Cat sitter demands coworker pay him $2K after he watched her cat for 6 months, cat owner offers him $300 as compensation: 'No money was agreed or promised before I left'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Oct 23, 2025 8:00 PM EDT

Pet sitting is one of those things that's usually done pretty informally. You ask your mom, your friend from college, or your friend's with benefits' best friend to watch your dog or cat for a couple of days, and you give them a couple of hundred bucks for their service. Unless you're a professional pet sitter, you're probably pet sitting both to do a necessary service to a friend and to get a little extra cash on the side. Sometimes people do pet sitting or babysitting pro bono, but that's usually only if the sitter is a family member who insists on not getting paid. 

There's a big difference between watching someone's cat for a couple of days and watching their cat for months on end. If you're doing the latter, you would probably expect some compensation larger than a couple of hundred dollars. I'm not saying a pet owner should pay the same they'd pay for a kennel, but they need to do something to show their appreciation for the person who's been caring for their baby for weeks and weeks. 

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  • A man sitting on a couch holding a cat
    via Andrej Lišakov (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The pet sitter and the pet owner in this story are both in the wrong. The pet owner only wanted to pay the pet sitter $300 for six months of him watching her cat. The pet sitter thought that $2,000 would be a more appropriate payment. Commenters agree that the proper payment is somewhere in the middle, and they should've discussed compensation expectations beforehand.

  • Am I the bad guy for not wanting to pay my friend $2K for watching my cat?

    Hi, I 26F was deployed for six months. My male coworker who I thought I was friends with agreed to take care of my cat while I was gone. No money was agreed or promised before I left. During the time I paid for her expenses as he told me them. And when I got
    via u/Swimming-Champion-90
  • Person holding black android smartphones
    via Tech Daily

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • back I picked her up I gave $300 because I considered this a favor from a friend. They did not like the amount given and wanted $2K. In their words the pet care center (nearest boarder) costs $20/day or $100/week so they should get $10/day because of the effort involved in taking care of my cat. She stayed at their
    via u/Swimming-Champion-90
  • Several cats relax in a cat cafe setting
    via Raymond Yeung

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • house with their other pet during the time so they didn't have to travel to take care of her. So AITA for not wanting to pay $2K? I obviously realize now this person is not a friend and I no longer will consider them as such and treat them only as coworker.
    via u/Swimming-Champion-90
  • jajjjenny ESH. For 6 months, I would have compensated my friend for their time & effort. $300 was a nice gesture but I probably would have paid $500 minimum. I would just never expect a friend to watch my cat for free for 6 months. While cats are generally low
    via u/jajjjenny
  • maintenance, daily care is still involved. Your friend sucks as throwing a $2K invoice at someone out the blue is not it. But any costs should have been discussed up front.
    via u/jajjjenny
  • hummingelephant That's what friends and family are for though. At some point the friend will need help and OP would be there for them. It's a give and take. The friend is a scammer, if he wanted money, he needed to say that before accepting. It's not like he didn't know it would be 6 months. Wanting money afterwards is a scam. Op could have asked someone else.
    via u/hummingelephant
  • jajjjenny I would ask certain close family & friends to watch a pet for 6 months. But 6 months is an exceptionally long time. It's not like asking someone to watch your cat for a weekend or 10 days. It's a much bigger ask. I think the friend absolutely sucks the most here. But I stand by my opinion that the OP kinda does too.
    via u/jajjjenny
  • tHollo41 Yeah. If you're only willing to help the friend for money, you need to be up front about that. "I will help feed and take care of your pet if I'm compensated accordingly. I believe X amount per day (or per week or whatever) compensates the time I have to put in - time I could spend with my family or on myself or working for extra income." Obviously use words that best fit the relationship with your friend.
    via u/tHollo41
  • OHarePhoto NTA. In the military, people watch peoples pets for free a lot of the time. We have and have had friends watch our pets. It's literally just part of the lifestyle you are thrust into. They paid for their pets needs and gave $300. If they had agreed to an amount prior to leaving and OP didn't honor it then, yeah I get it. But they didn't.
    via u/OHarePhoto
  • analogascension NTA. The standard practice for watching a cat is that you'd pay for any food, vet-visits, and any destroyed items, and this you seem to have done. Only a real a- hole would come up with a figure like 2 grand after the fact when it wasnt agreed upon beforehand.
    via u/analogascension
  • PhilipWaterford While I don't disagree, there's two sides to the coin. $50 per month is pretty insulting also. €100 per month would be close to reasonable as a thank you between friends.
    via u/PhilipWaterford
  • rohdawg Idk, with the exception of my parents, I pay anyone who watches my pets in addition to covering food, medical expenses, etc. I think they should have figured out payment before OP left, but it's very reasonable to expect compensation.
    via u/rohdawg
  • I actually think $10/day is pretty reasonable too, but isn't cool to throw on OP after the fact. If it were me, and I was interested in keeping the friendship, I'd pay them 1000 and call it fair. That's just my two cents.
    via u/rohdawg
  • Flat-Replacement4828 Info: was he aware beforehand how long this arrangement would be for?
    via u/Flat-Replacement4828
  • Swimming-Champion-90 OP Yup fully aware.
    via u/Swimming-Champion-90
  • thereisonlyoneme ΝΤΑ You were not unreasonable for assuming this was a favor they would do for free. I could see them expecting a "thank you" in the form of a nice dinner, bottle of whiskey, or what have you. But to make the calculations like they did just seems mercenary.
    via u/thereisonlyoneme
  • Firm-Ad5337 I think both of you approached this poorly. So neither are assholes, just bad communication. Not wise to run a deal with spelling out proper terms. A lot of assumptions on both sides and here we are. Hope you learn your lesson from this
    via u/Firm-Ad5337
  • A_username_here YTA. Leaving your cat with someone for 6 months and then only giving them $300 is crazywork to me. $2k sounds reasonable.
    via u/A_username_here

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