How much to pay a cat sitter?

[blackbirdsinginginthenight]

We have a 12 week old kitten, and we are away next weekend.

Our childminders 21 year old daughter is coming to stay at ours for the weekend- she will come and go as she pleases with her boyfriend, feed the kitten twice a day, change litter tray and sleep at ours Friday and Saturday night. We will be home Sunday PM.

I'm leaving £40 out for a takeaway for them, putting the basics in the fridge. How much do you think I ought to pay her, please? I'm really not sure what's reasonable or not.

Thank you

I’d research local Cattery and house sitters and split the difference.

Local cattery would be £20 for the weekend, to pay someone to come in once a day is £30 for the weekend. Do you think that's enough?

Oo, that doesn’t seem much. Ask her I guess and hope she doesn’t say more than £50!

I asked her and she said she's not done it before so whatever we think is fine

You could pay her £20 per day if she is staying overnight.

I pay £16 a day for 2 half hour visits when I go away.

I pay £6 per visit (for about a 5-10 minute visit to feed and check litter box). So this seems quite expensive!

A 12 week old kitten needs more than 2 meals a day, surely?

I'd up the £40 to £50 and consider that the payment, plus a token gift of wine/something she likes.

Jesus, i paid 100 a night for a woman to live in with my Chihuahuas. And left awell stocked fridge & sometimes a Domino's voucher.

Yes, the kitten needs more food and more attention. I'd find a mature person who isn't focused on her boyfriend.

I charge £35 per 24hour period to stay over.

I charge £50 a night to stay over in someone's home and care for their animals.

However a 12 week old kitten should be on about 4-5 meals a day and will need almost constant company. Wouldn't you be better off getting a professional?

The kitten has a wet pouch in the morning, then filled with dry for the day, another wet pouch in the evening, and dry in his bowl for over night as he sometimes has a little bit more then.

She isn't supper focused on her boyfriend, I just didn't put the exact feeding schedule down.

@margotrose the young woman coming has exams coming up and a busy house of her own with lots of siblings and animals. She is choosing to stay in for nearly all of the weekend (except an appointment Saturday morning) as she wants a quieter space to revise. Kitten will have company all weekend, far more than if they were in a cattery, for instance

That's good. The kitten needs more food than what you're currently providing though!

I was going off the vet's reccomendations- two pouches a day and dried food too

If he empties his bowl we fill it, we don't leave it empty, but he rarely gets through all the dried food

I pay £20-25 a day for someone to come once a day (we use a timer bowl for the second meal). She feeds and changes litter as needed.

Kittens generally need lots of little meals throughout the day rather than two big meals like adult cats.

As a general rule, you can't over feed a kitten so you need to provide them with as much as they can eat. Two pouches a day doesn't sound like very much but it depends how much dry food they get and the quality of the food.

Ours youngest is seven months now but at 12 weeks he had five meals a day (about three pouches) plus unlimited dry.

Cheapest I can find on the app I use is £15 for an overnight stay. Average is £30.

I meant to say, at seven months he's still on three meals a day. We generally switch to two meals once they reach one.

@Potatoooooooo thank you that's helpful- I think I'll leave £50 for coming, £30 for take away, and stocked up fridge.

Kitten should be on much more frequent meals at that age in order to get enough calories for correct growth. At least until 6months ( possibly longer if small).

@blackbirdsinginginthenight that sounds perfect. Given the situation I'd have done it for free to get house to myself!!

I used to when I was younger, including looking after kids. No wonder I was booked out 🤣🤣

I've been doing it a lot for friends of friends who I'm now friendly with. Sometimes they pay, sometimes they don't. It all comes out in the wash & I get puppy/kitten cuddles!

That sounds more like it.