How much do you pay your pet sitter?

[Phroig]

I wasn't sure this was weighty enough for the "FIRE and Money" forum. I'd especially like to hear from cat people, because we have a feline.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Locally they charge 50/day for one pet and 60 for 2.

 

[Aerides]

My niece sits for a family with 2 pugs, and it's $30 a visit (feed, walk, leave) - twice per day.

Are you looking for a sitter or someone to come in once a day and change litter/food? Big difference.

 

[pjm-7]

Usually, $15/day for 2 cats to come in to scoop the litter boxes and feed and water. College students are my go to for this kind of pet care. Also, I will tip if no issues.

 

[rk911]

we use a local doggie day care kennel for Maggie The Wonder Beagle. $39 for 5-hrs or less, $40-something for all day.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I wasn't sure this was weighty enough for the "FIRE and Money" forum. I'd especially like to hear from cat people, because we have a feline.

We used to pay about $70 a day for multiple (3) cats and (2) dogs. Sadly, all the pets are gone after long lives but the bright side is far more freedom.

My advice is to find someone conscientious, pay them well, and be loyal if they are good. We were always more concerned with being able to trust the person than how much it cost us.

Make sure to work out with your vet a way for petsitter to get treatment if necessary.

Edit: We were paying for full on housesitting including staying at the house. Most of our housesitters were college students.

 

[RobbieB]

The last bill was $400 for 8 days, 3 visits a day, 2 large dogs.

 

[Rianne]

Local vet clinic $45/day. We're paying niece/nephew $50/day. My lab will be at home, played with, and fed. They'll stay at our house.

 

[Aerides]

My advice is to find someone conscientious, pay them well, and be loyal if they are good. We were always more concerned with being able to trust the person than how much it cost us.

I would agree with this. Entrusting your pets and your home to someone is not the time to shop for the lowest price, rather, the established, trusted, good person that everyone recommends, with the price to match (and it's almost always less than boarding, and less disruptive to your pet).

 

[freedomatlast]

We paid a lady my wife knows and trusts $100 plus tip to stop by the house three times during one week for two cats.

 

[arcyallen]

Our dogsitter is a casual friend and used to work for us and stays overnight living here while we're gone. We pay him $40/day regardless of if it's just an overnight ($80) or a month, and he eats/drinks whatever he wants while he's here. Everyone seems pretty happy with that setup.

 

[Lakedog]

Lucky to have some friends nearby who also have a lab so when they travel or need help I keep their pup at my home, and they will keep my lab on occasion when I need a sitter. No money changes hands but sometimes a bottle of scotch or dinner invite. I have a backup with my housekeeper as she has offered to come by a couple of times a day if necessary but haven't had to go that route yet so no $ amount discussed (was thinking maybe $50-$60 a day).

 

[Ian S]

We've used Rover.com in the past with good experiences. Last trip to Hawaii, a close friend stayed with the pup at his insistence. We paid his transportation and he got to do tourist stuff in Sedona.

 

[MRG]

We found someone from Rover who is awesome. Paid $100 nightly for our two dogs in her home. Received daily videos of the dogs with her puppy allowing DW to relax about them. She worked with the one pup to help her jumping.

 

[cathy63]

DD works in a veterinary office and occasionally pet sits for their clients. So if you're looking for a pet sitter, asking at the vet's office might be a good way to find one. She gets $40 to $100 per day depending on how many animals and if they want her to stay in their home or not. She's in a wealthy area, so she usually jumps at the chance to get paid to stay in a nice house for a couple of weeks rather than her rental with two roommates.

 

[SecondCor521]

A data point, probably not very useful:

My cat's vet charges $15 a day. But they put them in those stainless steel cages in the back (like what you'd see at a humane society). And my cat hates the vet's office because he only goes there for his rabies shot every three years (healthy indoor cat).

So I pay $15 a day to my youngest offspring if they're available. The rule is they get paid the daily rate if they do anything for the cat - food, water, litter, training, playing. Cat is happier to stay at home and kid is happy with that rate of pay considering the cat needs maybe 5 minutes of care per day.

If I'm gone for about four or five days or less, and kid isn't available, then I just prep the cat situation before I leave and he is on his own. He's a bit lonely when I'm gone, but he survives and is probably unknowingly very glad not to have gone to the vet.

If I had to use a non-offspring, I'd expect to pay more, because they'd have transportation time to/from my place. If they stayed at my place, that might be a benefit or a burden to them, so I'd consider that in the pay also.

I haven't yet had to face the situation of being gone too long and kid not available. There's a local "cat hotel" which is more like $50 to $60 a day. I've considered that for this kind of situation.

 

[badatmath]

Depends what you want them to do. Any medications? Daily updates to you?

 

[grasshopper]

We pay $50 a day overnight, kick an extra $10 for gas. Our sitter always says that she will stay for free. She is a birder, hiker, and rock hound and we have the best of all three.

 

[Phroig]

We have a friend, so somebody we trust, and it's just feeding, litter box, and a bit of playing (if our shy cat feels like it). We were on the lower end of the range here, so I think we'll do a raise. Thanks for your input, everyone.

 

[stepford]

Kid next door (I've known from birth) gets $100/wk to feed (twice a day) and scoop (once a day) our cats. Local professional cat sitters charge $30/day for similar service.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Wow, I guess I need to raise my rates (from free). I babysit (at my house) all my friends dogs and have for decades. Most was 8 (including mine), sometimes for a month or more.

My only paid gig was feeding / watering / playing with a setter at their house about 53 years ago - $10/month.

 

[SecondAttempt]

... a bit of playing (if our shy cat feels like it).

That's how we would know if the housesitter was any good. One of our cats would hide when anyone came over. But if she came out after a couple of days for the sitter it was a good sign.

And when the cats gave us the cold shoulder when we got home we could never tell if they were ticked that we left them or ticked that we came home.

 

[TimSF]

$100 a day, but dog requires insulin injections.

 

[trirod]

We pay $22/day for a daily visit to feed our two cats and empty the litter box. It only takes around 10 minutes so I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Of course there is the travel time but the person who does it lives less than 10 minutes away so still less than 30 minutes total.

 

[grasshopper]

$100 a day, but dog requires insulin injections.

It has been 17 years since we lived in the Phoenix East Valley. One of our dogs required morning and evening insulin. We were soooo lucky that we had a young neighborhood vet tech. She would give one injection before work and one after work.

It was a really learning experience for me. I learned to do glucose curves and saline drips. Sadly after 5 years of diabetes at 15 years old he passed.