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Cat Sitters - Cost? - Page 2

post #31 of 43
1/25/11 at 12:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckyBabyCat View Post
Our Vet about a year ago was charging $8 a day, no xtra charge for night???
I didn't understand that charge. Haven't boarded for @a year, but I heard it was up to $10 a day. When we had two cats we would board the one that boarded well, and let my daughter take care of the other one cause then she only had to drive over every 2-3 days. Now that we have only one, and he just tolerates being picked up, I think I'd have to opt for my daughter or a catsitter.
If that was in response to me it was because we were a doggy daycare so we had a daytime play charge and then an overnight charge for campers.
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post #32 of 43
1/25/11 at 4:20pm
I have been running the home alone pet service for about a decade. If i were to be bonded? it would be 100 bucks for each job! if i were insured? that would be another 600 - 800 bucks a year! licensed? for what? so the IRS can have whats left? pffffffffffffff

Im not getting rich or anything but it certainly pays for my car & car Ins. payments on most months of the year... i dont advertise any more because all jobs are recommended by past and present customers including my vet... even though i live in an area where most cats are indoor cats and dogs have electric fencing. I dont think i would have much business if i were charging 35 a visit...... but since i see some are willing to pay 35, I might just try that price on the next customer and see what happens...
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post #33 of 43
1/25/11 at 4:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ms cat love View Post
I have been running the home alone pet service for about a decade. If i were to be bonded? it would be 100 bucks for each job! if i were insured? that would be another 600 - 800 bucks a year! licensed? for what? so the IRS can have whats left? pffffffffffffff

Im not getting rich or anything but it certainly pays for my car & car Ins. payments on most months of the year... i dont advertise any more because all jobs are recommended by past and present customers including my vet... even though i live in an area where most cats are indoor cats and dogs have electric fencing. I dont think i would have much business if i were charging 35 a visit...... but since i see some are willing to pay 35, I might just try that price on the next customer and see what happens...
Ms cat love, just be aware that the one paying $35 has 8 cats and one of them is FeLV, which might require the person to be a little extra careful... It is not the regular job per se...
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post #34 of 43
1/25/11 at 5:23pm
The service I use has 10 sitters and they are bonded and insured. Personally, I would not let strangers in my house without that.

These people really care about animals. They leave detailed reports about each cat, each day. They make an effort to see everyone, and see what is going on in the bowls and litter boxes. They wash bowls. They scoop and will wash litter pans. They take in mail. They water plants. They open and close curtains. They try to get my cats to interact with them, and will play or pet them, if possible. In the reports they say where each cat was, and how they reacted to their attempts to talk/play/pet them. They will deliver meds, if needed. They come before the sitting dates and get details on every cat. They want vaccination records, the regular vet to call, if needed, and the e-vet of preference. They want to know where I am and how to reach me. I can call them or e-mail them if I want daily updates.

Really, all this for $16 a visit. It's well worth it, and frankly better than when I had friends or family do it. I'd pay a lot more.

Robin
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post #35 of 43
1/25/11 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bastetservant View Post
Personally, I would not let strangers in my house without that.
I wouldn't trust that and let a stranger into my house with it as that's no guarantee of their character. Some of the most seemingly upstanding individuals (by their reputation) are complete a**es. Besides that, having the money to pay for it doesn't make you a better person and certainly not more intelligent. (again, see my posts about reptiles. Most people are ignorant of proper care unless they own them)
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post #36 of 43
1/25/11 at 7:42pm
Sure having the pet sitter bonded and insured is no guarantee. But it is something. And something is better than nothing. And that's what you have without it.

Of course the best thing would to know some wonderful, responsible, pet lover with excellent ethics and references who would be willing to do it. But those people are hard to find. I haven't even been happy with friends who were major cat lovers and kind people. They just weren't professional about it, and they didn't check things they should have. They weren't knowledgeable enough, and their reputation (personal and that of their employer) was not at stake. At least with a professional business, they have to be responsible for the actions of their employees.

Regarding the care of animals other than cats, I don't know and will never have to deal with that. I'm sure it has different challenges.

Robin
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post #37 of 43
1/26/11 at 4:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by capt_jordi View Post
If that was in response to me it was because we were a doggy daycare so we had a daytime play charge and then an overnight charge for campers.
Thank you! It makes perfect sense now.
I guess we've been lucky with our cats; have never had one that needed special care cept for very brief illnesses, so never felt special training was needed for sitting. Besides, my daughter is a cat person; she & her husband have 5 now. Never had a stranger catsit. Had a neighbor cat sit once that would come in, turn on Animal Channel as our cat liked to watch it, for about an hour each day. She had never had cats before but shortly after that took in a neighborhood stray. I sort of felt I had promoted "catlove" with her.
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post #38 of 43
1/26/11 at 8:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
^My local vet clinic has some great vet techs that I really like, but honestly I think my cats would overwhelm them, my odd litter box set up would completely confuse them, and the reptiles and insects would probably spook them off (not the reptiles themselves, just their pickiness and behavior - I spoiled the ones I hatched out and they're the reptile equivalent of brats ).

I wonder how many sitters cover invertebrate care? I know spiders, scorpions, centipedes, etc are enough to send most of the members of this forum running, much less the though of caring for them and a lot of sitters tend to be female...
PM me ... I do care for reptiles and actually found someone else who that is all they do
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post #39 of 43
1/26/11 at 8:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ms cat love View Post
I have been running the home alone pet service for about a decade. If i were to be bonded? it would be 100 bucks for each job! if i were insured? that would be another 600 - 800 bucks a year! licensed? for what? so the IRS can have whats left? pffffffffffffff

Im not getting rich or anything but it certainly pays for my car & car Ins. payments on most months of the year... i dont advertise any more because all jobs are recommended by past and present customers including my vet... even though i live in an area where most cats are indoor cats and dogs have electric fencing. I dont think i would have much business if i were charging 35 a visit...... but since i see some are willing to pay 35, I might just try that price on the next customer and see what happens...
Getting insured and bonded is about 100$ a year as there are specific companies that do policies for Pet sitting/ farm care... It is IMHO No guarantee as many of the companies do NOT do any checks.... I checked and then checked with my home owners and found out I was covered via a part of my regular insurance( yes, I have more than normal coverage)....

I have been pet sitting since I was a 8 yr old kid.... Naturally, back then the most complicated animal was a dog in heat.... Now, I take on far more complex cases..No, I am also not getting rich , some in my area charge 50 a night for up to 4 animals ....

For 8 cats I would likely charge 10 a visit ... 25 a night if they need to me to sleep over, honestly that is a job perk.... So I think the OP got a reasonable charge for their area
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post #40 of 43
1/26/11 at 2:43pm
In my area it is generally $10-20 per visit but that is for one or two pets usually.
I usually have friends or family care for the cats, but recently I was going out of town and I had 5 cats that needed to be medicated, which my family/friends don't know how to do... I did have family taking care of them but they couldn't do the meds, so I was able to find a petsitter willing to come once a day and medicate them for $10 a day, and she also played with them and cleaned the litterbox.
I don't think it's necessarily bad to use a teenager, they're not all irresponsible. I started petsitting (and babysitting) for friends/family/neighbors when I was about 12-13, and before that I did dog walking.
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post #41 of 43
2/5/11 at 10:26am
Normally we have our neighbors cat sit, and we take care of their cat when they are gone. But we were doing lots of traveling recently and didnt want to burden them with it. So, we hired a young woman who works at our vet. We recently paid her £225 for 19 days of cat sitting.
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post #42 of 43
2/5/11 at 10:38am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by emilydickinson View Post
Normally we have our neighbors cat sit, and we take care of their cat when they are gone. But we were doing lots of traveling recently and didnt want to burden them with it. So, we hired a young woman who works at our vet. We recently paid her £225 for 19 days of cat sitting.
so, for us U.S. cat people would that be UK£ 225 = 348.48 U.S. dollars? for 19 days - or $18.34/day for one cat?
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post #43 of 43
2/5/11 at 11:33am
EEeek! I hadnt put it into $ (my native currency). This woman was cheap compared to some other people I spoke with. We live in London, so Im sure that is part of it.
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