Rover.com | Pet SittingReviews of rover.com

The merge from catintheflat has been disastrous. As a cat sitter, my current booking was deleted meaning I could not contact the owner in the middle of a booking! Additionally, my whole account was wiped meaning 7 years of reviews and clients have been removed! I tried to contact both rover and catinaflat but both just sent me in endless circles of AI chat bots. Looking through Rover, it seems to imply I’m a dog sitter who will also do cat sitting which is 100% not the case. I want nothing to do with dogs. Rover merge has completely ruined this for me and I will now be going private, a shame as catinaflat was an easy and secure way to advertise.

I have regular clients on Cat in a Flat that I have catsit for for years, and the recent merger with Rover is *atrocious.* Didn't keep my settings the way I had them, my profile was reverted to a much older version, my profile was updated to say I took dogs (no), the website is completely unnavigable from the cat sitter's side. My clients are also now being charged more than I had my rates set even though I corrected it on the new platform. Now we are paid after the job is over, apparently, so if I need to take the bus to a client's house I now need to wait for that reimbursement in the form of payment for the booking even later and pay it out of pocket... I am so incredibly pissed off and upset that we are are dealing with this on both sides. I use Cat in a Flat for my own cat too and think I will look elsewhere the next time I need to book.

Terrible merger for cat in a flat sitters! Unfortunately, this merge has been terrible for cat sitters. As someone who used to enjoy cat sitting (mainly as a part time hobby) I built up some lovely connections on Cat in a Flat. The system was intuitive and I enjoyed many repeat bookings. Despite the 19% booking fee for sitters, I didn't mind as I felt that it was worth it for the security and ease of booking. After the merger I was prepared to use Rover, but after setting up my account I was appalled by the following: 15% fee's for both owners and sitters (so greedy!) Charging for multiple cats (ridiculous!) Banning users from contacting clients outside of the clunky app. Meaning owners would have to log into the app multiple times to see updates. Tracking visits and having a "report card" Most trustworthy sitters are used to sending pictures throughout the day and these can be time stamped with a smart phone (so no need for this). Asking owners to pay upfront but I have heard anecdotal instances of sitters fee's being withheld due to app glitches. I have decided not to use this app as a cat sitter and I will be looking elsewhere.

Rover is an app designed to help dog owners. It does this job fairly well, even if the app interface is pretty clunky. Rover recently decided to buy out cat based competitor CatInAFlat however and it’s been a disaster. On paper the move sounds good, bring both services under one umbrella, have more pets covered. The problem is the people in charge seem to not realise cats and dogs are different animals with very different needs. Cat owners now face increased charges per visit because Rover doesn’t have the option to offer two separate pricing schemes for 1 visit or 2 visit per day for cat. Meanwhile skittish cats are now FORCED to spend additional time with the sitter they may not want. Have a nervous cat who just wants to be fed and left alone? Doesn’t matter. Under Rover’s terms your pet sitter is forced to clock in via photo confirmation and stay in your home for a minimum of half an hour, even if your pet doesn’t want it, in order to get paid. I’d like to think this was just poorly thought out. But more likely it was just a way for Blackstone backed Rover to kill off a more enterprising innovative competitor. If you are looking for cat services, look elsewhere.

I had to join Rover against my will, because Cat in a Flat which was a brilliant app, was bought out by them. Rover is a terrible app for cat sitters. The app itself is not user friendly, some of the links are broken. Some of the terminology on my profile refers to dogs, despite me not offering any dog services. I appear 13th on search results when typing my exact postcode so people 2.5 miles away are coming up before me. The brilliant notice board feature that was on cat in a flat doesn't exist on Rover. This feature allowed everyone a chance to "apply." This app is not fit for cat sitters. Intrusive location timing and tracking, very time specific bookings would not practically work for my clients or for me as a sitter. No discounted rate for two visits. If I set my rate at £10, rover take £1.50 off me and then £2 off the customer too so the customer has to pay £12 for one visit. My customers cannot afford £24 a day, sorry. Communication only through the app again would not work for my clients who were happy with communicating directly with me on WhatsApp. It's quite clear that Rover only care about making as much money as they can, ripping off people. I've also heard that they don't check whether people are licenced for animal boarding. This is highly irresponsible and shows a lack of care.

I want to raise serious concerns about how the transition from Cat in a Flat to Rover has been handled, as it has had a significant negative impact on my work. I’ve been a dedicated cat sitter on Cat in a Flat for over seven years, building up a strong reputation, a large number of positive reviews, and a base of loyal repeat clients. Since the move to Rover, that history has not carried over in any meaningful way. My visibility has dropped, my past reviews are no longer reflected properly, and the position I once held as a top sitter in my area has disappeared. What’s most frustrating is how abruptly this was implemented. Despite Rover owning Cat in a Flat for some time, there was no gradual transition or proper preparation for sitters. Instead, everything changed almost overnight, leaving both sitters and clients trying to make sense of a platform that feels poorly adapted for cat sitting. There are also serious issues with pricing transparency. Clients who have tried to rebook me have seen rates that are far higher than what I actually charge. I have never set my prices at those levels. Additionally, even though I have clearly specified that I do not charge extra for additional cats, Rover is automatically adding fees for multiple cats anyway. This is misleading for clients and makes it look as though I am inflating my prices, which is damaging to trust. The platform itself feels unreliable, and the lack of proper support only makes things worse. The support chat appears to be little more than automated responses that don’t address the issue at hand. It’s difficult to get meaningful help, and problems remain unresolved. There is also an imbalance in how sitters are being recognised. Rover’s existing “Star Sitter” system favours those who have been on Rover longer, while experienced sitters coming from Cat in a Flat are not given equivalent standing. This is despite many of us having years of experience, extensive reviews, and a high number of repeat bookings. That history seems to have been disregarded entirely. Overall, the situation gives the impression that the focus has been on scaling the platform rather than maintaining the quality and trust that Cat in a Flat was known for—particularly when it comes to cat-specific care. For clients, I would strongly suggest reaching out directly to any sitter you previously worked with on Cat in a Flat and arranging bookings privately where possible. At present, the platform is inconsistent, pricing is not transparent, and the protections offered may not be as reliable as they seem—especially where pre-existing conditions are concerned. Cat in a Flat used to be a platform that worked well for both sitters and owners. Unfortunately, this transition has undermined much of what made it effective, and the people who built its reputation are now left dealing with the consequences. EDIT: Currently looking for a sitter myself from Friday to Sunday and Rover quotes £193 for 3 cats x 4 visits! This is ludicrous!

I was a sitter on Cat in a Flat and as others have said, since the merger with Rover, there have been lots of issues. My main issue is that I have bookings approaching, and I need to contact the owners to arrange a Meet & Greet and get my instructions. Unfortunately, I’ve sent everyone a message on Rover and not a single one of my owners has received a notification that I’ve messaged them. For bookings from new owners, I don’t have any contact details to contact them any other way, so what am I supposed to do? I also have a few owners whose numbers I don’t have because I updated them through Cat in a Flat. If this issue doesn’t get fixed I’m going to have to turn up at their houses to let them know I’ve been trying to message them to arrange a key pick-up; how embarrassing and unprofessional. Rover support just keep saying that owners will see my message when they log in, but they’re not going to log unless they know there’s a message! If Rover communicated the change to owners, at least it would prompt them to log in. Otherwise they might only log in when it gets very close to their booking and they realise that they’ve not had their M&G or given a key to anyone. As others have said, Rover is set up for dog care services. The needs of dogs and cats are very different, and Rover doesn’t have the functionality to accommodate the needs of cats, so there are various issues related to that. The fees owners are expected to pay vs the small flat fee on Cat in a Flat is also off putting. But my main concern right now is that I have bookings coming up, my only way to contact owners is through Rover/Cat in a Flat, and my messages aren’t triggering a notification to my customers. I’m just getting repeated upbeat, AI replies telling me not to worry. I don’t know what’s wrong with them, honestly. We have very different standards. Unlike Rover, I am worried about my customers but I don’t know what else I can do other than leave this review and hope it prompts them to take some action to fix this quite serious issue ASAP.

No regard for user experience during cat in a flat takeover. Issues: - clients had to reconfirm bookings and pay IMMEDIATELY to secure - increased pricing of existing CIAF bookings 🐽 - sitters not paid until after booking (used to be during) despite payment being take from owner MONTHS in advance - fee now taken from owner as well as sitter - prohibits phone number exchange - concerning in case of emergency or app issues - glitchy app - no longer a bookings tabs - ‘also sits cats’ on profile like cats are an afterthought - awarded me star sitter status then took it away almost immediately 😂 Greed over regard for cat owners and cat sitters. Taking my sits privately now - Rover - you won’t get a penny of mine or my cat owners money. Edit: in response to Rover’s response - CIAF payments were paid 5 business days after booking started. Rover pays after the bookings ends which in theory could be weeks for long bookings. With the secure telephone numbers, these presumably would not work if no data or if the app was down. It’s blatantly to avoid any out of app bookings which I understand but cats wellbeing is the most important thing and thus proper telephone numbers should be allowed to be exchanged. Avoidance of out of app bookings is clearly more important to Rover than an owner being contactable at all times if there’s an emergency.