House/Pet Sitter

[Mrs. Toaster]

I looked through some of the pet sitter posts on here, but couldn't find exactly what we needed, so hopefully someone here will have some advice for us! We are going to WDW in August for 8 nights. We would like to have someone stay at our house and take care of our cat. Their duties would include taking in mail, watering several small planters, and of course the cat. The cat needs to be fed once or twice a day, water dish refilled, and litter box scooped. It's a pretty easy job. We live in a large house, and the sitter would have access to lots of food and drinks, and our home theater system with many DVDs. The cat is really friendly, and easy to take care of. Our son's regular sitter, loves cats, and would do the job but wants $50 a night. This seems steep to me, but I'm really not sure what the going rate is. She lives in our subdivision, so it would also be easy for her to go home, if she needed to. We may just get someone to come in and feed the cat, but would like to have someone staying here.

How much do we charge?

 

[Amirah95]

We take our dogs and our cat to our Vet's office when we go away on vacation for a fee. They know and love our animals, so we feel very comfortable leaving them. What about getting an auto feeder and a self cleaning litter box (these can always be used in the future so you won't be losing out on money here). Maybe a next door neighbor can sit your cat. I'm just throwing some options out.

If you have your heart set on having a pet sitter and you trust this person to live in your home for a week then I guess you'll have to pay the 50 bucks a day.

 

[Rapunsel]

I have a neighbor kid come over and feed the cat, clean the box and bring in the mail. I pay him about 40-50 dollars for a 2 week time period. I think that $50 is quite steep as you can take your cat to a kennel and they only charge about $15 a day. Also at a kennel you know that they are well taken care of and can have a fun time.

I do think that $50 is quite a lot as you can purchase a self cleaning litter box for about $90 at Target. So that would be only 2 nights of a house sitter.

You have to admit, feeding a cat is a lot easier that taking care of a child. When I house sat they usually paid me about $50 for the week, I got to eat what ever I wanted and then they would find me a small gift from where they went. I just liked the fact of having a house to my self and the $ didn't really matter..


HTH...

 

[Mrs. Toaster]

Thank you for your replies! $50 seems way to high to me, since I think she would actually enjoy staying here! She has stayed overnight to watch our son before, so she know the house well. We have a nice guest bedroom with its own bathroom, so its a pretty good set-up. I think she just doesn't know what to charge, when she isn't watching a child! I'll talk to her, and just make her an offer. If she doesn't want to do it, then we'll find someone else. We used the neighbor's son in the past, but on our last trip, he didn't do a very good job- the cat's bowls were filthy, etc..

 

[Rapunsel]

I had the problem with using my nephew one time. The mail was not collected, pet dishes dirty, paper not brought in and we had spoken about this before. So I only padi him half of the $20 I was going to. The next time I made him a chart and he would just come in and check it all off. I came back to a happy pet and evry thing had been done as I had asked.

So I say give the neighbor kid a chance..

My nephew was 10 the first time and 12 the second time..

 

[Mortlives]

We pay $20/night plus a grocery allowance for house/pet sitters, and they overnight in our house all the time we are gone and look after the animals. What we do is hire college students or friends who live with their parents and are anxious to have some independence for a change. So far it's worked fairly well, but get really good references if you don't know the person already.

$50 makes sense for the added responsibility of a child, but animals are not that much work, and do not have to be watched all the time.

Kungaloosh!
Mort.

 

[Julia M]

Well, I personally think that $50 per day is way to high, just for a cat. Around here (In Silicon Valley in CA.....an extremely expensive area to live), a pet sitter for a dog is $40 per day. Realistically, a dog usually requires more care. Boarding a dog around here is $29-$35 a day, so $0 is realistic. Boarding a cat is $17 per day.

I would check a few places and find out how much it is to board a cat per day, add a buck or two per day for mail and watering and 3-5 bucks per day for the "housesitting". For me, here, that would be $17 for boarding, so I'd pay maybe $25 per day, tops.

HTH

Julia

 

[Lollipop Mom]

I live in the Atlanta area as well (Kennesaw) and we used a pet sitter for our dog during our last trip. The kennel was getting to be SO expensive and he's not happy there. he's old so he's more comfortable in our house. The lady we used lives in our neighborhood as well. She charged $15 a day. She didn't stay overnight but for that she came by the house twice a day. She took care of the mail and 2 plants as well as the dog. One visit she made sure he had food and water and spent about 20 minutes or so playing with him. The next visit she checked food and water again and walked him (he has a doggie door into the backyard so he could go out whenever he needed to). He was MUCH happier when we got home and we spent less than we would for the kennel once you consider that they charge for a required flea treatment, a required bath and charge extra if you want them to interact with your animal at all.

 

[momxx5]

Last summer we paid our babysitter $100 for 9 days - bringing in mail, watering 2 plants and feeding the dog. I offerd her the job and told the price I was willing to pay - she could take it or leave it. Thankfully she took the job and did a great job.

This summer we are putting our dog in a kennel because he needs shots and a bath - might as well get the full treatment. My kids call it the doggy hotel. It is more expensive but DH thinks it worth it.

Still no sure who is going to get our mail yet.

 

[Rapunsel]

momxx5-

We just stop our mail and have them deliver it on the day we return or go to the post office and pick it up... Could that be an option for you?

 

[zurgswife]

We just were there in July had a college age kid stay at the house paid $20 per day for 2 dogs and the puppy was a challange...

I'd say $50 is way to high...

 

[dg39]

IF you have the post office hold your mail, put your cat in a kennel and buy a self watering tube for your plants its still alot cheaper than 50.00 a day. THe post office holds your mail for free, the kennel for a cat should be approx. 15.00 a day and the self watering tube in target or k-mart or anytype of store like that is no more then 3.99. Plus, you won't have any worries, that in case an accident or something of that nature happens, you won't be held responsible.

 

[alloyd1170]

We use a certified pet sitter for our dog and cat when we the whole family travels (otherwise my brother does the duty). The sitter is able to do cpr if needed and igve our dog her allergy shot. She will also get the animals to the vet or emergency clinic if needed. She gets the mail, feeds the fish, waters plants, checks on the house, etc. Because of the dog, she comes 2x a day (if its nice she lets the dog out in the am, and in at night). She charges I think $15 a visit (so $30 a day) and a bit more on a holiday. We used to kennel our dog, and leave the cat at home, but the dog wouldnt eat at the kennel which was at the vets office, and would mope around for a few days after we got home. She was put in a concrete cage/run area and let outside only 1 or 2 a day. We lost a Great Dane when I was little to a kennel and ever since I dont like to use them. At home, shes got a huge backyard, the lake, and a doghouse to enjoy. Shes always happy when we come home, and the sitter plays with her as well. In my opinion, a sitter is the best route. With a cat, theyre a little more self sufficent and can go a day or two without being checked on. We just leave extra food and water out for ours. If you can get a trusting neighbor to do it, good deal. I dont know my neighbors well enough to let them inside, or theyre gone a lot as well. I had a friend do it one time, well she got too busy and didnt come at all one day. The poor dog had messed on the floor and I know the dog struggled not to do it).

alison

 

[all4fun]

$50/day seems way too high to me too. We had our neighbor boy (15) come over twice a day to bring the dog in and out (she's and outdoor dog but sleeps inside at night) and he also was in charge of feeding both the cats. I think we paid him like $5 a day, which I know is cheap, but then again it was only a few minutes out of his day for a week. We also bought him some gifts when we were in Mexico for a week once. I had typed up a list of our routine so he would know what needed to be done and went over it with him.

We don't have many plants and the ones we do have can actually go a couple of weeks without being watered so we just water them before we leave.

As far as the mail goes, we have the post office hold it for us and then we schedule delivery for the day we come home. Like the pp said, this service is free.

If you're concerned about security with your house being empty, a friend of mine that used to work for the police department told me you can actually call the police just before you leave and let them know you want someone to swing by your home a few times while you're gone just to make sure everything is ok. Plus if they get a call for a break-in (ie from a neighbor) they will already know that you're out of town and when you're due back.

HTH!
Cheryl

 

[epcotfan]

The cat is really friendly, and easy to take care of. Our son's regular sitter, loves cats, and would do the job but wants $50 a night.

Actually that is cheap for live-in pet sitting. I pay my petsitter $30 a day for two daily half hour visits. In the past I worked as a live-in petsitter for a week and it cost a heck of a lot more than $50 a day. Of course this was a professional insured Pet sitting business that I worked for.

 

[Sandy Feet]

We've made arrangements with our son's friend to come once a day: feed dog, cat, fish, and water a few plants. We plan to pay him $5 a day (and bring back a gift for him and his sister, just so his sister doesn't feel left out!).

$50 a day seems way too high for what they'd have to do.

I must be getting old or something...I remember the days when I loved to housesit FOR FREE just so I'd get away from my parents for a while.

 

[swilshire]

My husband is obviously underpaid! He feeds the neighbors cats, dogs, goats, chickens and collects the eggs and waters the plants. All for free.

Just kidding. The neighbor also kept an eye out when we left our teenagers home alone for a few days recently, picked one of them up and dropped him off a couple of times, and drove them both to the airport when it was time for them to join us. No way we could have left them without the help.

They also drop us off and pick us up at the airport when we all fly, to avoid the hefty parking fees. We do the same for them.

It's great when you have neighbors that can do for each other. We just have to make sure we don't schedule trips at the same time.

Sheila

 

[Sandy Feet]

That's what I mean. I know everyone is "busier" these days and perhaps it's a bit more of an inconvenience to help each other out, but there's a lot to be said for being good neighbors. We didn't have to pay this boy to look after our pets, in fact he said so, but we wanted to pay him because he is so sweet and responsible, and is saving up to buy something.

 

[RobinKay1973]

and our company charges $13 a visit. Certain cities have a "gas" charge tacked onto the $13 a visit rate. There are extra charges for things like medications, excessive plant watering (more then 10 plants) and extra pets (3 plus). We are in your house a half hour, clean litter boxes, walk the dog, water the plants get your mail & paper, play with your pet and feeding per your instructions With cats some clients only want us to visit every other day. Unless you want 4 visits a day (which I doubt) $50 a day is way too high!! In Atlanta I am sure the rate is higher then here in Lansing, Michigan. I would call a local pet sitting company (they would be under "kennels" in the phonebook) and inquire about using them for your pet care. It is important to use a bonded and insured company because you never know what will happen when you are away. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at robinkay6573@yahoo.com by the way I worked at a kennel as well and we boarded cats for $19 a day (some charge less though) but it is pretty stressful on the cat. Pet sitting is best for felines!