How much to pay 14yo neighbour to feed cat once a day for a week while we're away?

[TropicofCapricorn]

Hi, how much do you think is sensible for them?

Come in, one sachet, one scoop of biscuits, top up water. Only needs one time a day.

£20?

They are 14! Where else are they going to be. And 'alerting about any problems' will 100% be delegated to the mum! Honestly

You do know that “fed once a day” means leaving out enough food for 24 hours, yes?

I think it's you that actually needs to grow up and start being responsible, not leaving your cat to be looked after for a week by a 14 year old lad for £20. Cat's Protection recommend a cat is fed at least twice a day.

All cats should have access to a litter tray even if they rarely / never use it. If they are unwell or frightened by something outside they will want to use an indoor tray, even if it’s a one off. It’s a basic requirement of having a cat.

I wouldn’t be happy with leaving my cat being visited once a day but my cat is very friendly and clingy. He spends more time indoors with me than out and would be very lonely being left like that.

Going rate here for the past few years has been £5 per visit. DD and her l friends have been doing it for lots of families within 5 minutes walk. It started with one neighbour and word of mouth meant they had cat feeding duties practically every other weekend.

A fiver a day for your pet to be fed is reasonable.

£20 for the week is pretty stingy.

I’ve fed cats for 3 weeks where I went in once a day. Not once when I came in the next day were the dishes licked clean. There was always enough food and water.

Rubbish. Cats that have a cat flap don't need a litter tray. My cat has never shat in my house, not once. He's more than capable of doing it outside. I don't want him to use a litter tray; why would I provide one?

Same as you’d pay anyone of any age.

Wet food once a day and enough dry food for two meals is absolutely fine. Most cats will top up with fresh wildlife if they are hungry. They are pretty good at getting their own food.

Well you can put a mountain of food down can't you? Of course they won't eat it all, it's probably gone off.

tbh it’s not about setting a precedent, it’s a ‘job’ - you’re giving a kid a sort of ‘car wash on your local estate for pocket money’ kind of thing. £30 these days is nothing, you can’t get a video game or a branded figurine for that. That kid arguably also needs to be available for this cat twice a day, when he could be going off with his mates in the afternoon.

£5 a day for 5 minutes equals an hourly rate of £60 an hour. To feed the neighbour’s cat.

No wonder so many kids enter the workplace with such unreasonable expectations.

In a single day? Don’t be silly.

I'm paying someone £60 for 4 days but they are registered through a pet sitting service, insured and will spend 15-30 minutes playing with the cat. They will also deal with litter tray.

Therefore, for an informal arrangement, £20 to a teenage kid is fine in my eyes. It also gives you scope to be more generous in the future if he does a good job - you can't go back to lower rates once you do higher!

Okay. Thanks for that.

Feel free to call cats protection

Ok

There's pet owners, and there's responsible pet owners.

DS (15) gets £30 for this, but that's for doing morning and evening, administering medication and cleaning out the bowls, plus watering plants. He's quite happy with it but it does force him to get up when he would rather have a lie-in during the holidays, so I do think you need to acknowledge that. If the one feed per day can be at any time, and is genuinely no more than squeezing out the pouch, £20 is probably fair enough.

Again... People making up imaginary scenarios. It's once a day.

I’m such a responsible pet owner than the rescue centre that we got our first cats from was more than happy to give us more. And I’m going to posit they know more about both responsible cat ownership and me personally than you do.

£20 would be the rate here

I have a regular arrangement. For a weekend (sat am, pm, Sunday am) I give £20. For monday pm to Friday a.m I give £40.. for a full week prob £50.

This thread is bonkers and I am here for it Enjoy your holiday, OP!

Which is why feeding twice a day is what they recommend.

Just because you don’t want the hassle of occasionally cleaning out a litter tray doesn’t make it okay for you not to offer one for your cat.