House sitters? Do you use them and how much do they charge?

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SpruceRI

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Yes, do you use house sitters to look after your pets/horses when you go away? And how much do they charge for:

Just house sitting
With dog/s
With horse/s

Or alternatively, if you have cats/caged pets, do you pay someone to come in once/twice a day to feed/check on them?

Thanks
 
I look after a friends field kept horses, house and cats when she is away and I get £8 a visit. Its only a couple of miles away and its easy, opening/shutting curtains, feeding the cats and checking the horses.
 
I house sit for a couple of people, both give me £20 a day, One family has two dogs and occasionally their daughters house rabbit and the other family has two dogs and a cat.
I have recently house sat for my boyfriends parents and they gave me £10 a day, they have 1 dog, a bird and tortoises (sp) but i didn't need to do anything with the bird and tortoises as it was only for two days.

I didn't choose to charge £20 at first, this is what they offered.
 
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I have 3 horses & 2 semi feral barn cats. I pay my house sitter £25 per day. I work it out as £5 per day for each horse, £5 per day for the cats & £5 per day for the house. Horses are out all day & in at night & she copes with any problems (eg horse cut leg in field so she had to get vet & poultice for 3 days) usually horses have a holiday when we are away so doesn't include riding. Cats get fed when horses get fed & live in same barn as horses. She keeps house tidy & clean for us coming home. She's very reliable & always does a good job.
 
I do this - I charge 10 pound per hour for dog walking, pet sitting ie visiting - feeding, watering, walking etc . I've not done any horses yet just pets and houses... x
 
Oops do you all want to come and work for me! I pay £40 day plus wine (!) but expect my dogs, horses and other aminals to be looked after v v v well - it's almost a full time job.

If you look on a website such as animal aunts you will see what a company would charge.

I like to pay enough that I dont feel guilty expecting a really good service.
 
I can recommend Animal Aunts, they supply people nationwide. I used to work for them years ago and I was great fun. I went to some fantastic houses, some lovely horses and some very famous people. They supply all sorts of people from pensioners who look after the house, gold fish to people who keep their business going while they are away. Everyone on the books is checked and CRB checked. It was a good job and payed reasonably, I think the basic in those days was £25 per day plus food, that was 20 years ago though. So good if you want an aunt and good if you want to be one!!
 
Recently I looked after 5 horses and 2 cats whilst the owners we away, and went round the house making sure everrything was ok, doing lights and curtains etc, I charged £15 a day to inc the poo picking (Small ponies and not a lot of work!) however if the horses had needed turning in/out mucking out etc, I would have reverted to my hourly rate to make it more cost effective to both my clients and to me.
I take each case as it comes, if the owner wants me to stay at the house, and to keep the animals as I would do mine, then I charge more, if the owners says to me oh leave them out and just make sure they have legs then its less....does that make sense?
 
i've house/horse/dog sat for a few people.
i charged one person £20 per night, i had to do late nite feeding skip out for 5 horses (bout half hour work) and look after the house.

another house had 2 dogs, 5 owls, 3 hawks all needed feeding daily, dogs didnt need walking and obviously stay overnight. i would have liked 25quid per day really and more if i'd had to walk the dogs.

another place i looked after their 8 horses for 10 days 4 were in over night the rest on grass i think that worked out a about £20 per day
these were all local and to be honest are mates rates really. I was doing it all for people who i know. It can be alot of work if you are trying to do it around workign full time. the 8 horses, i did that around a full time harvest job which was hard!!
 
I pay my house sitter £20 a day, but it is mate's rates, as her pony lived here for free for years and I looked after it for her when she had cancer. I think she charges other people £25-30 per day.

In my case for the £20 she lives in, and looks after two dogs, an old cat, the (outside) goldfish, waters any plants in or out that need it, and gives my horse and the two livery horses their breakfast and tea - the liveries do the rest on the horse front. She's absolutely brilliant and I'd happily pay her lots more if she asked. We don't go away much, but if we do I know my animals are in very safe and loving hands.
 
We pay £30 per day for house-sitters and I have been very happy with the ones we have used. Usually though they are people we know.
 
I used to get paid £20 a day but one only had one horse and one dog who wasnt walked just allowed out around the yard (would have walked it). Included just keeping house tidy as well :). Other had 2 dogs and just included keeping house tidy and looking after and walking 2 dogs! Going to housesit next month for the first time in a while for lady on my livery yard and she has 4 cats and a horse on DIY livery stabled at night (same place as my horse) and I will charge £20 again :).
 
canteron said:
Oops do you all want to come and work for me! I pay £40 day plus wine (!) but expect my dogs, horses and other aminals to be looked after v v v well - it's almost a full time job.

If you look on a website such as animal aunts you will see what a company would charge.

I like to pay enough that I dont feel guilty expecting a really good service.
Click to expand...

Hi Canteron,

Even though this thread was last year, i came across when i was doing
researching how much to charge to house sit pets in my home country. You are so lucky to stay in such wonderful place where you can keep all kinds of furry animals. I grew up with dogs, take in homeless strays including cats, i hv rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, birds, chicken but when our population expand we hv to give up our land and stayed in apartments stacked on top of each other with rule that we can only keep 1 dog in an apartment but i love dogs too much to just hv 1, I hv 3 adopted dogs. I stray puppy that i rescued now staying in a boarding kennel, felt sad that am not able to hv her home with me, her size not approve in the apartment am staying. Am also feeding 2 homeless dogs that i found and hv no more means to house them.

I love animals all my life. I was looking towards having a change in my direction of taking care of animals, might as well make the switch as come next year I will not hv a full time job anymore and i won't earn enough to care
my beloved pooches but i WOULD NOT GIVE THEM UP, working hard to find a
way to have the means to keep them.

Am so far away...........I would love to work for you, it will be the perfect job for me ;) Sadly I stayed in a city that do not hv such job available. ss

Thank for hearing me out and taking the time to read this lengthly thread.

Jen
 
I don't exactly need a house sitter, but a friend usually checks on my horse and three ponies and two cats twice a day for £10 a day and a pressie when we get back. We only go away when the weather is nice so there's nothing to do with the equines and just to put down some cat food for the barn cats. She's a good lass
 
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