cat lover

I'm wondering what most folks pay to have someone feed their pets while they're away. We want to have a neighbor kid do it; come feed our two cats twice a day, give fresh water, clean the waste from the cat box every couple of days, bring in the mail, feed the goldfish, and water the houseplants (we only have a very few) every 3 days or so. What would you pay per day for this? I'm also interested in whether this varies by region of the country. Thanks.

mister sams

$10/day would be reasonable for a young, but responsible teenager.

Suzy

Around here (Boston suburb), these pet chores are usually done by the same kids who babysit, and the rates are about the same, $5 per hour, so that would be $5 per day for cat-sitting. If you're gone for a week that's $35, which looks like good money to most kids, still.

You can have your mail held at the post office, which is one less thing for the kid to do and makes it less likely that someone will see mail in your mailbox and know you're not home. (Or maybe the mail gets rained on.)

Suzy

Yikes, now that I've noticed taht those cats need to be fed TWICE a day, I guess $10 makes sense. What are they eating, I never heard of a cat needing to be fed so often!

Ang

Where I live in Chicago in a high-rise, we don't really have "neighborhood kids" and don't know any of our neighbors well enough to ask them to do this. We hire a service (ours is Pet Patrol) but there are many who advertise at my vets office. All are fully licensed and required to be insured etc. The service charges $10 for each 30 min. For my cats we do 1 30 min. vist each day. I know others who pay for 2 visits each day. During the 30 min. they come in scoop the litter box, play with the cat for about 20 min. and then feed and water. For dogs I don't know but I would imagine you would have to have 2 visits a day to let them out ot go to the bathroom. (I don't know any dog who could hold it and only go once a day) So far we have been very happy and they are super nice. We did interview then before hiring them and let them come to our house mmet the cat etc.

Jean

We board our dog at the vet and it is 13.95 per day.

Cindy

I have a neighbour - a young guy just out of his teens - who comes and stays in the house while I'm away. There are 2 cats to feed (and they get fed twice a day, too. Is that so unusual? Their dry food stays out, but the canned food is given to them in two separate small meals so that it doesn't go bad sitting there all day and all night), a garden to water, and just generally it's better for somebody to be there so that the house looks lived-in. We never have actually settled on a per diem rate. I generally give him about $100 a week and he's delighted. Professional house/pet sitters cost an awful lot more; if I had to hire a pro, I wouldn't be able to go away as often as I do. He is responsible, mature, and good to the cats.

xxx

Found this to be a helpful site - found our pet sitter this way ($12.50 a visit by the way, Chicago area, for walking a dog and feeding fish). Tried boarding our dog, which was much cheaper, but she freaks out. So its more expensive, but have peace of mind knowing doggie is okay at home.
www.petsit.com

Wow.I'm

Our elderly retired neighbor refuses to take any payment for the care of our two dogs, plus bringing in the mail. Our dogs spend their afternoon outside, weather permitting-I'm sure they love it! He really likes the candies, jams and other sweets we bring from our destinations, so we try to find the nicest offerings for him when we travel.

njgirl

Well, I guess the closer you are to NYC,the more expensive EVERYTHING is!
My dog sitter costs $25 a day.At her house.

Statia

We have friends who have dogs, just as we do. We swap out keeping one another's dogs when we are away, so things tend to even out. We also bring one another some goodies from our destination, as well. Only bad thing is that we can't really be gone at the same time since there would be no one to watch ALL the dogs.

I know a lot of people who have neighbors watch their pets when they are away and don't necessarily agree upon a payment plan, but rather bring them trinkets from their travels.

Randa

When my kids are asked to feed the neighbors' pets while they're gone, they always say they don't need a fee, because that's what good neighbors do for each other! However the neighbors usually always pay them a little something on their return, usually five or ten dollars.

cl9

We have friends watch our cats (one is a vet no less). They always refuse payment, so we bring them something back from our trip. A local food (cheese, wine etc.) or something they collect if we can find it or something touristy but useful like a travel coffee mug. And we always offer our services to them if they'll be out of town.

Jan

Housesitter to care for cats and plants: $35/day.

xxx

I would say $10-$15 per day is reasonable (maybe just round up when calculating the total ie 4 days x $10 per day and give the kid $50).

We pay $40 per day for housesitting but we have two large dogs and they stay at our house overnight.

katman

I live in suburban Philadelphia and pay $16 a day which I think is absurd but I pay it because my wife makes me. Not only that, the service we use will only visit if we use them everyday we are away.

JR

We have a pot bellied pig. We pay a friend the same amount that we would have to pay to board the pig, or $19 a day. Friends don't want to take the money but we insist.

LMN

Nowhere near a big city but in a college town, where a few people are actually in the yellow pp. as animal-sitters. The going rate is $12 per visit to a house and $25/day for having the sitter in the house. (I think it should be less for having the pet in the sitter's house -- less inconvenient for him/her).

But I always pay a little extra to the best sitters, esp. if I ask them to water plants, get mail, etc. and want them to be willing to do it again. So, for example, a week would be $84 but I give her $100.

One sitter had me write out the check and post-date it for the day I get back, and then has me call when I get in to make sure I'm really home and everything's okay and she can go ahead and casht the check. That saves her one extra trip across town to my house and allows me to "stop" the check if she put my pets and plants in the microwave or something ..... (a little grim humor....).

talk to the parents

A few years ago my neighbor payed a teenage relative to do the same sort of thing. He was suppose to water the many hanging plants on the back porch. The kid never showed up while they were gone and the plants were dieing in Texas heat. (no pets in the household) If I had not junmped the fence and watered the plants they would have lost them all. They were really pissed at the kid when they got back.
My advise: make sure you talk to the teenager's parents about his reponsibilities before you make the deal. The money is secondary.

TatesMom

Because of the above post,this is one of the reasons we prefer to pay someone who does this in a professional capacity.You can depend on someone who is doing this as their business and hopefully come home to a live pet