Annie Laurie Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 We're going on vacation for 2 weeks and I have 3 cats. I want to pay a neighbor boy, he's 12, to come and scoop their litter boxes and make sure they have food and water. How much should I pay him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovemy4kids Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Not much help her because we have a complete zoo....but we pay 25.00 per day.... 3 dogs, 3 cats, 1 bird, fish aquarium, bearded dragon, geko, dwarf frogs, chickens and a goose. Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Here it would be about $5 per day - or a bit more. Litter boxes are gross, I am told (I clean ours - we have FOUR indoor cats..but I have no sense of smell.) I gave the neighbor kid about $75 for a week's worth of doing the cat care a couple years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Well, I'd say that I'd pay him $5.00 a day plus a bonus for a "good job".... But, seriously... I have SUCH a hard time with this. I mean... I want to make sure they "see" my animals... I would take steps to make sure it's "accident free" Like, a check list... First I would make sure all the doors are "Open" or "Closed" so animals can't get stuck inside rooms. Second, I would put a check list together. (And have him check the things off) If it's once a day, it might go like this "New bowl w/water" "New Bowl with Food" "Scoop Litter & Take to trash" "Visually see.... Orange Cat, Black Cat, Brown Cat" If the cats are social... then "playing with/loving on" are optional and you could pay a certain amount for say... 15 or 20 minutes of that.... Anyway, just my thoughts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Mom Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 My DD does this for neighbors and charges $10 per day. She goes 3x a day and does the following (depending on which pets a neighbor has) feed and let out dogs, scoop litter, bring in the mail and water plants. She has quite a little enterprise going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 (edited) Your responses bring up another point. I have a dog too, he's a 15 lb chihuahua mix. I wasn't planning on leaving him here for the pet sitter, he will either go to a kennel or to my parent's house. He's a nice dog and would be thrilled to see the neighbor boy, but he has some behavior issues (he was a rescue we got as an adult) and he runs away if he gets near an open door and is very hard to get back. So it seems best not to leave him for the neighbor kid to deal with. However, his little heart is going to be broken if he's in a kennel for 2 weeks, plus he was not socialized to other dogs and freaks out and barks his head off, so I feel bad for the people who have to listen to him at the vet's/kennel. But then my parents are in their 60s and my dad just had a knee replacement so it might be asking a lot for them to deal with the dog for two weeks too. WWYD with such a dog? ETA: He's 13, so upon further thought, it would be too hard on him to only be able to potty once or twice a day. He will have to go to the kennel I think. Edited May 5, 2011 by Annie Laurie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 Well, I'd say that I'd pay him $5.00 a day plus a bonus for a "good job".... But, seriously... I have SUCH a hard time with this. I mean... I want to make sure they "see" my animals... I would take steps to make sure it's "accident free" Like, a check list... First I would make sure all the doors are "Open" or "Closed" so animals can't get stuck inside rooms.Second, I would put a check list together. (And have him check the things off) If it's once a day, it might go like this "New bowl w/water" "New Bowl with Food" "Scoop Litter & Take to trash" "Visually see.... Orange Cat, Black Cat, Brown Cat" If the cats are social... then "playing with/loving on" are optional and you could pay a certain amount for say... 15 or 20 minutes of that.... Anyway, just my thoughts... Good points. I worry about them when I'm on vacation for so long, and it puts a bit of a damper on things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I usually pay about $30 for a 5-day trip, but that's if I don't need the kid to come every day; we leave plenty of food and water for the cats, so they don't need a daily visit. I paid $20 to each of two boys (brothers) for a 5-day trip at Christmas, because they also needed to feed our outdoor furnace (wood, and without feeding it, we'd be burning our emergency oil, which we didn't want to have to do). But still, that only took a couple of minutes every other day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 We have 3 cats and a dog. Usually we pay to have our dog go to a fun doggy camp nearby. They will come to our house every other day for $15/day to check on the cats. We've had our neighbor girl come over and paid her $10/day. However it's not a serious vocation for her I guess, as there's been two vacations where she didn't come over at all. Cats were out of water! She'd come and apologize after we were home. She's nice but we'd rather pAy more to people who won't be neglectful. We're going on a vacation soon and this time one of my cats needs extra help as he's got thyroid illness and needs pills and extra feeding and emptying litterbox every day. I think we are going to pay over $30/day for twice a day care. So nervous about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendi Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 For your elderly chihuahua, it seems like the best solution is a housesitter. Do you know any responsible young adults who would be wiling to stay at your house for two weeks, water the plants, get the mail, take care of your dog and give him company? Would he do okay with that? Do you have a baby gate or something to block of the front door area, so he can't run out? Wendi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Twenty per day for three cats, including a half hour or so of loving and play time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 For your elderly chihuahua, it seems like the best solution is a housesitter. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Your responses bring up another point. I have a dog too, he's a 15 lb chihuahua mix. I wasn't planning on leaving him here for the pet sitter, he will either go to a kennel or to my parent's house. He's a nice dog and would be thrilled to see the neighbor boy, but he has some behavior issues (he was a rescue we got as an adult) and he runs away if he gets near an open door and is very hard to get back. So it seems best not to leave him for the neighbor kid to deal with. However, his little heart is going to be broken if he's in a kennel for 2 weeks, plus he was not socialized to other dogs and freaks out and barks his head off, so I feel bad for the people who have to listen to him at the vet's/kennel. But then my parents are in their 60s and my dad just had a knee replacement so it might be asking a lot for them to deal with the dog for two weeks too. WWYD with such a dog? ETA: He's 13, so upon further thought, it would be too hard on him to only be able to potty once or twice a day. He will have to go to the kennel I think. Actually, he might do very well in the kennel, but pay for the extra walk or two a day, as he's a house dog and might not "go" in the kennel area. I always ask that mine be taken out so I know that he'll "go" :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickadoodle3 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I have a friend who pay by the day a young adult who has to drive to her house. She pay $10 dollars a day. I think this is too much. Maybe less. but give incentive to do a great job. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evergreen State Sue Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 My dd (but really I was involved too) got $10 a day for 3 cats for 8-9 days. We had to go over there twice a day to feed, check on water, empty litter box when full (it was one of those automatic scoopers), pick up the mail and paper, and play with the cats. We were there from 30 minutes to 1 hour each time. We had snow during that time and I didn't want to drive there because our driveway was steep so we had to walk. It took us 10-15 minutes each way. This was during a Christmas break and that $10 didn't seem like enough as we had to get up earlier than we wanted to and work around our dinner time and activities in the evening. However, when I asked some other people they said that was the going rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 For your elderly chihuahua, it seems like the best solution is a housesitter. Do you know any responsible young adults who would be wiling to stay at your house for two weeks, water the plants, get the mail, take care of your dog and give him company? Would he do okay with that? Do you have a baby gate or something to block of the front door area, so he can't run out? Wendi I'd have to think on that. I don't know of anyone off the top of my head who is either old enough (to be alone for so many days) or young enough (who doesn't have a family to take care of). He would like that though. But he really loves going over to my parent's house, so I'm thinking of 1 week with someone else and 1 week with my parents. That way I wouldn't be asking my parents to take him for so long and my dog would feel better being with someone he knows for at least half the time. Unfortunately, this dog jumps right over baby gates without a problem. He does not act his age at all. Actually, he might do very well in the kennel, but pay for the extra walk or two a day, as he's a house dog and might not "go" in the kennel area. I always ask that mine be taken out so I know that he'll "go" :) That's a good idea. I'll be sure and do that if he goes to the kennel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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