I do, how I do it. The problem is only the photos. I have tried several times to add differing ones, hours spent writing about my services, contact by past clients for reviews as I haven’t really been one to ask for feedback, building a Facebook page, but as stated, I am just starting out formally and mostly independent cat sits. If photos are such an important part of being a carer on Pawshake then I really think it is a Pawshake problem. I’m more than willing to put in the effort but can’t get the golden photos that mean so much to Pawshake application criteria overnight…
Update : There we have it, the response shows that there is more focus on having photos of you holding people’s pets that any of verification or qualifications/experience. I’ve 100+ photos of my clients pets, feeding them, stroking them, playing with them but rejected, they want ones of ME in the photo like that is important. So if you are a selfie taker, then you are fine….
I am a new starter in the paid pet sitting world and have spent many hours trying to get set up on Pawshake however keep getting told I have to add more photos of me walking/engaging with pets to be able to pass the profile requirements. I have 5 photos on of me feeding, playing with and caring for clients cats and my dog. I don’t offer dog walking services and have never been asked to walk a cat! It appears then that I have been blocked from offering my vast experience, verified, insured and reviewed service as I just haven’t got the fun photos they think potential clients would need to have to book my services….. So yes, I do think it’s an issue with Pawshake. I still think it’s crazy that there is such an isolated focus on the ‘right’photos - I have many many photos of pet sitting clients, just not the golden ones it seems
Pawshake - It’s a shame that you feel my photos are not sufficient to advertise my pet sitting services.
I am just starting out on this journey professionally and my clients so far have been outdoor independent cats so opportunities for more fun engaging photos have been limited. I am a pet sitter not a photographer and I’m focussed on caring for my pets rather than making a portfolio for my future clients.
I am happy to build my portfolio of photos as I go along, it’s a shame that you feel this is mandatory to even get started
I’ll stick with Rover for the time being as I can’t magic up photos for this purpose but would inform you that any other platform I have looked as do not have such inflexibility on this small part of your profile and let their clients decide on the services offered, reviews, qualifications - not simply how wonderfully engaging the carers photos are - I believe they are a nice to have and might get you more enquiries but should not be a show stopper! Please review your requirements - photos come with bookings but you can’t get booking without a profile
Thanks
Gill
Response from pawshake.comAug 13, 2026
Hi Gill,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback.
We understand that you are disappointed that your profile was not approved immediately, particularly as you are new to offering pet sitting professionally. However, we do want to clarify that the requirements you describe are not intended to assess whether someone is a photographer, nor are they specific to dog walking.
At Pawshake, a sitter's public profile is effectively their business card. It is the first thing an owner sees when deciding whether they feel comfortable entrusting their pet to someone. For that reason, we expect profiles to contain genuine, relevant photos showing the sitter caring for and interacting with pets. This helps owners get a meaningful impression of who they are potentially entrusting their animals to.
We don't apologise for having standards around this. In fact, the requirement is deliberately there to distinguish between people who are genuinely committed to building a professional pet-sitting profile and those who expect to be able to sign up and start offering services with minimal effort. Entrusting someone with your pet is a significant responsibility, and we don't believe creating a trustworthy and informative profile should be treated as a quick, five-minute task.
The fact that you have experience with cats, qualifications, insurance and previous reviews is certainly valuable, but those things don't make the profile requirements unnecessary. They are all different pieces of information that help an owner make an informed decision.
The purpose of the photos is simply to demonstrate that you are comfortable handling and interacting with the types of pets you intend to care for. If your existing photos don't sufficiently demonstrate this, then it shouldn't be too difficult for you to solve with a cameraphone.
We appreciate that you have found another platform whose lower profile requirements better suit what you are looking for. We genuinely wish you all the best with your pet-sitting business there.
However, we won't be changing our application requirements as a result of this review. They are designed to produce high-quality, informative sitter profiles and to ensure that the people joining Pawshake understand that offering pet care through the platform requires a degree of commitment.
Ultimately, the decision to use Pawshake is yours, just as the decision of where to entrust their pets is an owner's. Our role is to maintain the standards we believe are appropriate for the community.
Kind regards,
Pawshake Support
Updated response:
We are also disappointed that you appear to view this as a Pawshake problem rather than a profile-completion issue that is entirely within your control to resolve. Building a professional pet-sitting profile should not be a five-minute exercise, and we make no apology for expecting sitters to invest some time and effort into presenting themselves appropriately to potential clients.
If obtaining a handful of suitable photos is being presented as an insurmountable obstacle, then it is reasonable for us to question whether the level of effort required to build a professional pet-sitting profile aligns with your expectations of running a pet-sitting business.
DH
Dianne H.
Easy site to navigate.
Easy site to navigate.
AS
Anette S.
Bra koncept, fungerade klockrent för oss.
Det känns tryggt att de som tar hand om dina husdjur måste identifiera sig när de registrerar sig. Det är många som erbjuder olika tjänster. Vår hund trivdes inte med pensionat utan behövde mer "hemmamiljö" för en veckolång vistelse. Vi hittade en fantastisk tjej som passade honom i sitt hem. Det var relativt enkelt med all kommunikation och bra vägledning via Pawshake samt att djuren är försäkrade.
MA
Maria
I have been a pet sitter with Pawshake…
I have been a pet sitter with Pawshake in Canada since 2020. I find the app easy to use and very helpful. I have one suggestion for improvement. When a sitter is in "away mode", the explanation makes it sound like the person is no longer a sitter. I have had clients call me in a panic thinking I was no longer available. It should be clear that it is a temporary status and not a permanent one.
SA
Sanna
Kaikki toimi sinänsä hyvin ja mahtavaa
Kaikki toimi sinänsä hyvin ja mahtavaa, kun tällaista toimintaa on, mutta ehkä hieman sekava sivusto.
