Gift for feeding cat?

[MenArentMindReaders]

Thankfully my neighbours are cat lovers and they will be feeding my cat for a week when we go on holiday. They have said they don't expect anything for it as they do it because they love cats.

When they have done it before it was just for 2 or 3 days and I gave them some chocs and flowers. Since it's a whole week I feel like I need to give something more. I'm not sure what's appropriate though.

Is a voucher OK? I'm not sure. Any suggestions?

Voucher/money for a meal or afternoon tea? If you know what there hobbies are go with that… garden voucher for example.

Wine? Unless you know they they don't drink, obviously.

Or a local specialty from where you are going on holiday?

Thank you. If a voucher how much?

To be honest, we fed our neighbour's cat a couple of times, mix of 2-3 days to a week and I would be embarrased to get more than some chocolates, flowers or a bottle of wine.

It's hardly a 24/7 job I found.

I feed my neighbours cats regularly.

I don't expect anything but we seem to have settled on this kind of pricing structure:

One night/morning: A sharing chocolate bar
A couple few nights/mornings: A candle, a plant, a plant pot, a box of chocolates, a bottle of wine
A week: A bottle of wine plus another thing from the list above.

As I said, I don't expect it. But I think its pretty fair.

I'd stick with a present and like pp said something local to your holiday would be good. There many be a time when they want you to return the favour in some way like watering the garden, checking on the house, taking in post etc while they're away so giving bigger gifts could start to get awkward.

I look after my brother's cats, sometimes for a week, other times for 10 days/2 weeks.
He looks after my cat and waters my flowers and veggies for a week.

We tend to just give each other a bottle of wine, chocs or sweets and maybe a very small gift from wherever we've been.

Yeah I feel like a voucher might feel too much. I know he likes fudge cake. So I was thinking to bake a fudge and then maybe get something while I'm away. 🤷

My neighbour frequently feeds our cat. She loves cats too and seems to genuinely enjoy it. I really think she'd be embarrassed if I got her a gift of great value. I generally get her a couple of things such as flowers, a plant for the house or garden, chocolates, nice biscuits, some sort of sweets like nice fudge, or I bake her a cake. I think small tokens of appreciation are best. If you got vouchers for dinner out for 2 people or something she might feel embarrassed.

They've never asked me to do anything for them so far.

For the couple/few nights, that's one of those things. Not all of them.

I agree with @reluctantbrit that its not a FT job. But it takes me about 15 minutes to do everything (food, litter trays, water, check the cats) and I do it twice a day, that's half hour. Over seven days that's three and a half hours.

I also make their house look 'lived in' by drawing/un-drawing curtains, turning lights on at night and off in the morning. I take in post. I check around. So me popping in on the cats is performing another service too.

Plus, it's not a very job. Cat food stinks. And dealing with poo and wee in the litter trays isn't pleasant.

So, yes, I think it should be recompensed in some way.

I think flowers and chocolate is fine; if you go as far as getting a voucher for a meal or afternoon tea then you’re spending more than an actual cat sitter would charge

There's no litter tray to sort as we have a cat flap which my cat is happy to use. I defo don't expect them to open blinds or do anything with post. No plants to water.

I've done similar and been embarrassed at them buying me something. I wouldn't like a voucher as feels too much like being given cash for being a good neighbour. Just stick with something edible I'd say👌