Pet Sitters?

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

We normally board our beloved beagle Ricky, however, the poor boy is getting up in years and I am going to ask a local teen (our sometimes babysitter) to dog sit. Now this kid is very responsible and I have no problems with her staying here, in fact I know she will love it. ( a nice getaway from her siblings ) My question is how much to pay? I was thinking about 25.00 per day. Is that enough? Of course I will also provide food. The kennel runs about 31.00.

Anyone use a petsitter? If you don't mind teling me what you pay, I would appreciate it.


Thanks.

Laura

 

[DMRick]

That sounds fair for an overnight person! It usually depends (when they come in by the day..but this is so much nicer) on how many times the dog has to be walked/fed, and if that will include cleaning up "accidents". My cat sitter charges $7 a visit, and that included kitty litter change as needed. The local pet sitting place that comes to the house charges $10 for cats..no idea how much for dogs...that includes being bonded and insured. They write everything down ("missy" went potty twice today, and ate all of her soft food, but left the hard food..etc).
Be sure you have someone who knows the person who is sittting (other than the actual family), so if something, God forbid were to happen to her (car accident, etc), someone will realize it and be able to take care of your pet. Be sure someone else has a key, for this reason or in case the girl loses it. I know you hate to make restrictions..but be sure you make it clear if she can or cannot have friends over..and the most responsible teen should know you have neighbors keeping an eye on the house (the shyest, best kids have been know to party..this was something I found out the hard way LOL!). Of course you will let her know they are watching the house to be sure she is safe, not that you would ever think she would abuse the priviledge.

 

[clutter]

I'm in a high-rent area, too. My college aged house-sitter charged $125 for a week.

Hope this helps.

 

[PugLover]

We pay 200.00 per week for a "live-in pet sitter" when we travel. We also provide all the food for our sitter and usually a set of movie theatre tickets as a small thank you. We have a very active pug and she loves attention/affection and I know she is happy and well cared for while we travel.

The pet sitter is also required to do some small household tasks (get mail, water plants and do light dusting/sweeping when necessary). The house is always spotless when we get back.

The sitter also takes all my calls while I am gone (I am self employed) and is required to e-mail me the phone messages each day.

Guess I am lucky our pet sitter is also my mom

When the whole crew travels together (my husband and I, my parents, his parents and my sister and brother in law) we all use the same kennel (except my mom, she has no pets). They charge 25.00 per day plus an extra 1.00 per day to feed my pug her own food. We also request her ears be cleaned out twice a week and that adds another 30.00 per week to the bill.

My sister and brother in law have three dogs and each dog is a different price (this kennel uses the dog's weight to determine price).

 

[Danemom]

Wow! This is a huge eye opener for me.
My brother always dog/housesits for us. We pay him $10/day (and a well stocked fridge)!!. When we do have to kennel them, I pay $50/week for two Great Danes! I didn't realize what a bargain I was getting from either. I used to work for the vet where we board the dogs and my MIL still works there so that's why it's so cheap.
Thanks for making realize I need to step up the pay!

Autumn

 

[mrsstats]

My pet sitter charges $14. per visit for 2 dogs. The ones who will stay overnight charge a lot more money. So far, I have only had to use the sitter for daytime and usually can convince a family member to spend the night.

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Originally posted by PugLover
We pay 200.00 per week for a "live-in pet sitter" when we travel.

The house is always spotless when we get back.

Guess I am lucky our pet sitter is also my mom

WOW, what a bargain!! Aren't you lucky, a petsitter, housecleaner, administrative assisant and most importantly MOM all rolled into one!

 

[ducklite]

Laura--I have pet ferrets. My pet sitter is a vet tech for a local vet. She comes in twice a day (lives less then five minutes from me) in the morning she locks up the "night crew" (two ferrets that stay out overnight to "guard" the place--I kid you not, and an intruder wouldn't find it at all amusing--they do not take kindly to strangers !!), and gives medication to three of the ferrets. She also checks on everyone, just makes sure that they are all alert when she rattles the cage, and gives fresh water. Total morning time is about 5 minutes.

In the evening she needs to scoop the litter pans, tops off food bowls and give fresh water, and give medication to six ferrets. (plus let teh night crew back out) Total evening time is about an hour. She also brings in the mail, and takes out garbage and recycling as appropriate. I pay her $35 a day, plus a cash bonus and a token gift at Christmas (we travel fairly often, and use her 30+ days every year.) She made enough to pay for a cruise last year!

Bottom line, it sounds like $25/day and a fridge full of junkfood is perfect

The one thing I'd suggest is making sure she has your vets number, and setting up with your vet that s/he has your permission to treat if the dog ahs to come in and they can't get hold of you, and authorizing payment for any treatment. A lot of vtes won't treat someone else's animal unless they are present or the vet can talk to the person on the phone.

Anne

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Originally posted by ducklite
(two ferrets that stay out overnight to "guard" the place--I kid you not

"GUARD" ferrets Too funny!

On the other hand my overgrown beagle boy would be more than happy to show the intruders where the "good" stuff is! (for a biscuit of course)!

 

[peg2001]

Wow! I'm shocked by the cost some of you pay. We can board at our vets for $10 per day per animal. They are in a small cage and dogs are taken outside on leash. We can also board at a kennel with indoor/outdoor runs, heated floors-air conditioned (as appropriate), who will feed our own food, all for $12 per day. Our dog usually goes here.

We also have 4 cats and 3 fishtanks. Last time we vacationed, we had a teenage neighbor stop by once a day to feed fish and cats, clean cat box, and bring in the mail. (Dog was at the kennel). We paid her $10 a day, generous for 15 minutes of work, IMHO.

Peggy

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Originally posted by peg2001
Wow! I'm shocked by the cost some of you pay. We can board at our vets for $10 per day per animal. We can also board at a kennel with indoor/outdoor runs, heated floors-air conditioned (as appropriate), who will feed our own food, all for $12 per day. We also have 4 cats and 3 fishtanks. Last time we vacationed, we had a teenage neighbor stop by once a day to feed fish and cats, clean cat box, and bring in the mail. (Dog was at the kennel). We paid her $10 a day, generous for 15 minutes of work, IMHO

I'm just taking a guess here...you are not from NJ? LOL
I'm not kidding when I say that sometimes a week of boarding for our dog costs more than a week of vacation for one of the kids!

 

[ducklite]

Peggy--You're very lucky--here in NJ you'd have to pay someone $10 per day to pick up your mail!

Anne

 

[PatriciaH]

Hi there! DH and I own a pet sitting business that we do part time(we both work other jobs as well.) We charge $15 a visit and another $5 for any pets over 2 in the household. The visits last 1/2 an hour-45 minutes and include play time/walk, brushing, littler box clean up, mail pick up, lights turned on/off, outside bird feeders filled, etc..

You have to remember that actual pet-sitting businesses buy insurance/bonding, memberships (like PSI-Pet Sitters International), web sites, pay for advertising, business cards, training (pet CPR, massage therapy) etc... A local kid coming in will not have all this overhead You will also not have to worry about someone having a party in your home, carting animals back and forth to a kennel, having your pets be in an unfamiliar environment or getting sick from other animals.

Most pet-sitters seem to charge $45-$75 for an overnight visit.

 

[welovedis]

Wow!!! I guess I've been spoiled all along but we have to pay very little for someone to house sit and for dog boarding here in Western NY. Our house sitter costs $10/day & she visits the house 2xs per day, opens curtains/blinds, brings in the mail, takes out the trash/recycling, shops for us near the end of our trip, calls our messages to the resort, etc.. She will also feed fish or cats for no extra charge, to take the dog out, play with him, etc... is an extra $5 per hour. However we live in a gated (closed) community and she does this for many of the community members so that is probably why it is so inexpensive.

We prefer to board our dog at the training facility where he was trained (specifically for beagles) and they charge $14/day for boarding, walks, playtime, etc.. plus an extra $6/day if you want them to train the dog specifically or teach him a new trick. The facility only boards dogs that have been trained there and he loves going, but the price is about the same at the vets office too.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by PatriciaH
You have to remember that actual pet-sitting businesses buy insurance/bonding, memberships (like PSI-Pet Sitters International), web sites, pay for advertising, business cards, training (pet CPR, massage therapy) etc... A local kid coming in will not have all this overhead You will also not have to worry about someone having a party in your home, carting animals back and forth to a kennel, having your pets be in an unfamiliar environment or getting sick from other animals.

You got that right!! That's why I use a vet tech who comes in! I would NEVER kennel my animals, never, ever, ever. ADV & Distemper are both contagious and fatal...three's no vaccine or cure for ADV, and the vaccine for distemper isn't 100% effective...and it's not curable and fatal. We've had several horrible distemper outbreaks around here. There's no way I'd expose my brats to that stuff...

Anne

 

[lesroi]

Hi all!


We have 4 dogs and a cat and I generally pay $50 a night for overnight sitters. I will echo what some have said and remind everyone to be VERY careful who they hire.

2 trips ago we hired a friend of a friend, college aged girl, in 4-H, supposedly trustworthy and good with animals.

Well... she was literally almost NEVER at our house. I am an over-protective dog-mom and I called daily. She was never there when I called and would always call me back with some excuse about "being outside", "running home for a minute", etc.

When we arrived home, our carpets were ruined, our dogs were visibly upset, and we had an $80 house-call from a vet friend of HERS for our 14 year old dog that has limped her entire life!!! Had this girl actually spent ANY time with my "kids" (or listened to me when I was giving her the low-down, or read the long note I left) she would have known about the limping issue.

So, just be careful who you hire....

Sorry for the novel!

Tracy

 

[clutter]

Wow! I'm lucky, my pet-sitters have been my nephew and a co-worker of the neighbor behind me. I'm lucky that I have a couple of neighbors (including the one mentioned) that are WAY over-protective of me and my family.

My poor nephew came home one night, after a date with his fiancee, to find a note, "we have the dog". Of course, it was an icy night, and they just wanted to make sure Clara was taken care of, in case he was stuck!!!

An incompetent house-sitter wouldn't get away with much in my neighborhood.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Wow, I really get off cheap! We pay $5 a day (it's less for smaller dogs- more for larger dogs- our dog is a MinPin- ie: little) for a kennel locally that is also a dog groomer/etc. She has indoor/outdoor runs for them, does not charge extra if you use her food- but we don't, we use ours and she doesn't charge extra to use our food either. Our dog is always not only well taken care of, happy, but ALSO well groomed. LOL She always ends up bathing them once if they are there over a week, cleaning ears, trimming nails and the like. No charge. She's just nice I guess. We've been using her for years for grooming our pets, my mom's pets (she's disabled so I take her cats there/etc).

She's very particular about who's dogs/pets she keeps. She checks them when you arrive- head to toe to tail (LOL) for any signs of illness or not being well taken care of and also asks for proof of up on the shots/etc. My pet always comes back as healthy as when they get there and also groomed (as mentioned above).

*counting my blessings. Because I don't have anyone else around here that could pet-sit or that could be trusted to do so!*

 

[epcotfan]

I used to be a petsitter. I looked after a dog in the owner's home for a week (stayed over night) and I recall it cost them around $600-$700. This included two walks a day, feeding, staying in the home, paying attention to the dog, etc...

Generally speaking for half hour visits or walks it was $15.00.
Walking a dog for an hour was $20.00

When I travel my current petsitter charges approximately $30.00 for two visits a day.

 

[epcotfan]

Originally posted by ducklite
Laura--I have pet ferrets. Anne

I used to have two adorable ferrets. Unfortunately they passed away. Aren't they great creatures? I boarded them at my vet's office prior to finding a wonderful petsitter. I would never kennel my animals again. I feel much better about them being in their own homes. My petsitter is worth her weight in gold.