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.

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.

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 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.

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

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?

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.

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.

$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.

$5

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.

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?