Cat sitting cost (Yorktown, York: 2015, apartment, how much)

[Catladylife]

Hey all. I’m trying to gather some feedback on what a good price to charge for cat sitting is in the Manhattan area. I am insured and have been doing sitting for 2 years through apps. Now I started my own business. But I wonder if my rate is too high to entice new clients at $30 a visit.

How much do you pay for cat sitting? Or what is a fair rate in your estimation? Thank you.

[Mr.Retired]

Response:
Having rescued many a pet I never in my life heard of any cat needing to be sat.
An extremely independent and self sufficient member of the family.
Now if you were to rephrase your question as to how much should you charge to
watch over a sick beloved pet while attending a function or meeting it should vary
from minimal responsibilities requiring minimal pay say $15 an hour to duties where
you need to rub ointment or mix medication in with food and have an open line with the
owner ? then $30 bucks an hour is sufficient.

The more you can break down the better.
Knock 10% off the bill if more than 4 hrs up to 8 hrs.
What about every 5th visit is free?
What about multi pet discounts?

Best wishes..............

[martinjsxx]

$30 for how long? All you need to do is change the water, put out food, and scoop the litter box once or twice a day. I don’t see a need to “sit” with the cat.

[Catladylife]

Sitting refers to pet sitting not actually ‘sitting’ with them.
A lot of my cats need medication 1-2x daily. Fluid injections. Or insulin injections.
Thanks for your replies.

[Catladylife]

Oh Martin - $30 for 30 min. But I have a few $26 per visit clients. Those are 2x a day clients who are grandfathered in to the rate..

[Mightyqueen801]

I am in NJ. I had a regular catsitter for a while. The first time she came was in 2015 when I was taking a 10-day trip to Europe. She was a neighbor and a friend. I looked up going rates, and I got $15 for one cat, $25, for two. I had three cats. She was happy to accept the $25 for all three, and she came twice a day, but as I said, she lived in the same complex and she was a friend.

In 2016 one of the cats died. In 2017, I started traveling monthly, and I still paid her $25 to come in for two cats twice a day, and then when the second-to-last cat died, I still kept paying her $25 for the remaining cat.

She fed, scooped, gave medication when necessary, and when it was down to the last one, played with him for a while, too.

So, given that it's Manhattan and it's a business, I don't think $30 per day is out of line. Pretty sure the vet I used to use charges $40 a day to board them.

[rgr555]

how are your customers insured from theft ? $30 a day is normal and pictures during the visit are nice too

[Cida]

Originally Posted by Catladylife

Hey all. I’m trying to gather some feedback on what a good price to charge for cat sitting is in the Manhattan area. I am insured and have been doing sitting for 2 years through apps. Now I started my own business. But I wonder if my rate is too high to entice new clients at $30 a visit.

How much do you pay for cat sitting? Or what is a fair rate in your estimation? Thank you.

Hard to give an answer when you're so vague. This sounds like visiting, not sitting. Are you talking about a ten-minute visit to provide food and water, or are you talking about three hours playing with the cat? Considering that the federal minimum wage is about $7/hour, and considering that feeding and even playing with a cat isn't really work and certainly isn't skilled, $30 seems outrageous to me.

[YorktownGal]

$30 a day is fair, but that means two visits in one day. We had a cat sitter who lived 10 minutes away.

Very few people are going on vacation now. People have left NYC for months on end, but an actual 10 day vacation is unusual in this pandemic.

[CNYC]

Originally Posted by YorktownGal

$30 a day is fair, but that means two visits in one day. We had a cat sitter who lived 10 minutes away.

Very few people are going on vacation now. People have left NYC for months on end, but an actual 10 day vacation is unusual in this pandemic.

What would be even more unrealistic is letting a stranger into my apartment while I am away. I just don't see that happening at any cost.