I guess it depends on whether the two of you are close or not, if you have ever done this sort of thing for her, whether she could use money, whether she is comfortable around animals...
Is she also going to bring in your mail/ newspaper, water your plants, put out/bring back your trash can etc.?
We pay a professional pet sitter $15/day to come to the house once in the am and once in the pm to feed and water 2 pets. She also does all of the above mentioned things.
If you think that she may feel weird about taking money, how about bringing her back a nice gift. OR if she has kids you could bring them back something good.
I would hate to take $ from a neighbor on the one hand but 9 days it a long time to be responsible for someone else's pets and house and you just never know what might happen.
Years ago I was doing this for a neighbor and she warned me, (jokingly) that her siamese was a "climber". She didn't tell me the important part, as in "OF PEOPLE"!
The very first morning I went in to feed her cats her siamese(1 1/2 yr old male and big! about 14 lbs) was pawing at my leg. I thought "oh what a cute Kitty!!"
Once the electric can opener started to hum he leaped onto my back with all claws extended, not to be mean mind you, he was "just excited", his owner later said.
This cat was literally HANGING THERE, hooked into my skin. And he was stuck with his claws sunk in me. I felt like I was on fire!
My son who was letting their dog out, heard me screaming and ran into the kitchen. He was scared to death because I was crying and yelling and the cat was yeowling because I had reached up over my head and was trying to hold him up by his scruff to either get him off of me or at least support some of his weight. My poor son had to lift the cat UP to unhook the claws and then off of me. All of the claws had not only punctured me but tore downward as well.
I was bleeding like crazy! I took a shower as soon as I got home and my husband cleaned everything with peroxide, triple antibiotic ointment and bandaids. I was in so much pain.
I should have gone to the ER.
3 days later I started with a fever, swollen glands everywhere and got very sick with something like the flu. I had to see a doctor who said I had cat scratch fever (FOR REAL). I never knew that it was really an illness.
Taking care of someone else's pets is sometimes a bigger deal than you think. At least when you hire a pet sitter you can make sure that they are liscensed/bonded/insured. If a neighbor forgets to lock up and your house gets robbed, or burns down due to something they did you have no recourse.
