Pet care, restored to the dynamic of asking a friend.

FurCred is a members-only pet-sitting exchange operating in Berlin, London and Dublin. The mechanic is simple: one night of caring for another member's pet earns you one credit; one credit pays for one night of someone caring for yours. No money changes hands between members.

Why we built it

The pet-care market in Europe is split between two unsatisfying options. On one side, paid platforms — Rover, Wag, local sitters at €30–€45 a night — which turn a relational thing into a transaction. On the other side, asking the same handful of friends until the favour-debt becomes uncomfortable. Neither serves people who travel a few times a year and would rather know who's looking after their dog by name.

We built FurCred because we needed it ourselves and the existing options kept failing us — once because the kennel smelled of bleach, once because the booked Rover sitter cancelled an hour before a flight, more than once because the friend we'd asked had already been asked twice that year.

How we're different from the alternatives

The mechanic is older than the platforms it sometimes shows up on — babysitting clubs, time-banks, neighbourhood favour ledgers have run on the same idea for decades. FurCred applies it to pet care with two specific decisions: it's same-city (so members can know each other in person), and one credit equals one night regardless of pet, home or city. No surge pricing, no premium tiers, no priced-by-square-footage logic.

We are deliberately not a marketplace. We don't take a commission from bookings, we don't sell ads, we don't profit from members trading with each other. The platform is sustained through optional booking-time insurance and (eventually) a small institutional partnership programme. Member exchanges remain free, forever.

Our principles

• One credit equals one night. Always. Regardless of pet count, home size, host city, or how cute the dog is. Variable pricing erodes the simplicity the model relies on.
• No money between members. The moment cash enters, the relationship changes. We refuse to introduce it, even on request.
• Everyone is verified, identically. Government ID via Stripe Identity, phone confirmation, and real booking references. No tiers, no badges, no pay-to-rank.
• Cities open slowly, by hand. We unlock a city only when there are enough verified members for matches to feel local. We pick the next city by listening to request volume, not by spreadsheet.
• EU-built, GDPR-native. Data hosted in Frankfurt, encryption at rest, full Art. 15 / 17 / 20 rights, and a privacy notice you can actually read.
• Real humans review reports. Trust and safety isn't a chatbot. A person on our team reads every report within a working day.

What FurCred isn't

• Not a paid sitting marketplace. If you need a paid sitter on demand, Rover or your local kennel serves that need better.
• Not a long-form house-sit network. If you want multi-week sits as a travel strategy, TrustedHousesitters and Nomador are built for that.
• Not free if you only want to travel. New members get five starter credits; the rest are earned by hosting. Members who never want to host aren't well served here.

The team

FurCred is a small team based between Dublin and Berlin. We're pet owners ourselves, we travel often, and we built the platform we wished existed when we left for our last weekend trip. For press queries, partnerships, or the kind of letter that warrants a real reply, write to hello@furcred.com.