Pet parents naturally want the best care possible for their pets, there is a lot of trust in hiring someone to come into your house to take care of your best friends while you are away for a trip.

1. Personality Change

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Is your normally friendly and social dog or cat is showing great distress instead of welcoming you? Is he/she hiding and/or withdrawing? Is there any large holes from digging or destroyed plants? this could be sign of your dog may have been left outside most of the time. 

2. Unexplained Injuries

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Are you pets experience any unexplained injury when you reach home? Signs to look for include a limp, cuts, bleeding, swelling of the limbs or around the face, and a general malaise. Furthermore, if your pet is fearful or hostile toward the sitter, it could mean sign of abuse.

3. Food Portion and Vitamin

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Is the Food portion being dispensed properly? If there are big portion of food not used up, it could be separation anxiety. However, if all the food are gone, there could be a possibility that the pet sitter could have fed it to her own dog, or just thrown it out.

 4. Feeding Area

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Is the water bowl dirty, or worse, completely dried up? Even if the water bowl has run dry from an accident like your pet knocking it over, an attentive sitter should be checking the water level daily at a minimum, and twice a day if the weather is especially hot. Is there any bugs on the food bowl? Has dry food gotten wet and left to putrefy, or canned food gone crusty on the plate? A pet sitter who can’t stay on top of the minimal is someone who should be shown the door.

5. Evidence of 'Accidents'

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Do you see or smell any evidence of “accidents?” Not so obvious indications that your dog was taken out too late can include a scratched up door, suspicious carpet stains, or a lingering odor. On an extended basis, your dog can develop bladder infections from trying to hold his urine for too long, and possibly even behavioral issues regarding his potty practices. If you are a cat owner, does the litter box show signs of neglect? Too infrequent or inadequate cleanings may cause your kitty to seek out other places to relieve himself, or refuse to use his box at all.

6. Lack of Respect for Your Property

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A good Pet Sitter always respect your property, always check your property to see if anything valuable missing, any tampering and the cleaniness of your property. Talk to your neigbour if there is any strangers visisted your home. 

7. Minimum or no communication

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If there is no communication such as photo, video or posting on wall with the cheap data plan now while you are gone and a final update on your return, there maybe a reason for it. The bottomline is that the pet sitter should have performed her routine jobs with update.

What to Do with Bad Pet Sitters

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Making the decision to dismiss your pet sitter can be awkward and difficult, especially if your reason for doing so is nothing more than a sneaking suspicion. Regardless of whether the cause for dismissal is obvious or imagined, your pet’s health and well-being are dependent on your good judgment. Neglecting to take necessary action can have a far-reaching impact on both your psyche (i.e., guilt) and on the happiness and security of your pet.

Now that you know what to look for in a bad sitter you may have to start looking for a new one. You don't want to end up with another bad apple. Read our list of Top 11 Tips on Finding a Qualified and Professional Pet Sitter so that you'll be well-prepared to ask all the right questions.

(Original Article from PetMd with portion of article being excerpted and modified)