how much to pay cat-checker/feeder?

[ekh]

We are going out of town to visit family and are going to have a teenager come to check in on/feed our cats every few days. She will probably also have to clean the litter box once or twice. It will probably take her about 1 hour for the whole round trip. She lives 15 minutes away by car and I also want to pay enough for her gas. (It's about $2.50 a gallon here.)
So, how much should I pay her per visit?

[alicia622]

I would pay 10 dollars a trip and then bring her back something too.

[ThisCat]

I think something around $12.50 per visit seems reasonable in your case. That's 10 bucks an hour plus a little for gas.

When I hired a professional petsitting service they charged $10 for the consultation, $18 per visit for the first cat, and $5 for each additional cat. They were a bit on the pricey side I thought.

[Caneel]

I paid a lady down the street $10 per day to keep the food dishes filled and clean the boxes once a day.

[Alyantavid]

My 8 year old has this job right now and is getting $5 a day for feeding once a day.

[Denvergirlie]

I would say $10 bucks a visit plus bring home a small gift as well.



However...... we just got back Sunday from being gone for 2.5 weeks.

I put out 10 kitty litter boxes, gallons of food and water, left the lids up on the toliet and they survived. 2 cats.

Not ideal, but local pet sitting agency didn't have opening to visit us (we are out in the sticks a bit) and it's a 45 minute drive for our next closest friend to come to our house. The cats would have been way more tramatized being boarded at the vet than left alone at home.

[enkmom]

My kids are regular pet sitters for people we know, and the pay varies widely.

1. For run of the mill come in, feed the cats and change the litter, they get $10/day. They don't have to travel much, though.

2. For grandma, they do it for free. The benefit here is that they get to stay over and have the house to themselves (they are both over 20).

3. The lady they cat sit for most often gives them $10/hour or $100/day if they have to stay overnight. This house has multiple cats and duties include preparing a snack and giving medication to a diabetic 17 year old cat.

[Ola_]

I think the price varies geographically. Around here the services charge $15-25 per visit, but you have to be within their "service area" so that limits their driving. I'd probably google your city or area and "pet sitting" and see what the going rate is.

[magster]

We typically pay $50 for a three-day stint (we have two small dogs) and $100 for a week. The dog sitter comes every day, feeds them, plays with them and hangs out here a bit.