The price of cat 'sitting'

[heylottie]

Have two cats - friendly boys but come and go as they please through a catflap.
We are going away for a few days so need someone to come in and clean their bowls, restock food and water, check they are ok but not 'wait up for them'. If they aren't in, no worries.

We used to have a lady who would do two visits a day for a tenner. But she has stopped doing it - and the only other person in town who does it is charging a tenner PER VISIT, so 20 a day - which makes 80 pounds for the times we are away.

Am I out of touch? I think this is a bit excessive no matter how 'professional' the service... she is local, and I would not expect her to spend more than ten minutes in the house per visit.

Anyway, can't afford that much so we are going for one visit per day - but maybe she is right and it is a reasonable price? Can't be arsed with the hassle of a cattery...

Get one of those automatic cat feeders that you set with a timer - then she only needs to do one visit a day.

I got a pot of jam for looking after my neighbours cat for a week - just going in once a day to refill food and drink though!

A tenner a day is reasonable - per visit, is taking the piss imo.

I charge £5.50 per visit for one animal £6.50 per visit for any more than one animal (standard service, I have add ons that can add up to a tenner per visit for people who want them- photos, welcome home packs etc )

I researched my prices quite carefully, mine seem standard here (poor part of the country!). South-east and London were averaging around a tenner a visit.

Although tbh - I have never done a visit that only lasts 10 minutes. By the time you've cleaned litter trays/fed/cleaned bowls/changed water/ checked everything and fussed the cat an average visit is about half an hour.

My pet sitter charges £6 per visit. My mogs are happy with one visit a day, so long as they have plenty of dry food left out.

£10 a visit does seem excessive - unless you are in London when everything costs double.

No am in south west
Have gone for the one visit a day and a secret stash of cat biscuits secreted around the house...

I get a neighbour to do it and bring them back a bottle of wine! I also feed their cats.

I think a tenner a day is excessive. It's a two minute job.

Can you get the next door neighbour to do it? It's the kind of thing neighbours should do for each other anyway.

Oh I'm in the south-west so agree that is a little pricey for round here.

Lots of people have one visit a day btw - especially if their cats are fed with dried food.

Sounds like I should go into cat sitting business.
DS2 does neighbours cat when they are away. She gives him £5 for a weekend and £10 for a week which I think is generous.

heylottie, do you not have any neighbours/friends who can pop in?

i catsit pop in to my friends cat twice a day when they go away, and i am severley allergic to cats

how far is this woman coming from to look after the cats?

I would look for a neighb and do like someone else said. nice bottle of wine.

I was looking into this the other day and came across a website, called sitter-swap I think, people in your area with animals too who will come and feed your animals and then you do the same for them.

DP was a bit dubious about giving a total stranger our keys and telling them we'll be away betweens these dates, an invitation to rob us basically but it's not much different than someone you pay for is it?