How Much To Pay a Pet Sitter?

[smokeyblue]

We will be gone for 9 days. My 19 year old cousin will be stopping in daily to feed and play with our cat and clean the litter box.

We are doing our trip on the cheap and would like to save as much as we can, but we want to be reasonable. We live only five blocks from his dorm so he won't have to travel too far. I thought about making him a care package with paper plates, bowls, plastic forks, instant food and a Subway gift card. I know these are things he wants/need. Beyond that I was thinking $50 if he did a good job. Is this reasonable? To much, not enough?

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

50 sounds good. I pay $5 a day for my 3 to be cat sat but the cat sitting lady (my BFF) takes my oldest to her house for the kids to play with so I pay her less.

 

[akcire]

Even family, even a college kid...I would pay a minimum of $10 a day, or at least a $100.00--his time is worth something

Check out the going rates in your area for cat sitting, you will be shocked. My (2) cats have an automatic feeder, 3 big water fountains.....so they are basically self-sufficient--they do need their box to be scooped, and of course they love to play. I pay a friend $20 a day and am glad to do so, I also tell her to stay as long or as little as she wants--some times when she needs a break from her family she will watch a movie at my house while we are gone. My world would be destroyed if something bad happened to the cats while I was on vacation. I am more than happy to pay to ensure competent care--one time I asked a neighbor and she fed them 100 calorie fig newtons as treats. Thankfully the cats did not eat them, they just played with them; but really the bags with the cat faces on them were not a clue as to what constituted a cat treat in our house?

If you want good consistent care I would not cheap out on their care, or the next time you want his services, you may find he is too busy to help you.

 

[disneylove69]

My next door neighbor's 18 year old has a pet sitting service and for 2 dogs/ 2 cats he charges $8. He changes the litter (littermaid), feeds, waters, gives treats, and if I wanted walks dogs, water plants, gets mail, etc. He also leaves notes on how the animals were and what he noticed in behaviour and health changes. One cat got mad and went to the bathroom on the carpet and he even cleaned it up as well as the hairballs. He's awesome.

Maybe (if you don't mind) your cousin might want to stay at your place for some relaxation and privacy? What you are giving is good.

 

[aubriee]

Even family, even a college kid...I would pay a minimum of $10 a day, or at least a $100.00--his time is worth something

If you want good consistent care I would not cheap out on their care, or the next time you want his services, you may find he is too busy to help you.

I agree. My bigger dog (an akita) goes to the vet because he'd never let anyone into the house if we weren't there. lol A coworker always takes care of my smaller dog (schih tzu). She will never accept any money from me, so I always bring her back about $100.00-$150.00 in souvineers (she loves Italian and French wines). However, my neighbor's son comes over twice a day to check on my macaw parrot. He feeds and waters him twice a day and spends a few minutes talking to him. He is about 13-14 y/o (the kid, not the bird). I pay him $100.00 and bring him and his little brother both back something from WDW. This is for just a bird, that's not near as much trouble as a dog or cat would be. He never even touches him, just feeds, water, and talks to him.

 

[cruella4me64]

My vote would be nothing less than $10 a day, so I totally agree with $100 minimum. I would not spend his "pay" on paper plates. Cash would probably be more appreciated.

Have a magical time at Disney!

 

[Kellydelly]

I think I would pay minimum $100. You are asking him to make a 9 day committment for you, which is worth at least that much. I would not make up a care package unless it is a gift and not considered part of his pay.

 

[Swimalie]

Eek, I'm paying too little, I guess. We went away for 8 days and my 12 year old neighbor came over every other day (walked across the street) and put food in my cat's dish and scooped the littler pan once (yes, it was nasty when we got home). I paid her $20. Although since she didn't scoop the litter like I had asked, maybe $20 was just right.

 

[Hannathy]

Remember you get what you pay for........

I would never make his pay merit based, that's a tip if you want to give it. For a person to drive to the house for 9 days I think the $100 is right and also vote on skipping the paper plates and food. Give him the money maybe they "borrow" plates from the cafeteria and don't use paper plates.

If he does a great job maybe then on top of the pay give him a gift card to Subway as an extra not instead of.

 

[labdogs42]

My dog sitter charges $15 a visit. When my neighbor watches my dogs (she won't take $$) I bring her gifts from my trip or give her some gift cards for her trouble. I'd probably pay your cousin $100 for the week and bring him a nice Disney tee shirt or something from the trip.

 

[java]

Am I the only one that is thinking KEG PARTY!
Sorry but the first thought with a college age boy coming over to take care of the cats I am envisioning some kind of party.

If he DOESN'T do that then I would do whatever you feel comfortable with. I pay about $75 a day for my dogs at a kennel. So I am thinking $10 a day is cheap to have someone to come over and clean out the litter box. Did he say how much he expects?

 

[rszdtrvl]

My 23 year old brother is staying at our house to pet-sit while we go to DL in March. We will be gone 5 nights, and he will probably stay 6-7 nights at the house.

We have 2 Beagles and 1 cat.

My brother still lives at home, and is unemployed (long story) so this will get him out of my parents house (I would go crazy if I still had to live at home, not to mention was unemployed at age 23).

I plan on paying him $200, plus leaving a Pizza Hut GC for him to use, and stocking up on "bachelor" food.

Plus, he can bring a friend over for the duration if he wants to.

To me, the above is cheap compared to boarding the animals. Not to mention they will still be in their environment and not separated (the cat snuggles to the dogs and vice versa).

 

[tommya60]

I pay a now college student to stay at our house. I stock it with her favorite foods (really had to insist on that list!), she takes care of our Standard Poodle, including meds, waters the plants, etc. I pay her about $150 or so for the week. She is wonderful, I come home to a happy, well taken care of dog. By the way, I've known her for years from Girl Scouts, her mom is the Co Leader of our daughter's Senior troop.
You might want to see if you cousin would like to stay in the house for the week, the dorm think gets old. She enjoys being able to choose the tv programs (usually baseball games), the back yard, etc. I make sure she has plenty of printer paper and the laptop so her homework gets done. I don't know what I will do when she graduates!

 

[vsimeone]

I have paid my college aged DD's good friend to stay at our house and house/pet sit for us. I paid her $25 a day and stocked the kitchen with food and snacks. She'll be graduating from college soon and I have no idea what I'll do when she's no longer available!

 

[Pakey]

I would also agree that it should be no less than $100. That is nothing compared to the cost of paying to board your pet. I have a sitter come in twice a day for my 2 Chinese Cresteds and have used the same person for several years now. It's priceless having the peace of mind knowing my pets are in good hands.

 

[shortbun]

I pay about $8 a day for the girl across the street to feed and care for one cat. She's 12. The going rate for an adult around here is $10 daily for one pet. I get a discount and she gets some spending money. Sadly, we just moved and she won't be able to pet sit us anymore. My son has a friend who lives around the corner and her little brother might be interested. I think you should ask your nephew cousin if $50 sounds good to him. I also bring our sitter a t-shirt or some trinket from our vacation. Last year she said, 'bring me something pink' when I asked her if she wanted another tee or something else, lol.

 

[HsvTeacher]

We pay our dog sitter $25 a day and make sure to leave the pantry and fridge stocked with his favorite things. When gas prices were higher, we gave him extra gas money. We also give him a nice Christmas gift (cash!) each year.

He's a college student and lives right around the corner. He's also a friend of the family and has always taken great care of our dogs. He's always been available when we asked, no matter how short the notice.

 

[dd50]

Last summer my neighbor watched my dog for 8 days. She told me that she didn't want money. I bought her a Tink mug and some Disney coffee with a Disney card and $100 in it. She didn't want to take the money but I made her. If I only go away for the night I will bring her a gift because she does feel funny about taking money. She says it's a vacation for her because she comes over here and gets away from the kids for a little while.

 

[disykat]

I think for these kinds of jobs, you aren't really paying for the "service" or the time involved in that service, you're paying enough to make sure they feel really compelled to do the job and not resentful of the time it takes. I used to housesit/petsit when I was single and felt like sometimes people thought they were doing me a favor by giving me a change of routine and a little pocket money. They didn't seem to realize that it was a pain for me to change my routine, pack up my stuff, have to run to their home to let their dog out when I would have normally gone out with my friends, to exercise, or to a meeting straight after work, etc. I finally stopped doing it because it really felt like I was being used.

My son is only 14, and we've settled on $15 a day when he petsits the neighbors animals. It seems ridiculously high to me if you think in terms of hourly pay and his age. However, he visits them 3 times a day, feeds and cleans up after them, and plays with them. The price becomes an issue, not about those things, but about the fact that he often has to rearrange his schedule, get up early, skip social opportunities like sleepovers, etc. (or negotiate with a family member to take his place) to do so. The price is because he is responsible for those pets and if they get sick or need extra attention he'll step up.

I would skip the care package stuff pay him a flat $10 per visit. Cash is way more tangible so even though it might work out the same, it may feel different.

 

[neatokimmo]

Hmmm I'm thinking I need to be a part time pet sitter for some extra cash!