What do you do with your pets?

[acpalmer]

We have a wonderful house-sitter who comes and stays at our home to take care of our two cats, our dog, the mail, the newspaper, the plants, etc. when we go to DW. For shorter trips, we use the "doggie hotel", but for long ones (like DW), we call the house-sitter. The dog LOVES her and gets so excited when she sees her, totally makes her forget all about the suitcases that she was moping about

 

[ilovejack02]

WE board the dog and my oldest son comes to stay ( and party ; ) lol ) at our house and takes care of the cats. I dont leave the dog with him because I know he is sometimes gone long hours and will have friends in and out and our doggie is a runner.

 

[PHXscuba]

Our Lab is a "people dog", so she gets lonely when we leave her at home, even if we have someone come twice a day to feed her, play with her and let her in and out. Several accidents last time we tried this
We have used a free-range boarding situation because DH can't stand the idea of his dog boxed up for a week, but they moved farther away from us and raised their prices, so now we're stuck again.
I think this summer we are going to try a new boarding place closer to home or maybe even pay a single friend to house sit (she's a teacher, so no $ in the summer).

PHXscuba

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

We have birds, and this has been something we have worked on. Most vets don't take them, but it is a big hassle to get to the one that is their vet and will board them, plus it is not a home-like environment and our birds do not deal well with that. So that is our last resort. Usually, we like to ask friends to help us out by taking the birds. They are easy: put them in a place with medium traffic (a living room is good), feed them twice a day, and then talk to them occassionally. We don't have people watching them take them out. Another option is having them at home and having someone come over and feed them twice a day. It's not as good of an option since they get bored and lonely, but is less traumatic than boarding them at the vet.

 

[hugabearjo]

Our pets are very much part of the family and I would never dream of not having them taken care of. They don't go with us on vacation because they are better taken care of here at home.

If my mom and I are traveling together then we have a wonderful pet sitter who is licensed and bonded and comes in 3 times a day for an hour at a time. They play, get brushed, fed and pottied when she is here.

If my mom and I aren't traveling together, we take the others pets to our home and they are part of our family while she is gone.

Mine is spoiled enough that every day when I go to work I take the dog to the "babysitter" which happens to be my mom.

Pets can be part of your family and you can still go on vacation. Mine are living proof of being adored and spoiled rotten and we still manage to sneak away on vacation.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

It depends. We have taken our dog on vacation before, but she's very shy and seemed to be very uncomfortable in these foreign locations. We've kenneled our dog at both WDW and Universal, and at both locations, it takes time out of the day (though it can be nice to take a break) because neither kennels will walk or feed dogs. (Out of all of the kennels, the nicest one is Epcot's. MK's is located at TCC and while it's large and themed the best, it's a hassel to get to during the day.)

We usually leave our dog at home with our neighbors who adore her. We've kenneled her at home in the past, but it was a hassel. A few times she came home with fleas. The local kennels didn't allow Sunday pick-up, so we'd have to wait to get her. And when we boarded her at our vet, she came home very sick. Our neighbors are the best with her.

We prefer to leave our dog at home because we know she's much more comfortable and safe. And she has fun - she actually skips next door and goes inside excited.

 

[momto2inKC]

My mil takes care of them for us while we're away. She just lives a few blocks away

 

[3boymthr]

I got a lot of the "your pets are your family and you need to treat them like your own children" stuff too when I posted about a dog that was agressive and biting!!!! Um, NO, a pet is not my child and if it comes down to my dog or my child, there is NO contest in even the slightest form of the word!

Ok, sorry, a little rant there.

ITA!!! But then I grew up on a farm where animals were food and even the pets worked!


My DM and DD have always taken care of whatever pet we had at the time but last time since DM doesn't like our new cat, our neighbor took care of him for us. Mostly our pets are cats and usually they are outdoor animals so it's just a matter of opening the door in the morning to let them out and letting them back in at night and since we always put out enough food for a week at a time making sure there is enough water.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere!

My parents are used to bunnies since I always had them growing up. I take my 2 bunnies (cages and all) to their house when we go on vacation. They sit right by the dining room table and my dad gets up each morning and has his breakfast there and talks to them. He also gives them their treats and my mom said he pets them all the time so they won't get lonely. I think my dad secretly misses having bunnies around since my sister and I moved out!

My sister will also take the bunnies but she's often on vacation with us. If we leave for just a weekend, my sis or my dad will come over once a day and check the bunnies. It's a lot of work and stresses them out to move their cages so we only do it if we're going away for a week or more. Once when we all went to Disneyland together, our 2 neighbor girls and their moms came in and checked on them. As long as they get their twice-daily treats and all the essentials, they're happy little critters!

 

[AngelBabyJana]

We are still trying to decide what to do with our dog (Duke) when we go to Disney - usually we just take him on vacation with us - or since my nephew lives with us, he watches him while we are gone (but my nephew will be going to Disney with us). Duke is a "biter" and doesn't like anyone that he doesn't know. We have had him since he was a puppy (he is 9 now), and he used to be an inside dog ...... that is, until he started showing his teeth and growling at the kids. Now he stays outside during the day, and sleeps in the utility/laundry room at night. He does great playing with the kids as long as we are right there (I think he is just jealous of them). We will most likely leave him at a kennel, but I'm afraid of how they will deal with him (and I know it will be stressful on him). So I have no clue what to do.

We also have two inside cats (Jewel & Ellie) and two wild cats outside that we feed (Prince & Emmy). The cats are easy though - we are leaving plenty of food, water, & litter out - then my sister-in-law will come over and check on them a couple of times during the week. By the way, Duke LOVES all of our cats .... he just doesn't like people, lol.

So just need to decide what to do with Duke.

 

[aubriee]

I'm especially curious to know what people who have 2+ pets do....

A coworker spoils my little shih tzu for the week, my big akita goes to the vet or to his old trainers for the week, and my neighbor's son comes in to take care of my macaw parrot. Unfortunately I have to split my fur babies up because my akita would never let anyone in my house, if I'm not there, my shih tzu must have people to cuddle with all the time plus she adores my coworker who spoils her rotten, and my macaw just does better at home. My neighbor's son comes over twice a day to change his food and water, talks to him, and cuts the TV on for him in the mornings and off at night.

 

[*BTMRR*]

We've been lucky to have neighbors who do an exchange with us (we go over and check on their pets when they are on vacation, they check on ours when we're on vacation). It happens to even out very well. On the rare occasion that there was no one available to watch our pets, we have boarded them at a nice kennel and they've been no worse for the wear.

I know a couple who have two small dogs. They love to travel and used to travel all over the world before they got the dogs a few years ago, but they never travel anymore because they will not leave the dogs, and feel that any travel would be too stressful and dangerous for the dogs. The one time they did leave the dogs with a petsitter (to go to a family funeral) they felt so guilty about it that they swore they'd never leave them again. And they haven't. But they get a lot of joy from their dogs, so the sacrifice is worth it to them...to each his own.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

When we leave we are kenneling our dog. We call it doggy camp
This is only the second time we have done it. He is part of our family but he would just be miserable to be left in florida while we are at a park.
Sometimes when I go home and I can't take him we stop at the inlaws first and leave them with them.

 

[letthewookiewin]

We always take our dog to my in laws house. We usually drop him off the day before we leave and then pick him up the day we get back. Then when they go on vacation I go to their house and feed their almost 2 dozen chickens, 1/2 a dozen ducks, 2 geese and several dozen fish.

This next year will be the first year that we will have 2 pets. We will drop off our dog with my in laws as usual. Then we will give my sister a key to our house so she can bring our mail in and check on our cat. I know we could probably set out enough food and water and then put out an extra litter box, but she insists.

 

[crisi]

Our dog goes on "vacation" to visit friends or my parents. We reciprocate and take their pets when they go on vacation. The dog's favorite place to go has another dog at it, he loves going to her house to spend a week or weekend.....

 

[Kies99]

I take mine out back and shoot them. Then I just buy new ones when I get home.

Just kidding!

 

[saremca]

My dad lives 3 blocks from us, and he comes over to take care of our dogs when we're away. This year he's going to keep our Pug at his house. She's having surgery on her soft palate about 3 weeks before we leave so I feel uneasy about leaving her here unattended. The other two will stay here and he'll come over every few hours to let them out, etc.

 

[ChristusG]

We have two dogs (one being a new puppy), two cats, and one fish. The cats we leave at home and my parents drop by to clean the litter box and refill their food/water. The dogs go to my parents house, which the dogs LOVE it there. The fish is fed when my parents drop by to tend to the cats.

Now....when my parents go on a trip with us, this causes a whole lot of trouble LOL. We just got back from a weekend trip to Disney where my parents, sisters, and both sets of grandparents went with us. The fish we overfed right before we left and he was fine till we got back. The cats we set out several extra bowls of food and water and let them have the run of the house. The litter box was a little full upon returning home, but our cats dont seem to care.

The puppy, we took to our cousin's house. She has three little girls and they just loved our little puppy. He did great there.

And our Jack Russell, we took with us to Disney and boarded him there.

Now, when we go camping, we just take the two dogs with us.

 

[GoofTroop]

And our Jack Russell, we took with us to Disney and boarded him there.

Can you share a little more about boarding at Disney? We have a shih tzu and are trying to decide what to do with him when we go for 2 weeks. It takes us 15-18 hours to drive to Disney. Farthest our dog has traveled with us is 6 hours away and he does great!

He's never been kenneled before, this will be the first time and I'm torn as to kennel him somewhere near home or Disney.

Elizabeth

 

[PatricenPete]

If we are taking a short trip - like a weekend trip to the beach or something - my mom will come and let our dog out. For longer trips, we bring our dog to my husband's uncle and he watches him. I swear, Weezer HATES coming back home with us! Our uncle treats him SO well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!