Caroline Golon, the human behind popular humor blog Romeo the Cat, will share the stories of pet owners who have gone the extra mile for their pets in this series, The Things We Do for Love.

When James Cave and Jemma Porter considered a lifestyle change, they explored different options. Working with Trusted House Sitters, an international house-sitting service, gave them the opportunity to combine two of their biggest passions — travel and pets.

Earlier this year, the couple left their home in Edinburgh, Scotland, to travel the world, looking after people’s homes and pets for free. What do they get in return? Free accommodations in different countries and lots and lots of pets! “For two pet lovers, the opportunity to have animals in our lives whilst traveling is something we wouldn’t have thought possible,” Cave says.

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The Best of Both Worlds

Both Cave and Porter grew up with pets, so spending time with animals during their stays was a big benefit. Before they started traveling, Cave and Porter longed for pets of their own. But long office hours and rental living made it difficult. “We couldn’t look after anything larger than a goldfish!” Cave says.

Now both freelancers, Cave and Porter’s work is conducive to their new lifestyle. In fact, after they began their travels, Cave referred so many people to Trusted House Sitters that he even took them on as a client, helping with their website.

According to Cave, to enjoy this lifestyle, “you’ve got to love pets.” He explains, “Most days we get woken up by either a cat scratching the door or a dog licking our faces. Throughout the day and in everything we do, we have pets climbing up on us, crawling into bed with us and wanting to play — which, of course, we do. We love it.”

New Cities, New Pets

The couple’s assignments take them all over the world to care for all kinds of pets. Their most recent assignment was a one-week gig looking after an alpaca farm. “That is definitely our most unusual,” Cave says.

Cave says most clients are more interested in the pet-sitting service than the house-sitting aspect of the job. “We’ve even had people say to us, ‘Do what you want to the house; just make sure you spend some quality time with our pets!’”

So far, Cave and Porter are enjoying their lifestyle immensely. But one downside is missing the pets they care for when the assignment is over. “It’s hard to say goodbye,” he says. “We recently finished a pet sit looking after three dogs, and we miss them a lot. Thankfully our next house is only an hour up the road in France, so we’ll probably pop back in to visit!”

What do you do for love? We’re looking for the funny, sweet and special stories that will make other pet parents smile. Email us at [email protected] to share your story. Please put “The Things We Do for Love” in the subject line.