Can I Export My Clients If I Leave Pet Sitting Software?

Yes, you can usually export your clients and pets from pet sitting software as CSV files. That is the contact list, not the whole business. By the end of this post you will have a three-layer check and an exit checklist that tell you whether you really have everything before you cancel.

A client export is not a business export

The common pattern across pet care tools is one CSV per list. Time To Pet has an "Export Client Data" button and a separate "Export Pet Data" button. Collar has an Export Data icon in its toolbar that downloads a CSV of pet profile records. Revelation Pets lets you export all customer and pet data as one CSV that opens in Excel.

Those pages describe client and pet records. They do not say that visit history, invoices or photos come out in the same step. So "can I export my clients?" is usually yes. "Can I export everything?" is the question to put to the vendor before you cancel.

Sort your data into three layers

Before you click anything, list what you would miss on day one in a new tool. Then sort it.

The rule: cancel only when layers 1 and 2 are fully exported and you have decided what to do about layer 3. Layers 1 and 2 are what you have to re-enter by hand if they are missing. Layer 3 is the part most owners forget, and it is the part a client or your accountant asks about months later.

Run every export your tool offers, then open each file

Here is the click path for Time To Pet, per its help center:

1. Open the client list.
2. At the bottom left, choose "Export Client Data".
3. Select the fields you want.
4. Click "Export Data" in the lower right. A CSV saves to your device.
5. Repeat with "Export Pet Data". Clients and pets are separate files.

Time To Pet also has a Reporting route (Reporting, then Users/Staff & Clients, then the Clients tab) that lets you filter. Filtering is the wrong move for a full copy, because inactive or filtered clients can drop out of the file. For an exit, use the main client list route.

Collar's route is the Export Data icon at the top right, just right of the add button. Revelation Pets' route is Customers, then Tools, then Export.

Check the files before you trust them

An export that downloads is not an export that worked. Three checks take about ten minutes for a small business and longer for a big one.

Row check. Compare the row count in each file to the count in the old app. Say your client list shows 212 clients and the CSV has 187 rows. A filter hid 25 people. Fix that before you cancel, not after.

Field check. Time To Pet lets you choose fields, so any box you leave unticked is simply not in the file. Tick all of them.

Spot check. Open the five clients with the messiest setups: several pets, a recurring schedule, a gate code, a medication note. Find each one in the file and confirm every detail made it. If recurring schedules or vaccination dates are not columns in the CSV, screenshot or print those screens before you leave.

Mistakes that cost you hours of re-entry

• Exporting clients but not pets. A client file alone leaves out every pet record. You will type pet names, breeds and vet details back in by hand.
• Exporting after you cancel. Access to the old account may end with the subscription. Export first.
• Exporting a filtered report by accident. A report with a filter on is a partial copy. Clear the filters.
• Assuming photos came with the CSV. They usually do not. A CSV is text. If photos matter to you, ask how they are delivered: as files, or as a list of links.
• Treating a single CSV as the full record. A help page that names only a "client list" export means that is all you should assume you get, until the vendor confirms more in writing.

Ask the vendor in writing for anything the buttons skip

If your tool has no button for visit history, invoices or photos, ask. Paste this into an email or a support chat:

I am planning to leave. Please send me, or tell me how to export, every record you hold for my account: clients, pets, schedules, visit notes, invoices and photos. Please confirm the file formats, and whether I can do this myself at any time, including after I cancel.

If the vendor cannot name its export formats, treat that as a lock-in warning and export what you can today.

Ask the next tool the same question before you sign up

Run the question in reverse on any tool you are considering: "Can I export every table, in what formats, and at any time?" You are picking the exit before you move in.

Here is the answer Porchlight gives. One click exports every table as CSV and JSON, plus a media manifest, at any time. A media manifest is a list that points to each photo or file so you can download them. It is not the photos zipped inside a spreadsheet. JSON matters if you or a developer ever want to load the data into another system.

Porchlight also has a Switch Kit for the import side. It takes exports from Time To Pet, Precise Petcare, Pet Sitter Plus and LeashTime, with a dry run and a one-click rollback, so you can check the result before it counts. How long that takes depends on how much data you have, so do not plan around a fixed number of minutes. If you are already leaving Time To Pet, the full walkthrough is in how to switch from Time To Pet.

Keep the old account open until the dry run passes

This is the step people skip because they want to stop paying. Do not. If the new import turns out wrong, you need the old account to re-export.

Use this order:

1. Export clients, then pets.
2. Tick every field before you download.
3. Open each CSV and compare row counts to the app.
4. Ask the vendor in writing for history, invoices and photos.
5. Save every file somewhere outside the old tool, such as your own drive.
6. Run the new tool's dry run on your own data.
7. Cancel only after the dry run looks right.

Next, count what you expect versus what you got. List the files you expect (clients, pets, rates, schedules, visits, invoices, photo list), count the files you actually have, and divide. Under 100 percent, you have a gap to chase before you cancel.

Not sure whether your pricing is the reason you are looking? What per-seat pricing really costs has the math for the sixth sitter.

Your next ten minutes

Open your current tool, find the client export, and download clients and pets. Open both files. Compare the row counts to your app and open one messy client. That is the whole test. If everything is there, you are free to compare tools without worrying about being stuck.

Try the exit before you need it

You can see Porchlight's side of this with your own data. Start free for 30 days, no card needed, then run the export and the Switch Kit dry run before you decide anything.