what do you do with pets while on vacation?

Originally Posted By Kimrue

Just wondering...do you have family take care of them, kennels, bring with?

 

Originally Posted By peeaanuut

usually at our house not everyone goes on vacation at once. So while one is gone the others get to watch them. Otherwise we have had people come to the house. With 2 cats a dog and a fish, a kennel could get expensive.

 

Originally Posted By smeeeko

we usually have friends or neighbors come over to care for our kittys.. they get lonely. =) (especially alexander, who's been meowing since his daddy went to work today... grumble.. what am I chopped liver?)

 

Originally Posted By beamerdog

I have two dogs. One service dog who, obviously, travels with me at all times. The other one is a pet. He stays with a friend of mine who babies him and he gets to play with her daughter and dog. He's young, but on medication and sort of frail, so I really don't trust a kennel. He gets excited when we drive up to her house

Do you have a bonded and insured pet sitting service in your area? They're usually pretty good. I'd try one out for a day or two and see how it goes. (That's if you don't have responsible relatives/friends to take car of your pets.)

 

Originally Posted By TiggerPooh1973

I worry about this every time we have a trip planned. We have two dogs and three cats. Before I got Lilo, my Papillon, we would just have someone come over twice a day to check on the cats and Stitch. It's easy because Stitch is an outside dog, well when we are not home and he's in with us. He does sleep inside with us, but if we are not there he has a bed outside.

But since we got Lilo it's not as easy. She's an inside dog and usually goes to work with me. I have a friend who house sits for us when we go away if she can. She travels alot though, so I always worry about what I will do if she can't do it. She takes her with her during the day when she house sits too, most of the time anyway.

I am worried about our cruise this September. She usually travels in September so if she is not here I am not sure what we will do. There isn't a kennel here. Our vet will board her if we need him to though he said, but I don't like the idea of her in cage for 10 days.

A friend of mine has a nephew who is supposed to be opening up a boarding place and doggy daycare soon. Maybe that will be an option.

 

Originally Posted By tink_26

It's so funny this topic came up, I have had this same problem.

I planned a trip this March, but could not tell the kids until I knew someone could watch the new puppy.

The sitter that watches our girls is going to stay at our house and watch the dog and two cats! So we told the kids yesterday!

I understand not wanting to kennel the doggies the whole time. Our doggie is crate trained and happily goes into her kennel when we leave. As soon as we are home she roams the house.

Good luck!

 

Originally Posted By Stacers76

I'll be leaving my monster with gramma(her gramma aka my mom) when we go to DL in Sept and yes I drive 3 1/2 hrs to take her to gramma's house. We're already on a budget so it's cheaper and less drama than a kennel. But we have lots of friends that take their pooches to doggie daycares that have overnight care. And it depends on where we're going....just for one night~we have a friend that will come and stay with her, camping~we take her, DL~she goes to gramma's....darn spoiled dog huh!

 

Originally Posted By Ursula

My sister has watched my critters for us. I'd love to pet-sit in return, but she has kitties and I'm alergic. On our last trip we had two betas and a hamster, so we opted to use my husband's work friend as the sitter. That didn't work out so well, so I'm not sure what to do for the next time. I don't think our hamster and my sister's cats will get along well.

So we try to buy my sister and my niece things they like when we travel as a thank you.

 

Originally Posted By thethe1

My Mom is the only person I really trust with my Dog (a Dalmatian ) , but I have in years back had a Dog Hotel take her but the look on her face as they take her away just kills me.

 

Originally Posted By cstephens

If it's just a few days, we've lately just been leaving our kitty alone. If it's more than a few days, then one of my friends comes over to check on her. On our trip this coming May, we're planning to board her, but we need to check the place out first.




/cs

 

Originally Posted By t1lersm0m

I'm lucky my mother loves my dog. She watches him. My father calls him the court jester. he's a really silly dog.

 

Originally Posted By Kimrue

My father in law takes care of our puppies...(not really puppies, one is 11 the other is 6) I feel sad leaving them. My oldest has anxiety but he LOOVES my father in law, which is good. We have to sneak around when we are going away because my oldest CRIES from the second he sees the luggage to the time we leave, which is also why we pack last minute. I'm excited for our cruise, but I'm worried about my boys...especially my 11 year old. I'm always afraid something will "happen" while we are away. I know some kennels are great but not any by me. So that is out for us. We usually base vacations off of when my in laws will be around so they can take care of them. My guys are used to me being home all day so it's hard for them to not have the kids or me around and just have company the few times pops comes by during the day. He is awesome though, he'll run around with them outside and spoil them with more treats then we would EVER give them! It's neat to hear what others do with their babies when they go away...what made me start this topic was that I saw a commercial for expedia and they showed an over flowing bowl of catfood and the voiceover said "time to let the cats fend for themselves" I was like I wonder if some people ever do that? Not that I would pass judgement, but I was just curious, I just couldn't imagine what my house would look like if I even TRIED that with my guys...pets do get spiteful when they are ticked off at "mommy" and "daddy" at least mine do! Anyone ever use the Disney kennels? also, this is fun, what kind of furry family members do you have? Mine are two Springer Spaniel boys, one liver and white, one black and white...Scooter and Dudley, how great are those names?!

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

We have a 14 year old cat who since we do to WDW 1 - 2 times a year --sometimes for 2 weeks at a time -- has been staying home and my Mom comes by twice a day -- changes food and water -- pets her for a while etc....

We figure she is much happier in her own home than in some kennel

 

Originally Posted By mj9401

We just got back this past Monday from nearly 5 weeks in the USA and my mum stayed at our house and looked after the house and the dog.

The house is still standing and the dog is still alive but I am still rearranging my kitchen cupboards and trying to find things in my own house. My mum even rearranged photo frames and put different photos in them that she liked better....it may be easier to just put Kiara in a kennel next time LOL!!!

 

Originally Posted By DlandJB

In Virginia I used a pet sitting service for the cats if we were going to be away for more than a weekend. They were great because they also brought in the mail and the papers and watered the plants. I don't know if there is something like that out in the OC, but I'm guessing there will be.

 

Originally Posted By beamerdog

>>My mum even rearranged photo frames and put different photos in them that she liked better<<

OMGOMG. That would just tip me over the edge.

 

Originally Posted By mj9401

beamerdog, I just keep mumbling to myself "the house is still standing and the dog is still alive".

I actually just go off the phone to my mum because I wondered where she put all my coffee mugs.....she threw some out because she thought we had to many !?! ....."the house is still standing and the dog is still alive"....breathe in, breathe out LOL!!!

 

Originally Posted By amazedncal2

We have always left our cats and dog home with a neighbor family watching them. The family across the street called our dog their surrogate dog

Some of you may have read my post last month about how we kenneled our dog (while at Disneyland) at the Vet because she had just developed diabetes and were still monitoring her insulin. We looked at the facilities but didn't inspect them. A few hours after we left her there she escaped through a previously broken fence board. She was hit by a car the next day and died. I'm hoping not to turn this into a thread about our dog(we are still heartbroken) but to suggest that walking the fence at a facility would be a good idea. Our dog wasn't a digger or a runner so it didn't occur to us that she would do this, she just wanted to go home.

 

Originally Posted By LPFan22

~~~In Virginia I used a pet sitting service for the cats if we were going to be away for more than a weekend. They were great because they also brought in the mail and the papers and watered the plants. I don't know if there is something like that out in the OC, but I'm guessing there will be.~~~

This is exactly what I used to do when I lived in the Bay Area. Well, I was the petsitting/housesitting service. It was very casual and my clientele grew through word of mouth. I haven't really done that since living in OC but I have noticed a few services advertised out there. In my opinion, it's really the best way to go (if you don't have a trusted friend or family member to help) as your pets can stay in their own environment. It's bad enough when their owners are away... boarding them has to be that much more diffictult on them.

 

Originally Posted By Mrs 2oon

Our "puppy" is six years old and weighs roughly 50 lbs. He is definitely an indoor dog who runs our household. When we are gone for more than one night we reserve a spot for him at the "doggie hotel." The vet that we taken him to since we got him has boarding services. Because he is 50 lbs. he get a pen which is pretty big and he can run around in it. He also gets walked every day. They love him there. He has horrible separation anxiety so it's pretty hard taking him but it's much better than leaving him in the garage.

When we are gone only one night my brother in law will come over and let him out of the garage, feed him and play with him for a couple of hours. They even watch movies together.