Advice on how much to pay the teen feeding my cat

[Ankleblisters]

Hi all, I'm going away tomorrow for ten days (first holiday in a long long time after a hard few months) and have a teenager I know well feeding my cat. She is recently 17 and her mother told me she has been keen to get part-time work while at college but has found this hard due to anxiety (she is ND). She loves animals and knows my cat well, and he loves her. So I'm keen for this to give her confidence but also some money in her pocket. On the other hand my annual income is relatively low.

She will be coming everyday (at any time that suits her) and topping up his food and water bowls, giving him some dreamies and some strokes and rubs. She has said she'd love to bring some work or a book and hang out with him for a while and I said that would be amazing. I've shown her how the TV works, given her the wifi password and told her to help herself to drinks/snacks and borrow any books she wants etc.

Her younger brother was REALLY keen to water my plants etc if the weather is warm and dry while we're away. That will probably be needed every two/few days weather-depending and only for the outdoor ones.

I was thinking of giving her £100 and giving him £20? But is that too little? Should I go a little higher? I don't want to give them equal amounts (it was her gig initially and he is only 12) but I also don't want to cause arguments.

Any advice or suggestions?

That's exactly the amount I had in my head as I was reading.

We pay our professional cat feeder £9 per visit but she is in and out with a quick litter tray check. She needs to come twice a day though.

Forgot to add, the walk to mine from her house is less than 3 mins and she will come once a day

Okay great, this is excellent advice. No litter tray involved (he has one for emergencies but hasn't used it in more than 4 years) She'll be coming once a day.

Still keen to know if anyone thinks I should go higher. I found a thread on here which suggested paying a 14 year old £20 per day but that was for two visits plus cleaning.
I could probably stretch to £150

I would have said 10 a day for the feeding etc.

The watering maybe 30? They both will appreciate it and it's good to have people you can rely on in future.

I think that sounds about right.

Hello! We pay our neighbours teenagers £10 per visit, but they come in twice a day. They also play with our cat, and sometimes stay with their tablets and hang out with him for company and fuss. So that works out £20 per day, but honestly they are worth it. So diligent and polite and I’m massively reassured to know he’s in safe hands.

Edit to add: we are in the south east, everything is more expensive so I factor that in to how much I pay them: a professional would be the same by us!

I paid 15 for a professional cat person and that was for 2 visits. Go a bit higher if you like. Maybe 12.00 a day?

Just to add: they clean his litter tray out and wash up his cat food dishes too.

DD2 is a similar age and we are in the sunny south. She was paid £50 for 4 days looking after 2 cats in the village. She visited once a day but did lots: scooped out litter tray, put out wet food and topped up dry, topped up water fountain and was responsible for making sure the tom ate his medicine. She loves animals and is looking forward to caring for these cats again at the end of the summer.

100 for the feeding and 20 for watering plants. That is fair.