Paying pet sitter

[Anonymous]

In the past we've typically used a petsitting service as we had both a dog and cat but our dog has passed away and there are a ton of entrepreneurial teens in our neighborhood so we decided to hire one of them to look after the cat (daily visits) over the holidays. They charge $15 a visit- how much should I tip? And do folks just typically leave an envelope with cash or wait and bring payment to their house when you get back?

[Anonymous]

I pay at the end of the trip when I pick up my animals (or in your case I'd just drop off cash). I would not tip a teen. $15/visit (twice a day? or just once?) is a lot of money for a kid.

[Anonymous]

$5

[Anonymous]

$5 tip. I usually deliver the entire fee to their house upon my return, or ask them to stop by and pick it up. I like to hear a report of how everything went.

[Anonymous]

We pay our cat sitter (a neighbor's teen) $12/day.

We have two cats and are gone for a few weeks in the summer. We pay in cold, hard cash. I write a thank-you card, put the money in it, and hand it to the teen myself and say "thanks" again. Our cat sitter does a great job, so we make sure to pay well.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t and don’t tip teens who pet sit. We pay $15 a day for our cat. Kid has to come in AM and PM to feed wet food, refill water and dry food and scoop. Also ask them to spend a few min petting/playing but have no idea if that happens. We stop over to retrieve key and pay cash day we return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay our cat sitter (a neighbor's teen) $12/day.

We have two cats and are gone for a few weeks in the summer. We pay in cold, hard cash. I write a thank-you card, put the money in it, and hand it to the teen myself and say "thanks" again. Our cat sitter does a great job, so we make sure to pay well.

As opposed to warm, soft cash?

[Anonymous]

I definitely would NOT pay in advance. Pay in person after you are home. Tip not really necessary IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t and don’t tip teens who pet sit. We pay $15 a day for our cat. Kid has to come in AM and PM to feed wet food, refill water and dry food and scoop. Also ask them to spend a few min petting/playing but have no idea if that happens. We stop over to retrieve key and pay cash day we return.

Yeah 15$ a visit sounds like a LOT for a teenager.

[Anonymous]

The teenager we currently use charges $10 a day. She came for 5 days and we gave her a $10 tip on top of that. She's sweet and I think she stayed a while each time playing with my cat.

This is in contrast to the teenager we formerly used who's rate jumped from $10 to $20 per visit over a 6-month time span. After the rate increase she left the water running in the kitchen sink and the door unlocked. No tip and we moved on from her pretty quick.

[Anonymous]

My late elementary DD was "hired" for $5 a day to feed and play with our friends/neighbor's cat, as well as tidy up the litterbox (I helped her ). Our friends were very kind and included a thank you card and a little gift. They gave it to her when they returned from their trip.

[Anonymous]

I would not tip if paying cash. I would leave the money up front personally. I only tip people if the money is going to someone different like the business owner and the employee I’m using gets a lesser amount.