How much should I pay a nearby petsitter to feed 2 cats daily & give meds?

Question

How much should I pay an acquaintance to feed my two cats once a day for 4 days, plus give one of them medicine? Her drive will be 5 minutes. Scooping out the food will take almost no time. The most difficult thing will be playing hide-and-seek with the cat who needs medicine. She has already practiced administering the medicine and didn't have a problem. I am not asking her to clean the litter boxes or do anything else. We are in southeast Michigan.

Answer 1

Is this just an acquaintance or a friend? My friends and I do this for each other whenever we go out of town and we don't charge each other. We also have more to do because we have dogs, cats, pigs, horses, and cows. I think it's sad that in today's world everything is about money even helping someone out.

That said I guess you could give her maybe $10 a day sounds reasonable.

Answer 2

I'd seriously consider throwing in litter box duties - but perhaps you've got some other arrangement? LOL - I just picture the SMELL when you get back!

Let's see, you could start with paying mileage at the standard rate. That's 48.5 cents per mile. If that's 10 miles round trip, it would be $4.85 per day, for four days it would be $19.40. Round up to $20 to make it look pretty.

Then how about another $20 on top of that? Or you could make it an even $50. Or if that's way out of the ballpark, a $20 doesn't seem out of order.

Or maybe you could offer a service in return - put together a nice little gift basket as a thank you or something like that.

Answer 3

We were on vacation for 11 days, the vet tech at my vet's office does pet sitting on the side. She came over twice a day to give insulin to two of our cats, clean the box, feed everyone (we have 4 cats) and she charged $15 a day. I've since found out that $25 a visit is the standard in our area so we got a great bargain with her.

If you close some of the doors to the rooms, you can at least contain the cat in a smaller area for your pet sitter to find. That helps a lot if they can eliminate two or three rooms from a search.

Answer 4

I am thinking $15 is probably fine. We pay the petsitter who stays at our house for 2 dogs and a cat $25 a day plus any food in the fridge and free run of the place (she's just out of college, so it's nice for her). The one that stops in twice a day also charges $25 a day.

Answer 5

Yeah call the police, they will know what to do-it does sound like she is stealing your cats and that's wrong!!!!! So she did give you her address eventually? Then you could get some of your friends to drive you there to get your cats. You can also get the police or some animal authority to ban your pet sitter from having pets or pet sitting. I really hope you get your cats soon! Next time you could try to put them in a cattery(I know it's not very nice but it's better than pet sitter taking or abusing your cats)

Answer 6

Well I think that you should pay her or him like maybe 2 or 3 dollars per day. Well when I petsitt I get like 5 or 10 dollars a day but those are just nice people. Well anyway, 2,3,or 4 dollars a day would be fine!

Answer 7

Wow, you could be my neighbor.

I know you love your cats, but you didn`t say friend and peace of mind is worth more than saving money, so because your cats need Meds -(does that person know how to give meds?)
I would say $10.00 a day to make it worth it to do the job right. I`ve heard to many disappointment stories concerning this subject.

P.S. I`d make payment after you get back and all is well. And maybe a $10.00 tip if your happy and can spare it.

Answer 8

My sitter charges $35 per day (pills and food twice a day, plus clean the box). It's a good deal for us with two cats -- she charges per visit, not per cat. Thus, it's cheaper than kenneling 2 x $25 per day.

Answer 9

You are asking them to give meds to a cat. You should be paying more for that.

Answer 10

i would give 25 pound save cattery fees