How much to pay a cat sitter for 6 days?

December 6, 2024 3:51 PM

I am planning to ask someone who lives nearby whether he can watch my cat for six days. I am hoping he will be willing to stay in my house with the cat the whole time (which may be appealing since he has roommates). But if he prefers only to come visit her once/a few times a day, that would be fine too. How much would you pay someone for this?
posted by justsomebody to Pets & Animals (14 answers total)

Our professional cat-sitter, who we know and trust, charges $25/day for one daily visit. If this is a non-pro and he won't be spending as much time to get to/from your place, you might be able to lower that a bit.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:57 PM on December 6 [1 favorite]

What town? I feel like that is important?
But staying over, no matter what their situation is, I feel like is at least 50 dollar a night situation.
posted by beccaj at 3:58 PM on December 6 [4 favorites]

My dad's ladyfriend is paying her cat & house sitter $100/day. They're staying in her home, bringing in mail, taking out trash, and doing a little watering. The cat is elderly, and has specific care & feeding instructions (not meds/injections), and my dad's ladyfriend is an 'err on the side of caution' type.
10 years ago I would house/dog sit for some friends, and sleep in their home and they paid me $50/day.
This is in suburban Los Angeles.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:40 PM on December 6 [2 favorites]

I am in DC and we pay $50/day for stay-at-the-house dog sitting.
posted by juggler at 5:10 PM on December 6

Response by poster: Oh I should mention, I have a Litter Robot, so he would not need to clean the litter at all.
posted by justsomebody at 5:18 PM on December 6

For short-ish trips, we pay $25/day to someone who comes by once a day. They're not a professional at this, but a recent college graduate who's employed but could use the extra cash.

Last summer, we were away for ~2 months, and had someone stay here with the cat. We did not pay her, beyond giving her free use of a house that rents in the $4500/month range. Both of us were plenty happy with that arrangement.

Location: Santa Cruz, CA.
posted by toxic at 5:25 PM on December 6 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you for your answers so far! And actually, I have decided I strongly prefer for him to stay at my apartment.

The area is generally not super expensive. Not cheap, but not a big city or anything.
posted by justsomebody at 5:30 PM on December 6

I have paid $100 in the past when I had an elderly cat with special needs. Now I pay $50 - I have four cats, but no special needs beyond dealing with the litter often because there are four of them.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:44 PM on December 6

I pay someone $40/day for two visits a day.

He doesn't stay overnight, but he comes and spends a lot of time with my cat. I think it's also appealing because, like your person, he has roommates and probably wants to get away from them.

If I asked him to stay overnight, I'd certainly pay him more than that. I would probably double it.

But you can also just ask him if he would also like to stay at your place while you are away, making it more of an invitation rather than a request. If he wanted to take you up on this, maybe I'd offer to stock the kitchen with foods he likes, and maybe some beer or wine. Maybe leave a gift certificate for pizza delivery, even.
posted by yellowcandy at 7:45 PM on December 6 [1 favorite]

I occasionally catsit in an urban area. I charge $50/day for staying at the person’s house. If the owner only wants a visit I charge $25 per visit. My area has a high cost of living and I could charge more. I usually charge more if the cat has special medical needs I need to help with. Usually if I stay at the owner’s house I end up using their clothes washer and dryer, eating their food, and drinking (some) of their wine. All this kind of thing is negotiable of course…if the owner would prefer that I not eat their food etc. that would be fine.

For me, the $50 is to pay me for my time and general effort. The litter box being a Litter Robot would not change the fee (although of course it would be appreciated because those things are cool!)
posted by LittleLadybug at 10:04 PM on December 6

Professional cat sitter, Southern California, $35 per visit.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 6:43 AM on December 7

Professional cat sitters in my area (small city, but approach mid-sized) is $25-30 for a short visit, which involves food/water/litter and a short play session. It wouldn't be less for a self-cleaning litter box though - it's about the length of the visit, so that would just mean more play time.

Some things to consider:
-Will living at your place add time to their commute?
-Are you sure he doesn't like living with their roommates? There was one situation where I was really happy to take a housesitting gig for free, but I've had other shared living situations that I genuinely enjoyed.

If he works from home and hates his housemates, then you setting up your house as an oasis for him is a nice perk - but if by "nearby" you mean 10-15min, and he commutes the opposite direction as you, and he really enjoys his housemate community, then getting to live at your place isn't a perk.
posted by coffeecat at 7:44 AM on December 7 [1 favorite]

You could look at the rates on Rover.com for your area to get an idea of what the going rate is for your area. Then I'd add a large margin to that number in order to account for the personal relationship and that apps tend to drive reasonable rates down a bit. They do have an option for staying at your house (house sitting with a cat), so you can look at those rates specifically for the comparison.
posted by past unusual at 5:08 PM on December 7

I am in the St. Louis area, which is well below the US average cost of living index and cat sitting via Meowtel is $45/day for one-45 min. visit for two cats. Plus there is a $15 surcharge, and of course this does not include gratuity. After reading this thread and seeing what others pay for cat sitting, this seems rather high given my location and only one visit per day. I would greatly welcome any recommendations.
Thanks so much and Happy New Year!
posted by eatingstars at 7:08 AM on January 1