Our kittens are 5 months old. We are going away for the weekend and rather than paying for a cat visiting service (which we always used to do with previous cats) we have asked our niece - 18yo currently taking a gap year between A-Levels & Uni and going off travelling after Christmas - to come and stay for the weekend and have a little taste of independent living and a lot of opportunity for kitten strokes and cuddles.
She is very happy to do this. But obviously we want to pay her too. Just wanted to access mumsnet wisdom to work out how much.
If we used a pet visiting service we would be paying about £30. If we used a professional house sitter (which I don't think we ever would) it would be a lot more.
In terms of actual work to be done she will be feeding them 6 times (less than 5 minutes each time) and doing the unpleasant removal-of-poo from litter tray twice (maybe 10 minutes but really not a fun 10 minutes)
She isn't obliged to stay in the house the whole time, the kittens don't need 24-7 attention but they will appreciate the company when she is around. So I don't think she needs paying for a round-the-clock service.
I have a figure in mind for what I think we should pay her but I would like to see if it matches the general mumsnet opinion. What do you think?