What do you do with your pets? Opinions needed.

[mommy22gurlz]

We will be at DW for a total of 8 days in December, we have a cat and a dog. The cat I am not too worried about because he barely likes us anyway

But I think that my dog really thinks she is human!!! She is so sweet and really attached to us and I am worried about leaving them for 8 days. My plan is just to have someone come over every morning and every night to feed them and to open/close my back garage door which is were she goes out the doggy door to go potty in the backyard. But I have some worries....first, my dog (Lila) really gets lonely when she's alone during the day not to mention 8 full days and then I worry that while her doggy door is open and she goes out to the backyard that she'll get out or something and no one will even know!!

I considered leaving her at my parents but they don't allow animals in their house and if I left her in their backyard and she got out she might not know where to go back to and get lost.


I called to check for pet boarding at our local vet and it will roughly cost me 225.00. Anyone have any experience with boarding their pets??

Any advice would be appreciated!

Tammy

 

[Mr Poohbrain]

We had 2 furbabies and we have one of my DS's daycare teachers housesit for us. She's a college girl, so she enjoys the "freedom" of having the place to herself and we pay her a decent amount - put it this way, I pay her what it would cost me to kennel them, but I have the safety and assurance that my pets and house are safe. An added bonus is that the dogs aren't stressed out b/c they're in their own environment and I don't have to pay for grooming (they typically come home smelling "yucky" if they're at the kennel).

So, my suggestion would be a responsible babysitter/teacher/neighbor or someone from your vet's office, that you have a good relationship with.

Best of luck,

Mrs. PB

PS - I'm sure your cat LOVES you - he/she just doesn't know how to show it.

 

[disnut8]

We have five cats who are our children now that the son has gotten married and left home. Before the cats, we allowed dogs to adopt us.

Not sure where you are from but here in the metro Atlanta area, we have several pet sitting services. We have a wonderful woman (they have a dedicated person for each family) who comes in on whatever days we want her to and takes care of the cats. She feeds them, pets them, and stays about a half hour. She changes their litter box, refills the water, and makes sure everything is OK. She also will take out and bring back in our garbage bin and our recycling bin. She collects our newspapers from the driveway and brings in and organizes the mail. She will also rotate the blinds, water the plants, and change lighting so it looks like someone is home all the time. And we get a written daily report on everything, including what the weather was like when we were gone.

We don't have dogs now but they will do the same thing with the dogs. Visit however many times during the day that you need them. And do the same inside stuff. We get away with a little less than $20/day for all five cats.

There are so many of these wonderful businesses popping up so check it out where you are. In fact, my sister-in-law, in a totally different state is making a small fortune doing this. It's great since your children never have to leave the house and you get someone there every day to make sure things are fine. Excellent piece of mind while on vacation.

 

[Jackie H.]

These recommendations would be the best, but they are not available (like they are not for me) then you can kennel them. We take ours to our vet. He is wonderful with them and so are all the people who work there. We left our sweet little Rat Terrier (her name is Sweetie) for 17 days last summer while we went to Yellowstone. We would call from vacation to check on her and they were great. She was fine. I mean, it was obvious she would've rather stayed home...but she didn't lose any weight, she was clean and healthly when we got her back. She didn't need any re-training or show any signs of any "emotional trama" from being left there. I don't guess all vets would be this great, but if you have a good one it will be OK to leave them there.

 

[jbd]

Let us know what you figure out. We've got three dogs and our usual dog sitter just joined the army. I'm reluctant to kennel them (although there are some reasonably priced ones around) because they're all rescued dogs and have their own quirks.

Thanks

 

[thaggie]

I have 2 labs. We always hire someone to come and stay with them. Not only are the dogs kept on their normal routine and not lonely, we have the added benefit of our house not being empty while we are away.

 

[GingerbreadCoffin]

We have a 7 month old American Eskimo(named Zero ).We travel alot and we always leave him at a kennel. Most kennels will walk or have play time with your pet for a small fee.Ours is $12 a day and then $1.50 for a 15 minute walk and $3 for half an hour of playtime.

 

[LovePug]

Well....the Rottie and the Border Collie we board at a kennel (the Pug goes with us).

If you go the kennel route, do a surprise visit to the kennel you're considering and ask for a tour. The first kennel we used, we hadn't done that and we regretted it. The poor babies came back dirty. The BC's hair (she's a long hair) was matted. They were truly traumatized . I felt horrible. The next time, we found another placed and popped in on them, like you would a daycare, and asked for a tour. The place was spotless and all the dogs were clean. They have elevated beds for them also. They take them out in a fenced-in play area every 3 hours and they bathe and groom them before they are picked up. We love this place and have boarded there ever since.

I highly recommend the surprise visit. If they refuse to give you a tour (or make an excuse for you to come back later), I wouldn't use them.

 

[mommy22gurlz]

Well....the Rottie and the Border Collie we board at a kennel (the Pug goes with us).

If you go the kennel route, do a surprise visit to the kennel you're considering and ask for a tour. The first kennel we used, we hadn't done that and we regretted it. The poor babies came back dirty. The BC's hair (she's a long hair) was matted. They were truly traumatized . I felt horrible. The next time, we found another placed and popped in on them, like you would a daycare, and asked for a tour. The place was spotless and all the dogs were clean. They have elevated beds for them also. They take them out in a fenced-in play area every 3 hours and they bathe and groom them before they are picked up. We love this place and have boarded there ever since.

I highly recommend the surprise visit. If they refuse to give you a tour (or make an excuse for you to come back later), I wouldn't use them.

Lovepug, I think this is a great idea, our local vet that we use is the one here that has the kennel so I feel pretty comfortable with leaving her there, but I think that I will do a pop in visit and just ask for a tour of the kennel section.
I am really leaning towards the kennel solution because I just feel safer with her there instead at home by herself, granted that I am happy with my surprise vist.

By the way I LOVE your pug!! Lila is a pug too!! They are just so cute.

Thanks,Tammy

 

[twoeeyy]

Is it possible for you parents to come to your house and stay while your gone?

 

[mommy22gurlz]

Is it possible for you parents to come to your house and stay while your gone?

twoeeyy- my dad is a truck driver so he is hardly ever home and I really doubt my step-mom would as she also has a job and her own things to take of and probably wouldn't want to be bothered. .

I have been trying so hard to think of someone to come and housesit for us and we would even pay them but I really cannot think of anyone, My first idea was my sister who is 18 but then she decided that is moving to another city about 3 hours away in August !! So there went that idea....... So my only other option was just to have friends come over the house to feed and let out the animals daily but I don't really feel to comfortable with that like I mentioned above, so......It's looking more like a kennel might be our best option.

Tammy

 

[LovePug]

Tammy,

My Pug also thinks she's human and doesn't do well in a kennel (which is one of the reasons that she goes with us). I like the idea that the kennel is also your vet. Not to scare you but, on our first trip, we would drop Cassie at one of the kennels at the parks on our way in and pick her up when we were heading back to our hotel. She wouldn't eat or drink while she was in the kennel and we'd come back to find her with her little nose having that white rim around it (the sign of dehydration). Now we just leave her in the room while we're at the parks and she does fine. It's just like leaving her when we go somewhere at home. My point is, if Lila starts to react like that, at least she'll be at the Vet's kennel.

By the way, my name is Tam(i) too .

 

[mommy22gurlz]

Tami

See I would LOVE to take her with us!! But I don't they Disney allows animals on sight (?right?) That would be so cool, she could just wait for us in the room.....What is it with pugs anyway? I have had other dogs before but she is like the sweetest, smartest and loving dog we've ever had She's got such a personality on her, she almost ranks right up their with the kiddos!!

 

[Bella2000]

My cat used to stay home on our short trips but now that she is older she boards in a cat condo. I was really apprehensive our first trip (yeah I called everyday) but she was totally spoiled. Check out Cat Tail Inn & Notch Above the Nest. when I walked into the place I thought you've got to be kidding me. you should see the brochure it's a hoot.

 

[Mr Poohbrain]

What about one of your sister's friends??? Are there any that you know and would trust to stay at your house without having to worry about them having a huge party???

(My baby/house/dog sitter's cell phone message ends with "have a blessed day", so even though she's only 19, I feel pretty comfortable that we don't have to worry about coming home to a trashed house.)


Mrs PB

 

[twoeeyy]

I figured out your problem. Simply bring them with you, but instead of leaving them in your room or in a kennel just dress them up in some little cute outfits and put them in a carriage, I bet know one would know the difference .

Of course I am joking, but seriously I hope you are able to find a plan that works for you. My dad just found out this past weekend that he will be sitting our beagle for 10 nights in Oct. Thank god he loves her

 

[LibertyLover]

I have 5 dogs, 4 of whom are rescues. One, a whippet, has seperation anxiety and is on doggy prozac which helps. We have a very good boarding kennel on the road to the airport that we use for them. I can't pretend that I like leaving the furchildren, but they are fine, even the whippet with SA. The kennel people take them out and exercise them in the agility area. Just what I need - teaching whippets to jump. Dogs do very well at well-run kennels, and truthfully, I would be happier with mine in a kennel than at home with a neighbor coming in to feed them because I would be afraid that they would get out and get lost. The longest we left them was for 2 weeks when we went to China to bring our daughter home - even then they were fine. happy to get home of course and fascinated by the newcomer to the family.

 

[LovePug]

Tami

See I would LOVE to take her with us!! But I don't they Disney allows animals on sight (?right?) That would be so cool, she could just wait for us in the room.....What is it with pugs anyway? I have had other dogs before but she is like the sweetest, smartest and loving dog we've ever had She's got such a personality on her, she almost ranks right up their with the kiddos!!

No, they don't except at Fort Wilderness. If you're somebody who must stay onsite, then that is your only option. We stay offsite instead. For our next trip we're renting a house from someone on these boards . I can't wait!

 

[Sillyminny40]

A professional dog keenel is a good idea. There is no stress and the dogs love it. I was worried too but our baby was very happy there. Yes, our dog is our baby!!