Pet sitting - how much to pay?

[LowDudgeon]

I've previously taken my cats to a lovely cattery, but it's a 30 minute drive away & 2 of the cats hate the journey & get very upset & panicky do I've decided to try a sitter this time.

She's not a professional sitter but is a cat lover & lives locally. I would want her to come in the morning, open the flap & put fresh food down, & come again in the evening to put more food down & lock the flap if they're all in; also possibly pop in once more during the day & spend a bit of time with them (they do like some company, but generally prefer mine normally). Also to scoop the litter trays every other day - I use cat's best, so it's not stinky, & can be flushed.

DS2 (aged 23) will be here most of the time, but he's not very reliable, & the cats don't love him much, so the sitter will be responsible mostly.

So - how much should I offer to pay her? The cattery would be £21 daily, but that includes wet food & litter (& also a bit of reiki ) They have Royal Canin vet care biscuits which I always supplied anyway.

I was thinking of starting at £10-12 a day - negotiable, obv - any comments, please?

TIA

My cat sitter is £18 a day for 2 visits. There are cheaper ones but she is amazing, H likes her and she's got a very soft spot for him. She's also a qualified vet nurse so I know he's in very safe hands.

Oh thank you, Sparkly

You've just got one cat? Would you think it should cost the same per visit regardless of number of cats?

What about £5 a visit? So that if she does come back in the middle of the day she gets extra money for it (assuming you trust her to tell you the truth about that).

Think I used to get about £10 a day on average. That was regardless of the number of cats (though I think everyone I knew had two). Most people I'd pop in twice a day, and stay for about 30 mins each time (my choice, but I didn't like the thought of the cats being on their own). There was one pair I'd just go to once a day, but journey time was about an hour, so I wasn't going to go more often. But I would stay for a while, make myself a cuppa and put the tv on for a bit (and get the cat toys out). This was obviously done with the knowledge of my friend (and was probably her suggestion - she was happy so long as her cats were happy).

IMO if you think she'll do a good job it'll be worth paying a bit more. (Has memories of one person who promised she'd come twice a day but obviously only came once as only half the cat food had been used - we never asked her again.)

The local recommended one is £8 for one visit or £15 for two. We are going with a cattery for BogBastard this summer which is £10.50 a day (for a pretty posh option although they don't do reiki!)

I pay £10 a day for two visits, but things are quite cheap round these parts. (North Staffs).

I've just got the one cat. She £18 a day for 1-3 cats, £22 for 4-5 cats and the £2 per cat extra for 6 or more.

Quite a range of prices then! Thanks, all

Bogburglar, my reiki place is £10 for one so similar charges there.

£5 per visit sounds like a good starting point. She works only a 2-minute drive/5-10 minute walk away so popping in before work & during the day should be quick & easy. I don't know exactly where she lives though so the evening one might be more effort - weekends too.

NameChange, tea & TV & a bit of a play is something I'd wondered about - depends how much time she has I suppose. I'll ask about that too. It's nearly 4 weeks before we go so I'm hoping she'll be able to pop in a couple more times to get familiar with everything.

Well she's absolutely lovely - & she's not keeping the money herself, it's for a local cat welfare group she helps out with - & she's only charging £4 a day

I said I thought it should be much more than that, & she said if I'm happy with her service, maybe I'd like to make a donation as well!

Strewth - you've got a bargain there! Really nice she's doing it for charity. Maybe get her some chocolates or something whilst you're away, so she's getting something out of it as well...?

Depends on her home situation she might like having somewhere to herself for a wee bit. When I fed cats when living at my mum's I certainly appreciated having some privacy for a wee while. (Not that I got up to anything at my friends' houses, you understand, it's just my mother is very full on and never lets me have time to myself. Being able to sit down with a cuppa and not being asked questions all the time was bliss!)

One thing I'd heartily recommend is that you leave the vets details (saying you'll cover all costs) together with notes if cats have been ill / acting strangely recently etc, and a cat box somewhere vaguely obvious. Not that I wish to alarm you or anything, but twice I've had to get cats to the vets and although I've known which vets they've used and getting them there both times has been simple, it turned out that both cats had been ill beforehand and I hadn't been prewarned.

Thanks, NameChange - yes, I thought I'd bring her something back for herself as well as making a donation.

We sorted out the vet details (it's a 2-minute walk away so quite handy) but good point about the carrier - she has cats herself, so will certainly have one, but it makes sense to get one of mine out (they're the folding kind) & leave it handy.

Also it dawned on me later I didn't mention insurance - they're all insured, but in the event of illness/accident you have to speak to the insurers first, don't you? So I'll need to dig those out too.

Great to know they'll be in such good hands

My cat sitter is used to Harry's requirements now but I still leave a list of details - vet, insurance, contact details if she can't get hold of me (Mum), whereabouts of the carrier as I don't leave it out, etc.

When I claimed on the insurance I didn't speak to them first, I just put in a claim and hoped for the best!