we pay $14/day for a petsitter to visit our 1 or 2 cats once per day (the price didn't change when we lost a cat). I've had friends do this in thepast, but i felt bad asking them to do things like clean the box. The petsitter feeds, waters, plays with them, and cleans up after them. she's very good. (we live in MA, outside Boston).

We pay a professional bonded and insured house/pet sitter $50 per day to live in the house and an additional $17 per visit (two daily) for exercise walks for our two dogs, for a total of $84 per day (before tip). Expensive, but money well spent for the peace of mind it buys while we're away. We would no more trust a friend or neighbor to handle it than we would trust them to perform an open-heart surgical procedure, but that's just us. Boston area.