I Have 22 Cats, What To Pay Sitter?

2 dozen

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I do T/N/R and have not been able to release some cats due to some not feral, injured or too young when mama died. So I have ended up with 22 cats; most can be touched but a number are semi to completely feral. Any info online concerning paying a cat sitter is not truly helpful to me as I have so many. I will need someone to scoop the litter, about 10 pans as impossible to have 22 pans, and feed them once per day.
I shall be away for 2 weeks. Someone will be home but won't touch litter! ( Can't say I blame them)
I live in rural Pa if that is a factor in price.
Person I have asked makes only minimum wage and hasn't done this as a side job before so neither of us have a good idea of what the payscale is. She has left it up to me to come up with a daily price.
Thanks for any thoughts.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. I agree with checking care.com. You can review all the potential sitters' records, get references, and actually interview them. I interviewed a couple to take care of my cat, my squirrels, and birds. She wanted to know every step of what I did, and to follow me around and replace me doing it so she understood what was necessary. They generally dictate the cost, but depending on who they are and how they handle their own affairs, they can be willing to negotiate.
 

theyremine

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I pay $50 per day for someone to come in twice a day to scoop 4 pans, give fresh water and feed my 5 cats. She rarely even sees any of my cats as they are former ferals and hide in the closets until she leaves. However, pet care is very expensive here in MA.
My sister lives in MD and pays $15 for someone to come in once a day. She has just one cat but the woman visits with the cat for about half an hour.
So I'm thinking somewhere between $15 and $25 per day depending on wages in your area.
 
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2 dozen

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Thank you for your responses.

As stated, I've searched online, care.com being one site. The difficulty is the number of cats, therefore the number of litter pans to be scooped and the trays of food put out. I use the daisy shaped snack trays with 6 sections around a middle section from the dollar store. So 3 trays need filling and I don't know if she will clean or my husband who won't get involved with my crazy cat lady syndrome but at least tolerates it. Our vet calls him a saint!

Most info is for 1-3 or so cats. Would $35-50 be a fair amount? No play time needed as some will hide but they have enough companions anyway.

She is familiar with cats as I met her when I saw numerous cats around her house and I got them spayed/neutered.
 

Furballsmom

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Why don't you do cash plus a chewy gift card or something, depending on what she actually does?
 
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2 dozen

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Do you think $35 -50 per day is fair? Also will bring gift back from vacation. She does not have a computer to use Chewy.

I give her large bags of dogfood I get for our 2 dogs from Amazon Warehouse deals as she has a dog but alas, no more cats.
 

Furballsmom

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Oh I see, there are a couple extra things here.
I think your amount per day is quite fair plus something from your trip. That's thoughtful :)
 
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2 dozen

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Thanks. Having 22 cats, (not an intentional situation, just can't release some) is unusual and hard to match with posted sitter rates as who is nuts enough to have so many friggin' cats!
 

Furballsmom

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LOL, bless your heart, you are an awesome and amazing person!!

If you have a chance, let us know how things are going :heartshape:
 

Tobermory

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I think $35-$50 is fair if you’re in a more rural setting. I also think it depends on what’s in your litter boxes! If it’s hard clumping litter in larger boxes and it’s deep enough (3-4 inches), then scooping should be pretty easy and fairly quick. I have only three cats and four boxes, but I use big boxes, good clumping litter, and about 3 1/2 inches so it’s easy. But the shelter where I volunteer uses pine pellets in some boxes and poorly clumping litter in others—and not enough depth in either—and it takes forever to scoop and clean nine boxes. Plus one of the kitties has chronic diarrhea and that adds to the cleaning time.

Good luck! That’s quite a crew to cater to!
 

kittypa

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My sitter charges by the visit. I have her come twice a day when we’re away, which isn’t very often these days. I have 7 (4 inside and 3 outside) now though, so we’ll see if the price goes up next time. Current rate is $27.50 per visit.
 

Tobermory

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My sitter also charges by the visit: 30 minutes @ $22 for 1-2 pets with an additional $2 for each additional pet.
 

marmoset

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Mine does less than $20 per day for 5 cats (one gets meds) and a salad eating lizard. As well as bringing in mail and bringing in/ out garbage pails. There have been times where we've had fosters so they've come in multiple times a day and then it's $25 for the day. We never pay just this much though. We get a friend and her daughter- both work at a cat shelter. These people know how to handle emergencies and how to handle cats if needed.

10 litter boxes being used by 22 cats probably need more than just scooping. If they have to be completely dumped out and refilled that's more labor. Much more heavy lifting etc. So I'd err on the safe side and pay closer to 45-50 for at least the days where complete fills needed to be done or just average that out across each day so it's a nice flat daily rate.

Gifts are very nice to show appreciation but generally should be not taken into account in how much pay to give someone unless it was something the person specifically requested.
 
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