When my petsitter was with the service I found her at, the charge was $9 for each walk & water. Overnight was $35. My petsitter now only sits for two families. We pay her $40 per day and a generous bonus. I always try to send her a cool postcard from our destinations. I also buy her something personal as a gift upon return. Last big trip, I found her a really nice wool sweater in Iceland. She loved it:). I also gift at Christmas When she got re-married two years ago, DD and I put a gourmet basket together with a good bottle of wine and two wine goblets to go with the goodies in the basket. I sometimes can only come up with a t-shirt, depending on where we are - at the beach there's not much of a selection of something she really could use. I stock the house with diet coke - her fav. we don't drink it, but I buy plenty for the fridge when she's coming. I also stock fridge and pantry and leave a first night's meal only to be heated. Nice clean sheets on the bed, and a little "tolietries surprise" on the bed. I actually enjoy getting ready for her to come. I really appreciate what she does for my family, since she treats my animals as I would and that in my book is priceless.

I would think that minimum wage is sufficient, and that keeps it business-like and treats him/her like they'll be treated when they get to be an older teen looking for a part-time job. IOW $ about $7.00 an hour. I insist people who do odd jobs with me settle on a rate before the fact. Many kids just can't bring themselves to put a value on their time and tell you 'whatever you think it's worth'. No.........no....no..no. That means you often 'mercy pay' out of guilt. LOL. If he shoots too low, you can always pad it a little when it comes to pay-up time. I have cat sat for my daughter and her cats hid for the first few days, so the cuddling and playing suggestion might not be the best idea if the cat isn't very familiar with the sitter. Definitely have him stop in at least once a day. I have come in from town and found cats dangling by venetian blind cords. You know cats, they are curious. Seriously, if I were asked by an acquaintance to do this for them, and accepted anything for it I'd be quite happy for a twenty. As said, his parents might be able to feed in what they feel is appropriate.

My parents had house/pet sitters, first one they paid a small amount but I sure didn't like it, found out she was at her own place daily and the reason was the house wouldn't be empty and the pets had someone upstairs all the time with them. The plants were to be watered too. I was downstairs and picked up the mail, they got the newspaper daily that my parents kept going for them to enjoy. After that they traveled for months on end and didn't pay them anything as yes, they had free room and board, got use of dad station wagon to drive. They had satellite tv, a nice house to stay in. They bought their own food though, that was the only thing they had to buy. Pets food, dad would load up huge for them to have on hand to feed for that length of time. Dad also arranged at the vets that for any reason the pets got sick, something happened, he would pay them when he came home as they knew him and he paid on time all the time so no problem there. Alot of pets need the compionship of humas to be with them especially at night as many sleep with owners. Dogs must be taken out first thing in am to go and last time at night and in between but they also needs walks too and must be responsible to do so as some dogs aren't easy to walk or there are other dogs or things to be careful in neighbourhood. Picking up their stuff and where does it go? And if its snowy out, that must be shoveled by law, here its got to be done daily by 10am. Do you allow them taking them out in car and are they responsible to do too. Its a huge responsibility to take care of others pets. I know our pets, our golden retriever went into a huge depression and lay there for four days and didn't move in the kitchen. He missed my dad so much. He also got fed way too much by one set of house keepers. Another housesitter/petsitter, threw one of our cats across the tv room due to it went on its lap with muddy paws and away went the cat. I was shocked and not happy over that. Also found all the pets terrified when the broom was brought out and figured she must have went after them all with the broom. Sure its nice to have things like huge tv and guest area but you are there not to watch tv but to take care of their pets and play and walk dogs and pick up and those things. Some will pay a fortune and others small amount. Or like someone said switch with family, you look after my pets and we will look after yours when out of town. Also helps when pets know the person too and not freak out. Cats, we have had them hide and even when I pet sat them here and there, I had to go looking for them and fuss over them. I tell you they are good at hiding in all kinds of different spots. Also concern of empty houses can be broken into so need to know that no one is telling anyone that it will be empty over that certain amount of time. And make sure they pets are fine if not staying there as fire or anything can happen. Cats still need someone there and their box cleaned out daily and fresh water is a must for all pets daily. some are given treats like at bed time, that means going on call at those times to do those things. And some dogs need to go out during the night and so check for accidents and clean them up. Also some dogs go out really early, must be awake and take them out to do their stuff. There is not partying,etc. when owners are away. We had one time when went to my brothers wedding for weekend, a young lad up the road come and take care of our cats and golden, he got skunked bad. And the kid had a party too, took full advantage of an empty house, so think of all that when hiring anyone of any age what could happen. Lock up all valuables and make sure nothing is left out. Leave money or make arrangements with vet like my dad did to pay when get home or have them call you or give them permission to a certain amount and call anyways. Our golden retriever always walked down the driveway when dad got the newspaper and then walked him back up to the house. And so that had to be done so he got his exercise at least of that amount. One couple took sunny out in dad's station wagon car and he loved his car rides and getting out where we live. I looked after a cat who was allergic to itself and it wasn't easy as it scratched constantly and made itself raw and looked painful and terrible. The cat was lonely too as it was all alone, I would go and feed it and that was it. I did try to stay a tiny bit to fuss over it and then leave it.

Sas, I'm so glad your crew likes it. My guys just devour it. I still haven't found anything else that they will eat so I rotate the lamb, venison, and the rabbit and lamb.. I think I will start getting the lamb on autoship from Chewy because their price is 2.61 a can for lamb and 3.17 for the other flavors. Our local pet food store charges 3.05 for all flavors so it is more economical for me to buy it local except for the lamb. I wish I could find another food that they would like as much so I could give them a can of Z.P. at one feeding a can of something less expensive at the next. It sure hurts the wallet when two cases of food runs $75, and a case only lasts six days. I bought a few different brands for them to try but they just turn their nose up at it so my local SPCA is going to get a donation of canned food from me.