Been 4 years , but I had a professional service sit my cat in my home, and I think it was about $12/day for 1 visit/ day.
I also know that their dog sitting charge was double, due to a dog having to be walked outside.
It's still cheaper than boarding.

Is she staying overnight or just making visits?

Could she ask the house sitter what she charges? She should be sure to get this settled ahead of time so there is no surprise on either end of the deal.

This post was edited by socks12345 on Thu, Dec 26, 13 at 10:07

My neighbor pays me $400/week for sitting her two dogs and 2 cats and parrot. I go into the home 4 times a day to let them out, feed them and play with them.

My son is staying at someone's house now and caring for two dogs. One is an enormous Great Dane. The dogs have to be let out a few times a day plus he has been letting the contractors come in in the morning. Fortunately he gets to stay in a big guest suite with a 50 inch tv. He's getting $500 for the week. There's no way the Dane could be boarded and the other dog is a PITA.

Our neighbor pays Kamren $25 a day to feed the dog and cat twice a day and let the dog out several times.

Years ago, I paid our animal sitter $20 a day. She came twice a day, so that was $10 an hour and she stayed a good hour each time. She was excellent....would pick up the mail, run the vac, do whatever she felt needed doing besides playing with all of the dogs and cats and would leave me a daily note about "who did what". LOL

Since moving to GA we don't have an animal sitter, but we no longer travel.

Friend pays $100 a day. She has two dogs and a cat.

They stay the whole time.

I just paid a dog-sitter $20 per day for two dogs, plus I bought him food for his stay. Sounds like I got off cheap!

We had a lady who would live in our house and take care of the 3 or 4 dogs and 3-4 cats. We paid her $35 a day. She was pretty good and we had peace of mind. That was a few years ago, now we'd probably pay her $40, but we have fewer animals, too.

Yea, we got off cheap too. We just switched fish sitting duties. My son watched his son's fish and he returned the favor when I went to Chicago and my son stayed with a friend. Hm. Really cheap. And they could come visit my cats. He wasn't allowed to have any pets outside of his fish, and it was fun for him.

I would think someone getting to stay shouldn't be paid as much as they're getting free room and board? But staying also means, more attention and work? Is that right? That would be hard to figure out.

It all will depend on whether the person will be staying in the house - particularly at night - that is a big issue for dogs. We would absolutely never leave our dog (or dogs when we had multiples) alone with just daily visits for walking/food purposes. Dogs need people. Boarding is not cheap and if you do board you want someone who loves animals - we have a dog boarder who provides home boarding in her home and is also a vet tech and is also bonded and insured (very important to us). Two dogs would add up - but I would expect if someone did stay in the house it would cost a minimum of $100 a day - and I would hope that the dogs would accept him/her. Our dog knows his dog boarders well and loves them Dogs are funny. They might "know" a neighbour or a friend or a friend's dog - until said friend tries to enter the house without Mommy and Daddy being there.

Boarding a dog costs $35/day at our vet, although we haven't boarded a dog in 45 years. We've always had a live-in sitter. It's really necessary now because we are gone for two months, and our Westie is old and deaf.

We pay our house/dog sitter $25/day -- plus a tip, which is bigger if the house is as clean when we get home as I leave it for her. She has a job in our town that allows her to come home an noon for one of our dog's feedings. (Sour stomach requires three meals a day.)

Anyone having anyone in the house should have adequate insurance also. You never know what a pet will do when the owner is gone. Sometimes dogs get very territorial and will nip/bite when the owner is gone. I had a neighbor stay at my house, when we traveled, and there were days she had to be a bit more careful than others. They have moods too.

my original question:

How much would you pay a house sitter/dog sitter?

Friend of mine is considering getting someone to come to her house while she will be gone. She has two little dogs.

to me, this means, someone is staying at her house, to house sit, and dog sit.

Thanks everyone. I will send her all replies.

Moni

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.

I have a wonderful pet sitter that I had for years. I give her $50 a day and would give her more if she would take it. My three cats love her. I can tell by the way they respond to her. She makes two visits a day. She gives meds when needed. In the past, she has been able to medicate some very challenging older cats but fortunately in recent years hasn't needed to.