While we were away, for 12 days, I had a couple of homeschool brothers come each day to take care of our animals. They fed the two cats and dog each day. They took the trash to the curb last week. And they changed the litter box once. They didn't go above and beyond at all, since there was a small pile of cat poop in the middle of the living room floor (our old grouchy cat rebels when we change his life in any way.... like us leaving). But before we left, when I was going over everything with one of them (at his request, mind you, he came over and asked to be walked through what we wanted him to do), I mentioned that I had misplaced the dog's food bowl. He came back later that day with a new food dish! Anyhow, these boys are 15 and 17. I don't know which of them did what so that's an issue (meaning I don't want to just give them each $x if one did more of the tending). And I don't know how much is fair to pay them. I don't want to short them since they did have to deal with trash and the litter box. But I don't want to establish a skewed pay standard in their minds. What would you pay them?
The last time we used a pet sitter, we used our regular babysitter and paid her $5 a day. The reason we chose $5 was because that is what we were paying her an hour for babysitting. We figured we had her come by twice a day to let the dog out/back in and check food and water. In our opinion, she could have done that in 10 minutes a day, so we felt an hours pay was a good deal on her part, and ours (not having to board the dog). I say come up with a daily amount, and let them split it up between themselves.
We just paid the neighbor boy (18yo) $20 to feed our dog for 8 days. He took her on 2 walks and let her play in the backyard with his dog for a day. He didn't have to pick up her poop or anything, just feed her and walk her twice (she's an old dog..can't do much exercise.) Find a rate you are comfortable with and let them split the money. They know who did more work.
Well, they did bare minimum for 12 days, and the cat still pooed on the floor (Which, depending on when the kitty did it and when they came to take care of the animals, the boys could have simply missed it.) I would give them $40 and have them split it. I agree with Minthia, they know how much work they each did.
Wow. Maybe I overpaid! I paid our dog sitter $100 for 7 days. They needed let in/out three times a day, any accidents cleaned up, and the fish needed fed.
When I was a teenager I would cat sit for a friend's mother and for 5 days of going over twice a day to feed Shadow, cleaning his pan daily, combing him, giving his hairball medicine, and cleaning up any messes he made I was paid 50.00 Usually she would pay the pet sitter 40.00 but I always stayed extra with shadow because he got lonely and she could tell that when she came home Shadow was in a better mood than usual so she gave me an extra 10.00 When I bird sat for a friend's parrot I would tend to him once a day, giving fresh water and food, changing his paper every other day, and giving him some attention while she was gone and for that I would get 40.00 for 7 days FWIW the bird took me aprox 20 min a day, and the cat was more like two hours a day if that helps.
SeekTruth, i must be over paying also. My neighbors DD (16 yrs old) watched our 2 dogs and 1 cat for 7 days while we were at Disney and I paid her $100. She did the cat box everyday and kept it very clean. Let our big English Bulldog out into the fenced backyard during the days then would put him in his crate for the night. She also handled letting our small inside dog in and out. oh well, i know she spent the money on her Prom dress so I am fine with it.
My neighbor paid Ems $100 for two weeks of feedings and watering his yard. My other neighbor pays $5.00 a feeding and we do it twice a day. So it comes out to $10.00 a day.
We ended up giving them $60 total. The dog 'lives' outdoors when the weather is good, so they only had to come once a day (since they didn't have to let her in/out). That's $5 a day and sounded about right to me.
Keep in mind that if you were boarding your pets, it would be a minimum of $15 a day per pet. It might only take someone 15 minutes to let a dog out to the bathroom and feed it, but they have a time commitment more than once a day. Unless they are a neighbor, they have to drive to your house, too. If I was the one doing the work, I'd think that for multiple pets to be cared for multiple times a day, I would want at least the going rate for boarding one animal. $10-$15 a day is not unreasonable at all, especially if you are also walking the dog.
I don't feel bad about only giving them $5 a day. They did not have to walk the dog. They did not have to let the dog out (she lives outside). They did not have to play with the cats. They didn't even have to bring the mail in (our mail slot is on the garage door). The only thing they had to do was put out food and water once a day, drag the trash can to the curb last Monday, and change the litter on Thursday. They are also neighbors, so they just had to bike the two blocks to the house, which they bike past nearly every day to visit other friends. I understand your point about what it costs to board an animal, but they did less than half the work of a kennel.
Ok....what most people here charge for pet sitting is minimum 15 a day as a vet tech I have charged 25 a day...(walking/feeding/getting there). I have done it on days I have worked and went during my lunch to walk the dog, and again after work (someone else did the morning walk) ....my sil and brother own a boarding kennel and they charge 15 a day for boarding a dog with an accessible outdoor run.
I was a vet tech, so that is where I am coming from, too. A kennel often does much less with your animal than someone who comes to your home. Amie, I wasn't necessarily posting to say you underpaid them. I was thinking of everyone posting about what they have had their pet sitters do for them. Sorry if it came out that way.
