Pets Discussions

When we go away, our cats stay in and are fed by my sister usually. They don't care where we are. My dog, though, is always taken to our vet's who also boards animals. There, I know he is in the best hands and he loves it. I can always tell when he he isn't happy somewhere because, when we come to get him, he ignores us. When he is at the vet's, he comes out wagging his tail and kissing us so that is where he always goes now. (Plus his nails are always clipped for free!)

Now, with this new 10 week old kitten, I have NO idea what we will do. He can't stay alone and we plan to go away next week. Just like having kids, I tell ya!

aw I'd watch him for you Patty if you were anywhere around here.  =) 

We've always had two cats and our favorite thing is to find a responsible neighborhood kid and have him or her (usually her) check the cats once a day and feed them. The last place we lived in upstate NY was perfect for this -- there was a family across the street with four daughters. The oldest started pet sitting for us when we were on vacation and, over time, the job passed to her younger sisters. All were extremely excited to get the responsibility of caring for the cats and earning a couple dollars a day. (The parents were thrilled, too!) Unfortunately, we moved away just at the point when the youngest daughter was to become the pet sitter, and her dad said she was really disappointed that she wouldn't be our pet sitter.

Where we live now, a woman across the street is a professional pet sitter and she checks in on our kitties every other day when we're out. She's extremely reliable but it's just not the same as giving a young kid a taste of grownup responsibility.

--Bob

Cats are great pets to have when it comes to vacation time.  You could probably go away for at least a week and not even require any kind of sitter or caregiver as long as you put out enough bowls of food, water, and several litter boxes. 

When we got home from our Cozumel trip, none of the cats got up off of their butts to greet us when we got home at midnight.  My blue and gold Macaw yelled his biggest "HELLO!!!!" when he heard us pull up... even though he never makes a peep when it is dark outside.  At least the birds missed us.

Wow you guys have great cats...I think my older one thinks she's our parent and if we go out to dinner and get home late she is right there at the door waiting for use and giving us "the look".  We have a new kitten and she is always wound up so when we do travel the girls will be with us and Sncickers will be in her nifty new carrier and Scrappy has her spot in the back seat where she sits and sleeps. 

It if is over night then they will stay home, but if longer they travel with us...What can I say...I drive people nuts if I am not with my girls (the cats) with me because I know they are fine, but I miss them making me laugh and petting them...can you tell I don't have kids and they are my kids? I think of what could happen and I have to learn they will be ok.

Ok, I'm a dork

We have 2 cats that are OK to be alone for two or three days.  But if we go for a week we have a petsitter who comes in and makes sure they're OK and that they have enough food and water.  She also brings in the mail and paper and makes sure the house is OK and plays with the cats a bit too.  I have thought about asking a neighbor to do it but they don't have pets and as much as I trust them with everything else I dont trust them with my pets so I hire the sitter and she usually visits three times if we're away for a week.

I have a cat and a dog. Our cat is getting older in years.  Since she was a rescue we don't know exactly how old, but estimate her to be around 9. 

When we go away we usually hire a service, Poop, Scoop and Sit, to care for our pets.  Lately our cat has become aggressive to our dog.  Our vet recommended a kennel for the dog.

I was so hesitant about placing him in there, but our vet, whom I trust, recommended them.  I placed him in All Star Kennels and Poop, Scoop came to the house for the cat.

When we got home our cat was fine as always.  She gets really great care from the girls at the service we use.

On the other hand, when I picked up the dog, they told me he got "cut" on his paw.  They said it happened 6 days ago and they put Neosporin and liquid bandage on it. I looked at the pad on his paw and saw alot of glue on it and what appeared to be a slash.

The next night, I heard him stirring in his crate and went down to check on him.  I looked at his paw; he licked all of the liquid bandage off and I could see it wasn't a scratch, but a puncture wound in his pad. 

The next morning I brought him to the vet.  He had a fever and an infection in his paw.  $347.00 later we left the office.

The kennel refused to pay the vet bill. 

When I dropped him off I signed a release that if anything happens they are to bring him to the vet.  Obviously, they didn't.  They said he cut his paw on the kennel fence.

I will never leave my dog in  kennel again.  I will have to make arrangements to have both animals cared for in my home.  Hopefully, I can find a way to separate them successfully.

We have our Hanna who goes to CT (I know it's crazy to drive from MA to CT but unlike our other dogs we won't kennel her) to our daughter's and son-in-laws. This year I have a fish too and left him with my mom with a note for anyone who came in to feed him (It was cute - the note was from the fish i.e. my parents went to Ca..) and check off the time and date.

We did find a babysitter we love since our babysitter was getting married:) but she lives a distance and can only come on weekends. She's been here twice.

Before I got my kitten I was able to leave food for the other two cats for two day max and they would be okay.  If it was longer I'd have a friend go and check on them and feed them.  My dog goes with my everywhere.  He's been in a boarding kennel once at the old vets when we just got him and couldn't take him with us.  He was fine until a trauma victim dog got put in the kennel next to him and we went nuts.  NEVER AGAIN!!!  He was so traumatized!  Now he's a regular traveling buddy.  Now that I have a new kitten, none of the cats can eat together so they are fed a tiny bit throughout the day so someone has to be at the house.  This weekend my roommate is taking care of the animals.

I have a neice come to my house to Dog sit & house sit. We give her some money for doing. I guess if we didnt have her we would look into taking her (the dog) with us or a boarding kennel.   

I have my friend, who is a veterinarian, come to house sit.

I already answered this but recently we tried something for June when our son gets married and my daughter will be at the wedding and we are going to Utah for a week. We put an ad in my husband's work "list" (like craigslist but just for the employees) and I got a number of responses from students. So we'll try one of them in June unless we go away without Hanna before. (We are in March but our daughter and son in law will babysit)

I have two Jack Russells. I have always taken them with me. If I couldn't, my best friend would dog sit for me. We do have a new pet palace in town. I may check that out. I don't travel much so it has not been a problem before. 

We have an aging, rescued greyhound. Short vacations - a week or less - she stays with a woman who watches many dogs. She loves it there with her many friends. Longer vacations, we pack her in the car and drive, taking her with us. Most motels will take well-behaved dogs, even when the sign on the door says no pets. It just makes for a long trip since I don't think we miss any, not a single, rest stop.

I used to leave my dog with a family with 3 kids. It was nice since he gots lots of company and attention. But I moved this year and will have to find a kennel for Christmastime vacation. I recently hired a pet sitter to take my dog out for a walk on days I have to work late. It wasn't cheap ($17) but he'll get a walk, food and water checked, and a doggie biscuit. I just hope I don't have to work real late.

I have a dog and just recently I had to go to PA for 3 weeks.  I have a brother who lives in the country and has a dog also.  The dogs get along very well.  I feel much better when she is with family.  She is a rescue dog and is afraid of everything that is new.  She is very stressed out when she is not around someone she knows.  And when my brother goes somewhere I watch his dog.  If we are both going to the same place for the weekend he brings his dog to my house and I have a best friend who watches them here.  So Honey and Askem are well taken care of! 

Take them with us after all it's a family vacation and they are part of the family.

Our groomer has a special attachment for Brandy.  Whenever we're away she stays with her.  she even gets to sleep in bed with her.  Life's good!

We have tried many kennels with success, though we hate leaving the boys in a kennel. The first place was fine, but they had limited pick up hours, but the staff lived on site, so if there was a real problem they could be there. The second kennel we tried had better hours, but when we got our puppy and he was eating 3 times a day we found out that there are only people there a few hours a day and that did not make us comfortable. We found a third place, where the doggies slept in the house in a bed room and she was home all day, but the last time we picked them up- after only one night our little boys were filthy dirty as they had been out to pee, and when she came to get them they had rolled in the dirt. That was it for her, her place is out in the woods and our little one (Boo) is only 10 lbs, there are birds of prey near by and we were not willing to have them out in an open yard without someone watching them. We have a friend who is willing to take them for us, and next time we may go that route.

I'm not interested in traveling; I'm kind of a boring person that just enjoys staying at home, so I don't have to worry about having to get someone to take care of my two indoor only kitties. Besides, I would miss them too much to leave them!

We take them both with us, every single time.  We don't go on vacations without Annie & Jack Black.

In fact, we're going to Port Aransas, TX (our coast) for the holidays!  We stay in a pet-friendly place down there.

We used to put our dogs in a shelter but now that we're down to one dog and a parrot, we usually have a relative or friend take care of them. If we really had no options, we'd probably just take both of them with us. =D

It's a lot easier to enjoy vacation when you can be assured your pets are OK and happy. :)

I only have one cat, so I put several bowls of food and water out for her.  I'll also hide treats around the house for her to find while I'm gone :)

I kenneled one of my dogs and I will never do that again, he was smelly and dirty and peed in the house for weeks after we brought him home. And this was a facility suggested by our vet. We have a new vet now. :) We had a woman who came 3x a day to let them out, feed them and visit with them the last time we went on vacation. I have also had family take one each(we have 3). A new resort pet "hotel" has opended in our area and I would check it out and check referals. If all my dogs could be kept together and were given attention and outdoor time and the place was clean, maybe i would try it.