What Would You Offer a Family Member to Pet-Sit?
 

Because of my dog's age and disposition, I would only leave him with an in-house sitter in order that we might fly to Hawaii or Europe. I would definitely want the sitter to be here part of the evening/all night, doing their own thing during the day, if they wanted. The person I have in mind is distant family - she is not employed, due to some health problems, but is a trustworthy animal lover who could definitely use the extra money because of some bad luck in her life. Pet-sitting services in our area charge $45 to $60 per over-night (minimum time in your home of 8 hours.) Individual pet visits (30 minutes) from services run $15 to $18 each! We are retired, cannot afford to pay a fortune..... we would, of course,leave a well-stocked fridge for her, free long distance phone card, etc. She lives about half-an hour's drive away, so could go home to visit her own pets, etc. when she felt the need. We'd probably be gone two weeks........ What per-day rate would you offer?

$250 per week and I wouldn't worry about stocking the fridge.

So much of how much you pay depends on so many issues. For example, we're planning to have our college age niece stay and take care of our dog while we're gone on vacation for 8 days. We have a swimming pool and lots of good neighbors, so I feel safe her staying there by herself. Anyway, she's MORE than happy to help because she gets to be by herself (peace and quite) and lay out by the pool, swim, etc. We only ask her to get the mail and paper, water our plants, and take care of our dog. Our neighbors volunteer to take care of the pool so they can swim and not feel guilty. We did this same set up last summer and paid my niece $100/week. Everyone I spoke with felt that was a fair price. You've got to remember that my niece was MORE than happy to stay and chill out with no younger siblings to bug her! She was on the phone and computer the entire time and just got to relax, a great break from college!

Gee - I leave my dog at a friend's house and I only pay her $25 per day. Now I feel like I've underpaid. It's a pretty big job watching my pooch too - she's a puppy. What do other people pay?

Our kids pet sit and are paid whatever the prevailing kennel rate would be plus a little more since the dog gets to stay in his own home, gets a lot of exercise, etc. The owners came up with the fee structure, the kids were prepared to do it for less.

We are lucky to have my parents take our Lab when we go away. We are in trouble though if we want to travel together with my parents. Can't do the kennel thing...more my pet peeve, and worry about pet sitters I don't know. Guess I have to wait 10+ years before we all go away together !

Hi bonniebroad--I feel for you as I love to travel but absolutely hate to leave the pet, especially once they get older! I have a pet sitter for our cat which is much easier to care for than a dog and her rates are in line with yours. Would you feel comfortable asking the person you have in mind what they would hope to earn--start at $15 if that's what you're comfortable with. Good luck! :-)

It also depends on what prices are like in your part of the country. Here a kennel is $50 per day per animal. And I pay a retired neighbor $40 per day to come in for 15 minutes morning and evening to feed my 2 cats/scoop the litter. (He charges newcomers more but since I'm a long-term customer I get a $10 per day discount.) So if you want someone to live in your house I would expect to pay significantly more - unless they would not have to pay their own rent as well.

Remember, this is probably the issue you will worry about the most while you're gone. Don't stint on this if you can afford a trip to Europe or Hawaii...
At least $30 a day, and perhaps let her bring her own pets w/ her, so she won't have the hassle of going back and forth...

If this helps, my wife and I just got $300 for 8 days of sitting for the house and 3 dogs of friends. It was across town (about 20 minute drive from our home).

Oh yeah, and the fridge was stocked.

I think the prices may be vary a lot by where you are (urban, rural, NE, midwest, etc.), but here's what we do.

We have two huge dogs (Leonbergers, actually, like my screen name), each is well over 100 pounds. (Think of Newfoundlands or St. Bernards....different color scheme, different pros and cons, but similar type of dogs.) We also have six cats.

A friend used to come and take care of the cats and we would board the (at the time) one dog - paying extra for play time, walks, etc. We paid the friend a token amount - I really can't remember how much - and she stopped by whenever it was convenient (she lives about 30 minutes away). Cats, as you know, can go several days without needing anything special, as long as water and food (dry at our house) are available.

When we added the second dog, the kennel costs got really expensive. About the same time, our friend (single) hit some financially challenging times and we came up with a mutually beneficial solution.

She lives at our house while we're gone. She takes care of all the animals. We pay her half of what the kennel would have charged us for our dogs. Last trip, that was around the $225 per week mark (what we paid her, the kennel would have been twice that).

She is thrilled with that amount, loves the animals and really takes great care of them.

We usually bring her a souvenir from our travels as well. (And, she loves living "out in the country" at our house, using the satellite TV system, etc., etc.)

She's not a relative, per se, but I think the situation is comparable.

(And, yes, we're careful to book her a long time in advance...she knows about our two trips for this year and is excited about coming to care for the critters.)

Gayle

Well, this is a married relative. She has CATS!!!!! Her husband will be home to care for them, and she has no children. She could never bring the cats over! My old doggie would have heart failure as he has never even been in the same house with such a creature!;-) I would give her the use of one of our cars (since her husband will be using their only one), so she could go home when she felt like it.

I agree with whoever said that, if I can afford the trip, I can afford to compensate her in a way that makes both of us comfortable............ I guess I'm thinking of offering $40 per day minimum......... plus car with gas, and free L/D phone, all her favorite foods in the freezer. I just don't want to insult her, and I don't think SHE'LL be comfortable giving me a figure....... I appreciate all your replies! Keep them coming....

Omigosh, here in the burbs of Cleveland (VERY nice) we neighbors take turns caring for each others pets. This involves cats mostly but I know some neighbors who take care of dogs too. We've being doing this since we had our homes built around 5-7 years ago.

No one is paid but we buy each other thank you gifts (NOT cheesy souvenirs) when we're away. Or if we can't find something, we get gift certificates for malls or restaurants around town. I knew we lived in a great neighborhood but I'm still shocked by some of these posts!

I used to house sit for $20/day. This was many years ago but it was also for 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 bird, 1 horse (sometimes w/baby), and 1 donkey. :)Reading the above posts, maybe I was underpaid BUT it was fine by me b/c I was a student at the time and I got away from my roommates for a bit, got cable tv w/ all the bells & whistles, got a fully stocked fridge with stuff I couldn't normally afford (my mac & cheese days ya know) and enjoyed the nice yard and the wonderful soaking tub. I brought my own dog along and really enjoyed it. I think how much you pay might depend on if this will be a chore or a treat for the sitter.

Audra, I DO have wonderful neighbors here in Central North Carolina. They are happy to come in to see my doggie several times a day (we do that for them when they're away.) BUT I want someone to spend the nights with him, and a good part of every evening, at least, not just come in to visit for short visits. Admittedly, this may seem overly-protective to some........but that's how we are!;-) He has loved and *protected* us so well for over 14 years, and is prone to depression/no appetite when we leave him so........... call us nutsy!

Bonniebroad -- you say she's married and her husband can take care of the cats. Unless she's a newlywed, any married woman would probably LOVE to get away by herself for a week or two (sorry guys). I think $30/day, stocked fridge, nice bottle of wine, and use of the car would be excellent. If you can afford $40/day then go for it. If not, it sounds like you have a lot to offer already. Also if you have things like a pool/hot tub/cable with good movie channels, it sweetens the deal.

I live in Portland. We pay our house/doug sitter $20 per day to stay in our home and take care of our dog.

I chuckled when I read audra's response. I guess I left out a few important points.

When we're only gone for a day or two, we also have friends/neighbors/church members who will take care of the pets for free.

However, we are uncomfortable asking anyone to do this for several weeks at a time - especially with big, hairy dogs that need lots of exercise and somehow they always manage to find water while they're playing, so we get big, hairy, wet dogs!

The friend I referenced does the stints of a week or more, and we began paying her (even the small stipend when it was just cats) because we knew that she was struggling financially.

Personally, I would never ask/expect someone else to take on the work of 2 boisterous dogs for that length of time without paying them.

Also, we are *really* out in the boonies - there are exactly 5 houses on our 1.5 mile street. Ours and one other are so far back in the woods that you can't see the house from the street. The opposite side of the street faces thousands of acres of federally protected wildlands. We live in 10 acres of woods - and I think we're the smallest lot in the neighborhood. Because of all this, we don't actually see our neighbors very much - it's not at all like the suburbs of Cleveland (with which I'm familiar - my aunt and uncle live there, too, and I grew up elsewhere in Ohio).

Our friend also has full use of our vehicles while we're gone (a godsend on several occasions when she has needed to have repair work done on hers and had no way to get a loaner or rental).

We actually feel much better paying her than if she refused payment (which she tried to do initially - she really is a good friend!).

We also expect that she'll take the dogs for two long (several mile) walks each day, play with them in the house/yard/woods, give each cat its "share" of attention, clean cat boxes, check for ticks or other nasty critters, take care of any messes made by the creatures, and vacuum every couple of days. Those aren't things I would ask someone to do out of the goodness of their heart (although Debbie would be willing to)!

Just adding a little more info...

Gayle

Oh, yeah, and despite the long post, I still forgot to say some of what Bonnie did in her reply - part of the comfort is knowing that someone is there overnight. Debbie is really a "housesitter" as well, so any enterprising thieves can't sneak up on my idyllic hideaway and find an unprotected house. Mail, lights, TV, cars moving - all goes on "as normal" with a housesitter.

And I much prefer having a full-time person with my babies for longer trips than just someone "dropping in" while their spaghetti sauce is bubbling next door. I know my dogs and cats get a lot more attention this way.

Gayle