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How much is the going rate to have someone come in 2x a day to check on a cat(feed and clean litter box) for one week? If it takes them 20 min to get here, should that be a factor in how much they get paid?
Having just spent the weekend interviewing potential cat sitters, I can tell you in my area it costs between $15 and $18 per visit and that includes drive time. Most sitters come once a day unless your cat requires regular medication or shots.
However long it takes them to feed the cats, freshen the water, clean out the litter tray(s), replace the cat litter, clean up any cat vomit and play with them. I guess it could be up to an hour.
I have two cats and we do the camping thing and take our dog. Our sitter has to drive about 5 miles once a day. He brings in the mail and newspapers. He has to check the dry food, they don't like the wet stuff and give them fresh water daily and there is no scooping required. We pay him $10/day. Now we live in a small town and the fee is much less than it would be in a metro area. Hope this helps.
15 to 18 does seem high. We're lucky. We are hardly gone for more than two days for anything, and a friend in town would be more than happy to watch if needed. She loves cats, but they don't have one of their own.
$15/visit is standard around here. I use a vet tech who comes as many times per day as I can afford. Last trip was 3xday, but I have dogs too. Next trip I will opt for 4xday for the dogs' comfort. Morning, noon, supper, and 10 pm. She feeds everybody, lets the dogs out, cleans the litterbox, and plays with everybody.
Our neighbor does it for free. We trade favors. I have two old cats on medication now so we boarded them at the vets for $13 a day for each one. When our daughter stays home, she takes care of them.
In my experience there is a wide variation. IF you can find a larger organization it will typically cut down on your costs because they won't have to factor in as much travel time in the economics. I typically pay $20 per visit, but that is for 2 cats and 2 rabbits. I consider it a great deal. She also checks the mail, waters the plants, etc....small things like that within reason. That's actually the exact same rate I was charged in another city in Florida, so at least for my menagerie I consider that market. Most pet-sitters who do it full-time get the fact that keeping a good relationship with the customer is important and have been willing to do extras for me without charge if I need it once in a while. For example I was keeping a crow at the house that we were rehabilitating and my pet-sitter took care of her when I was gone with no additional charge. Pick someone you trust, who is bonded, who has great references. I would rather pay $2 extra a day for someone I know I can trust. After all he or she is coming in to your house when you aren't there and taking care of your furbabies!
i paid about $14 per visit when i used a pet sitting service last summer..... i just needed her to come in once a day and scoop out the litter boxes....... plus a couple of bucks extra for the actual 4th of july holiday day......
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