What to do with pet while on vacation?

[Minnie824]

So, what do you guys do with your dog while on vacation? Here's the thing...we have a dog, older, never left alone. DH's father used to take care of him, now FIL passed away since our last vacation. Since dog is older, DH doesn't want to take him out of his surroundings. My parents will be gone, our friends live 45min-1 hr away. BIL going to watch him, but can't stay here and won't be able to come more than 2x per day which really isn't enough. Not really close enough w/neighbors to trust them in our house, nor a stranger sitting service. Although, I'm thinking we may end up with one or the other. Any suggestions? What do you normally do with the dog or other pets?

 

[vacanut]

I just have a cat, have always had someone come over and feed her.

It sounds like you've thought of all your options. The only other would be to board the dog but you don't want to take it out of the house??

 

[luvwinnie]

I won't be much help because we take Winnie with us. We bought a motorhome for this reason. MIL used to take care of her, but now she and MIL's pug hate each other. She is a high maintenance dog and very attached to us...I mean my dad lives with us and when we're gong she ignores him, won't even take food he offers her! Is there any way for you to take your pooch?

 

[Kimberly]

What about asking your brother in law to take care of him for the time you'll be gone. If your dog has seen your brother in law before, he might be more comfortable being at their place for just a little while. I never liked boarding my pets while I was on vacation, since the place near me charges extra for "special time" with pets. That is a little obsurd in my opinion, so I will NEVER board my pet there...

Despite that though, there are some sitting places in rural areas that will watch after your pet for a week on their property. Usually they're a bit on the pricey side though.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Our old dog is very protective of our property. So if I can't get my parents or a close friend to come and feed her, we take her in and board her at our vet's office. I'm sure she doesn't like it - but I feel that she gets good care.

 

[Regina]

My dog is 13 years old. I've been using the kennel that my Vet recommended for years. Poor pooch freaks out but they always take good care of her. As a matter of fact, she's heading there tomorrow.

 

[Hercules10]

Try here.

http://www.petsit.com/

Do a lot of homework and interview as many as possible and you may be suprised. We were stuck because we were leaving at Xmas and every relative and/or neighbor couldn't watch out pets due to their own holiday travel. We found a lady right down the street who used to work for our vet and came with tons of references. Plus she was insured and bonded.

Good luck

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We either board the dogs and have a pet sitter friend of ours come over once a day for the cats, or leave the dogs here and have our friend come over 3x/day. The dogs prefer to be here, but the cats prefer it when we board the dogs.

We now have 2 kittens in addition to our 2 cats and I would not trust the dogs to stay home with the kittens. Eventually, but not yet. One of our dogs chases the kittens sometimes. Not that we have plans to go away in the near future.

In your case I'd have your BIL come over twice a day and then see if a neighbor will come over an extra time. Or call a petsitter.

 

[Crankyshank]

We just got back from vacation and had a friend pet/house sit for us. Unfortunately she can't sit for us in March so we're going to have my cousin stay over or hire a pet sitter.

 

[MrsNick]

Well, sometimes we have a friend pet sit in our home (he just adores her).
When she can't pet sit, we have our dog walker stay. Actually, the whole reason we have a dog walker is just for this situation. We don't really *need* a dog walker - he only comes twice a week, but our doggie now has someone that he knows and likes and is familiar with. This way, someone "strange" isn't coming into his home when he's already stressed out that we're gone.

Our dog would not fare well in a kennel. He's be sick. So, we always have someone stay with him.

 

[we3disneygo]

we have my mom and friend

 

[Patch'sD]

PetSmart Hotel. Nice Suites (Cages). Some private Extra $ ( Glass Door Enclosed with TV tuned to Animal Planet), Very Clean, Doggie Day Care Extra $, Price for Long Island was $ 26.00 per day base.

 

[lulubelle]

We usually have a neighbor or friend take care of our cat, water plants, check mail and put trash cans out on trash day, but we just moved to a new county and don't really know any neighbors well enough to ask. So at the age of 10 our high maintenance Siamese Mix "Coco" was boarded 9 days at the local vet. I felt very guilty and sad for her, but didn't really know what else to do (when I picked her up, she was hunched in the corner of her cage hissing) Good luck with your decision.

 

[jedi_librarian]

We have a parrot - a very needy, emotional, spoiled rotten, parrot. Usually Mom takes care of her for us. But we're going to a family wedding in Puerto Rico in December and there's no one to leave her behind with! So we're boarding her on the plane with us (as carry on) and she's going "south" with us. Should be interesting. We boarded her once long ago when we first got her and we just thought about her and worried about her the whole time. We're pretty pathetic about missing our "baby" when we're away on vacation!

 

[krdisneybound]

very lucky to have family stay at my house while I am away. very fortunate for this and very grateful to them

 

[Charade]

I have two cats and I board them. I really don't have any other choice. They seem to do ok but I am a little worried about the older cat (she's 19 but in pretty good shape).

 

[arminnie]

I had to travel a lot for business, and I've lived in many cities.

Here's what I always did. I looked for kennels that did not board in cages. Many kennels have an indoor run with a doggie door to an outdoor run. The indoor run should have a/c or heat as needed.

So when I found 2-3 kennels that met that requirement I would go visit them. I always went in the back where the dogs were and did a first hand inspection.

I also liked kennels that required you to bring proof of vacinations. I also wanted to know their plans for taking the dog to the vet if needed.

Then I would check with nearby vet offices to see if they knew anything negative about the kennel. Dropping in works better than over the phone. If dogs have a tendency to get sick or to get fleas at a kennel that news gets around to vets pretty quickly.

Sometimes the kennel that was the best was not very close to me. I have driven 30 miles to put my dog in a good kennel, but it was worth it.

I preferred for my dog to be in a place where they would get human interaction during the day. My dog was just too people needy to only get 1 or 2 visits a day.

The last place I used in California gave my dog treaties all day. He couldn't wait to go inside with them. One Christmas the owner told me "I hope you don't mind but my grandson took him home with him to let him sleep with him because he loved him so much." I thought that was sweet, and I didn't mind.

A really good kennel will usually let you bring the bed's bed or a special blanket and will feed him his regular dog food if you bring it.

Also the best kennels will try to keep like sized or like tempered dogs in adjoining kennels. You don't want to have a tiny pomeranian in a cage next to a huge mammoth lunging at the caging for a week. The poor little thing would be scared to death.

 

[Kahana-ri]

We have our dogs go to a 'doggie hotel.' We bring their own bed, toys, food, they are taken for walks and play time allotment. For your situation though you might check with your vet. My friend found out that her vet techs were willing to come out to the house to pet sit her dog. Talk about service. Not to mention her dog was elder as well and the vet techs were able to give his meds and make sure he was ok. Just a thought-good luck.

 

[DVC Jen]

We have two large dogs.. although they are VERY well behaved when we go on our family vacation every year we are gone for right around 3 weeks. There is no way I would leave them home alone (even with someone checking in on them all the time) for that long. We love our vet and they have known our dogs since they were puppies... rescued puppies.. the vet knew them before we did. We board them at the vets.

 

[PaulaSue]

My next door neighbors, we are really close and do a lot for each other over the years.