Furry Friends and Vacation Plans

[iankh]

I've already booked our 3 dogs, Maltese, Tallulah Bankhead, Truman Capote and Jane Austin into boarding for the week I'm gone this August. Much as it upsets us up to put them into boarding.

Truman and Tallulah are fairly young guys, but Jane is about 14 years old, blind, hard of hearing and missing quite a few teeth, but a fairly spry old gal.

So, what do you do with your pets when you go to DVC? What special arrangements do you make?

--- Truman Capote and Tallulah Bankhead ---

 

[bobbiwoz]

Your dogs are precious.

Buster goes into Big Times Kennel. Buster was adopted by me when he was around 2 from a Humane Shelter. He had been in the shelter for 6 months. He likes other dogs and sort of is happy to go to the kennel because he will be seeing more of his kind. John and Maureen, the owners, are very attentive to their charges and make a big fuss over Buster. We've had him for 7 years.

Buster has a nerve problem that isn't amenable to surgery. We are enjoying what time we have with him. He had a horrible life before we met, he has 2 bb pellets inside him and had a broken leg that was never treated.

We travel a lot, and right now, we have 8 different reservations for Buster at the kennel, ranging from just a weekend to a week and a half.

Best wishes.

Bobbi

 

[mikesmom]

We have 3 cats, Ralph, Spot and Koko. Ralph is a former feral cat who has turned into a meatloaf of a couch potato (boy, did he adjust!). Koko was a road rescue as a kitten and is now getting on in years but still has plenty of attitude. Spot is almost a year old and is a Shelter rescue.

Basically we get a pet sitter. I have an office at home so there is usually my assistant or a college intern coming in most days. Any days the office would not normally be manned I pay the intern to come in and get the mail, feed and water the crew and play with them a bit. Since the nearby college is an "Ag" school, many students come from farms and are very comfortable with animals. (Current intern would probably pay me as she misses her animals). Since there are 3 cats, they tend to amuse, hassle or cuddle each other depending on the mood, so I really only need to be sure that physical needs are met.

 

[crisi]

Love the names.

We have giunea pigs. The cage and rodents either get a daily visit from the neighbor girl or go visit on of my kids friends for a week.

 

[lsutigger2]

I have two Cocker Spaniel pups - one almost three months old, the other about 10 weeks old. They are tweleve days apart. We have a long trip planned in October. Our vet was kind enough to build a brand new facililty with great kennels. We will probably reserve one of the dog condos for the two of them for Oct. DH did the math and it will probably cost about $500.00 for the 13 days we'll be gone. I do hate to leave them, but it is what's best for them now. Later, when they are older and know where to go potty, they can stay in the house. We have a doggy door and get someone to come in to feed and play with them. The teenager/college kid usually appreciates the moneyn .

 

[WOW]

We have a laborador retreiver who is now 2 1/2. We never had to board her until this February and I was heartbroken over having to do that. She goes to a boarding chain named Best Friends.....I was so upset at first, but we were able to call and check on her......they even give you a report card when you pick up your dog. It is the nicest place, people are really dog people, very in tuned to dogs and cats, very warm and friendly. We have since boarded her 2 more times and have been very happy at this place. She seems to enjoy herself too!!! She is a little distant when she first comes home, but I honestly I think it is because she is very tired. She is her normal self in a day or two.....Good Luck!!!!!

 

[jag90]

We have a 7 mos old Rottie, Molli, we rescued from a safe animal shelter. Molli's vet has an on-site kennel. We board her there whenever we travel. I hate having to do it and feel guilty whenever we leave her. The saving grace of the situation is that I know she is being cared for and the vet is in the same facility. So should anything go wrong, heaven forbid, medical attention is a split second away.

 

[MJTinNH]

I send Minnie & Mickey, my two shepard mix dogs to a local kennel. They both love to go to "Camp" while I go on vacation. They are also happy to come home when I return. I don't mind leaving Mickey & Minnie at this kennel because the people there are very tuned into dogs. The dogs usually pull me through the door at the kennel. When I go to the Vet it is just the opposite, they swerve towards the door to leave.

I leave the three house cats and the parrot at home and a friend comes to the house every two days to check on them.

 

[DVC-Don]

We use our local Milton Pet Manor & Resort for out dog. He gets a small suite and we sign him up for alternating days of hiking and play time.

 

[vascubaguy]

I can't stand the idea of putting my doggie, Belle, in a kennel when I'm on vacation. I can still remember her at the dog pound in locked up in the cages and she hated it.

We usually pay a family member to stay at our house for the week and take care of the dog and 2 cats (Lilo and Milo).

 

[kaw1106]

We have 2 labs, 1 Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier, two cats, and one hamster. We have someone come and watch all of our furry children it is much easier for everyone.

 

[MiaSRN62]

We have a 3 yo Rottie named Jasmine. She goes to our vet-recommended kennel. She gets a large run (it's half indoors and half outdoors with a slider door seperating the two halves. They lock the slider shut when the kennel closes for the night for the protection of all the pups. From what I'm told from the staff there, Jasmine loves it there. She's always trying to make friends with the other dogs. Our 12 day vacation will probably run us $200.
We also have 3 cats (Belle, Sulley & Simba). Our neighbors are kind enough to come over and keep an eye on them. They feed them 2x daily and change the litter box. They refuse to accept any money for this kindness so I always make them a gift basket from goodies I pick up in WDW. We miss our pets terribly when we're gone

 

[Disneyfan63]

Hi,

When I had Chloe, a three-year-old, black domestic shorthair cat, I usually just boarded her at the vet. I had to give her back to her owner, my ex girlfriend, on April 2, 2005.

Jim

 

[emememem]

We bring Bosley, our Chihuahua with us and use Disneys kennel. We like the one at MGM since we usually stay at the Boardwalk...This way we have access to our pup whenever we want!! The kennels at Disney are very nice.

 

[iankh]

Interesting the arrangements we all have to make. I realized that I pay $25 a dog for boarding, so $75 for all three, $600 for the 8 days (they go in the afternoon before we leave). At that rate, maybe I should just book a room for them at Pop Century or ASM? I can see Tallulah Bankhead ordering room service.

For me there is really no alternative and just part of the costs I have to figure in for a vacation.

What sort of costs do the rest of you incur for boarding or having your pets taken care of.

--- Truman Capote and Tallulah Bankhead ---

 

[bobbiwoz]

When we're in NJ, our pet sitter there will take Buster into her home, and we pay $25 per day. Thank heavens that Cape May usually is our destination, but we do go away from there as well.

We have a bargain in Ohio, it's $12 a day for Big Times. No matter where we go, when we're away I pay a young man, $5.50 a day to come into the house, bring the mail in and fill the outside bird feeders. I like the fact that someone is checking up on the house.

Before Buster, we paid a pet sitter $12 a visit to visit and take care of Midnight 3 times a day, so that was much more expensive. We tried the pet sitter with Buster, but it didn't work. Buster decided to eat his way out of our house through a wooden window frame. He succeeded, but because of poor planning on his part, he found himself in the fenced back yard, where he just gave up. Luckily that was when WE came home. More than anything Buster wants to be with us, but other dogs are OK too.

Bobbi

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have a kennel attached to our home for our show dogs, so we get a dog sitter to come stay here and care for them. BTW, dogs do great at kennels when their owners are gone. We often board dogs (usually pups we have sold), and the dogs consider it as much a vacation as the owners! They have a great time being around all the other dogs. Believe it or not, most of us "dog people" are very good at taking care of other's dogs.

 

[kathleena]

So cute!

I have two cats - ages 13.5 and 11.5. My neighbor comes in and feeds them twice a day and my dad comes over to say hi a few times during the week.

The 13.5 y/o just started with an inhaler for asthma. I don't know what I'll do next time DH and I go away together. Not sure I want to bother the neighbor with medicating her, although she is the easy one and giving a cat a puff is easy! If it was the other one, he would be impossible.

Anyway - my choices are to pay a cat sitter to come in and medicate, or take her to the kitty kennels for a week. I think she would be OK. But the other one would never be able to cope with kennels. I think they would have to keep him medicated with a tranq. I'm concerned how to handle him in the future. He hates new people coming into the house. Doesn't like change. I can medicate him just fine, but no one else can.

I keep telling DH the only real choice is for him to stay home.

 

[DisFlan]

iankh- those are two CUTE dogs! Love the names. They might even be as spoiled as ours are.

We have a friend who sometimes house-sits and pet-sits for us. When he isn't available, we board our toy poodle, Skeeter (aka Poopy) and our lhasa, Oscar, with our vet for about $12/each a day. The care is excellent, and we always send their favorite blankies, toys and treats with them. They always stay together in the same cage. We'd rather leave them at home, but sometimes it just isn't possible.

I have to book flights that get us back in time to pick them up before the vet closes. My DH hates to leave them there any longer than that. He'll fret and worry about them all night - and drive me nuts. We once got back late on a Sat. night and couldn't get them until Monday morning. I'll never do that again.

DisFlan

 

[Figment56]

We have grammy come and watch the two cats-Tiger & Sassy, as you can see in the pictures! Tiger is a big baby and Sassy is really very shy-LOL! They are just the opposite of their names. We also have two hamsters who get taken care of by grammy also. I miss them terribly when I go. Wish I could take them with me, but neither would fly well or like other people. Sassy will hide and Tiger growls like a dog when strange peope come over, so they stay home with mommy worrying the whole time!