Going rate for catsitting
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Anonymous
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I'm curious what others pay for catsitting- no special needs or medical issues, but your typical feeding and litter box scooping. We've used sitters through Fetch petsitting, which charges $22 a visit, and teenagers in the neighborhood, who generally charge $10-12 a visit. I typically tip 20%. We hired one of the teenaged sitters for an upcoming trip and when she came by to pick up the key said her rate was now $20 per visit. I probably looked a bit surprised because her mom, who was with her, chimed in, "Oh ues this is the market rate now, everyone is charging it." I looked back at previous emails and when she sat for us a few months ago her rate was $10/day. I can understand a few bucks increase but doubling? It seems a bit steep for at most a half hour visit, but maybe this is normal now? Honestly, if all the kids really are charging this, then I'm more inclined to pay the extra $2 for a Fetch sitter in the future for the convenience of online booking, credit card payment, and not having to deal with the key every time. They also do extra things like bring in my trash cans and water my potted plants.
Just curious what others pay. It's funny because looking back I was comparitively woefully underpaid as a teenage pet and babysitter. It was a different time and place but there was really no leverage to command your own rates. Some parents paid well, others not so much. I might have gotten $20 for babysitting two unruly kids for five hours. How times have changed! |
Anonymous
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we pay $30 a day for a neighbor to watch our dog, but that includes a walk and letting him out in the backyard morning and evening. So for you I think that is a bit much for what they are doing.
Some teenagers want to charge adult prices without providing the services to back it up and it's annoying. We now just hire our daycare teachers for babysitting because the teens charge the same but can't be bothered to put away the leftover pizza or the dishes in the dishwasher. |
Anonymous
| Teenagers do not have liability insurance nor would I really trust one to made a determination if my pet was ill and needed to go to the vet or know what to do if they arrived at the house and found a break-in. We use a grown-up who does petsitting/dog walking full time. She charges $20 for a visit but I'm just asking for scooping and feeding, not for her to spend time with the cats since I have several and they keep each other company. Based on my research, she is quite cheap. The services that come to my area would be in the 25-35 range. |
Anonymous
| I use someone through Rover who is $15/day, plus I think there's a small Rover fee on there. Very reliable. I saw between $12 - $20 when looking. |
Anonymous
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We use a local professional pet sitting company for our two cats, and they charge $25 per visit. They have insurance, back-up people in case something happens to the assigned sitter, online appointment set-up, credit card payment, and everything else that comes with an actual professional service.
Along with the usual cat duties, they rotate lights, water plants, and bring in the mail. They also brush the cats and spend at least 30 min. playing with them (they're both very social.) I would 100% rather pay a professional service $25 than hire a teenager. The only benefit of hiring a teenager is the discounted rate, which this one is not providing. |
Anonymous
What does the independent catsitter insure against? |
Anonymous
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My 15 year old gets $15/day for two visits (including medicating one cat), litter scooping, and watering plants/taking garbage and recyclables to the curb as needed.
I might go to $20 a day for two visits, but for one visit seems steep. On the other hand, we live around the corner from the house in question so it takes my teenager all of a minute and a half to walk there. |
Anonymous
| We use an independent cat-sitter. She charges $20/visit which includes feeding and cleaning the litter. Sometimes she plays with them a little, but not really. She has a key to our house, so no worry about the key everytime, but she's a neighbor so we know where to find her if there are any issues. |
Anonymous
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WAAAAY overpriced for a teenage sitter to come by and scoop/feed once per day.
$5.00 for elementary kids. $10.00 for teens. You are talking about five, ten minutes tops. She is not worth that much. |
Anonymous
| We use Fetchfor the added security of knowing my car will be cared for if the regular sitter is sick, in the event of bad weather, etc. - and they are a professional organization with investment in customer service. We had a wonderful dittercand it was worth the peace of mind. But yes - $22. |
Anonymous
^^ pardon typos!! |
Anonymous
But that is an actual company, not a teenage kid. $20.00 is very overpriced for a neighborhood kid. And honestly, having both teens and elementary kids, a neighborhood elementary kid or middle schooler will do a much more attentive job that a high schooler, particularly one who sees her value as $60.00-80.00/hour. |
Anonymous
| We have a college student coming 2 times a day for our 3 cats and she charges $25/day. That includes giving my oldest cat medication (a pill crumbled on her food). We used to have a professional pet sitter come and she charged $22/visit. My friend still uses her and can see via her alarm how long she stays at her house - it's about 5 minutes. |
Anonymous
| Wow, I need to start cat sitting as a side hustle. |
Anonymous
Accidental damage to the house. |