What do you do with your pets when you travel

[chellej]

So we have 2 dogs, a 10 yo husky and a 2 yo border collie. We are starting planning for next year's Hawaii trip...2 weeks + 2 or 3 additional days. We used to have a sitter through Rover that was really good...our husky is a problem because she is a masterful escape artist and we can't just leave her anywhere. The sitter kept growing and growing and was taking care of about 20 dogs the last time we used him. When Nina came home, she was traumatized for several months...would not leave our sides and was super skittish. We then found another sitter that only took a few dogs and had an excellent setup...but she quit. The last trip we boarded them at the vet. The vet called us while we were on vacation to tell us they had a case of kennel cough. Ours had been vaccinated but they both came down with it when we returned. The vet provided the meds to get them better free of charge but I am hesitant to use them again. We don't have any family close and my husband would not be comfortable with someone coming into the house.

Just curious what everyone else does.

 

[mentalbreak]

We have found kennels in rural areas that our dogs have loved. Climate-controlled stalls with access to a big outdoor area, run by people who love animals and living in the country. Maybe there is something similar not too far from you?

Our dogs have always been excited when we get there and run right in to greet the staff, so we know they love it there. In fact, a few times when we have picked them up they would run up to greet us and then try to turn back in to return to the kennel.

We have boarded them a few times at the chain “pet lodge”, “pet hotel” or vet and their reaction has not been as positive.

 

[Luanne]

We don't have pets, but friends of mine use a pet sitter who comes and stays at their home while they are gone.

 

[stmartinfan]

We’ve been lucky to find a sitter through Rover. She has 2 small dogs about the size of ours and doesn’t seem to book more than 1 or 2 dogs at a time through Rover. We should probably try another Rover person also so we have a back up, but haven't gotten around to it.

 

[Rolltydr]

So we have 2 dogs, a 10 yo husky and a 2 yo border collie. We are starting planning for next year's Hawaii trip...2 weeks + 2 or 3 additional days. We used to have a sitter through Rover that was really good...our husky is a problem because she is a masterful escape artist and we can't just leave her anywhere. The sitter kept growing and growing and was taking care of about 20 dogs the last time we used him. When Nina came home, she was traumatized for several months...would not leave our sides and was super skittish. We then found another sitter that only took a few dogs and had an excellent setup...but she quit. The last trip we boarded them at the vet. The vet called us while we were on vacation to tell us they had a case of kennel cough. Ours had been vaccinated but they both came down with it when we returned. The vet provided the meds to get them better free of charge but I am hesitant to use them again. We don't have any family close and my husband would not be comfortable with someone coming into the house.

Just curious what everyone else does.

We have a nephew who house and petsits for us. We are down to 2 cats since our dog died 6 months ago. He could probably just come by the house every day or two to feed and clean litter boxes but we like someone being at home and he still lives with his parents so he enjoys getting away from them for a few days. It’s a win-win for all of us.

 

[Brett]

https://www.rover.com
I have friends and family that use rover

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We had 2 different sitters through Rover who come to our house and visit 2x per day. Our latest sitter announced she is moving away from the area so we now are back to boarding. We have an outbuilding where the pets stay while we travel so the sitters don't have access to our home. The sitter walks the dog and cleans the cat boxes when she visits. We have Ring cameras on the house so we know when the sitter is visiting and walking the dog. The sitter also checks on the house and brings in the mail.

Much more expensive to board. Perhaps we can find another sitter on Rover. It is exhausting having to find and train a new sitter.

 

[Passepartout]

Mr Bear goes to a loving kennel where he has his own 'bedroom' (crate) with non-stop love and treats. He's happy to go, and happy to come home. The best of all worlds for him. $15/day.

 

[geekette]

Find someone else with dogs whose yours are comfortable with and start getting dogs comfortable together in each others' homes. I had reciprocal dog sitting arrangements with different people through time. Sometimes my dog "was at camp" with them (my girl knew that "camp" meant she was going somewhere without me), sometimes theirs were with me. There were times I would drive my sweet poochie a few hours up to my mother's house, and she would always drive back down here so that my dog would be here when I got home. I had Mom's standard poodles many times at CHristmas when mom would fly to my sis'.

Only one time did I have someone stay here with her. I'm not comfortable with people staying here, either, but, it's what we had to do. I did not like to board my dog, would never do it more than 2 nights. And she could not be ok with someone showing up a couple times a day. she needed to be with people and 15 minutes of people time, exercise with people, would not be enough. Few people I trusted to care about her enough to attend to her needs, even when inconvenient.

If I needed to do it today (sadly, no), I would check PetSuites and my vet. My vet knew my dog very well, from puppyhood. PetSuites has worked out well, my dog liked it there, and I paid for extra play time and walkies because that's what my dog needed and I wasn't about to cheap out on her happiness because it would be anxiety for her instead.

 

[geekette]

Wish I lived nearer to you, your doggies could bunk with me.

 

[rhonda]

Short version: The indoor animals go to boarding. The outdoor animals receive twice daily care visits.

Longer version:
The bird is boarded with his vet. This is a long-term relationship of 34+ years! The staff knows him well and he is quite comfortable there. The downside: the vet is ~2 hours drive in each direction ... so it takes most of the day for drop-off and pick-up. And driving that long with an unhappy parrot in a small carrying crate? Not so fun.

Since 2016, the dog goes to a "like home" boarding facility. I understand that he runs the entire house while he visits and enjoys watching TV from their couch. Before that, he went to a more traditional boarding facility with his own small indoor/outdoor run. For grins, the bird's vet and dog's boarding facility are in opposite directions. It is quite a stretch to drop off or pick up both on the same day; often I extend the bird's stay by a day on both ends of our travel allowing me to transition the dog closer to our travel window. Logistics!

The horses and cats (outdoor w/ access to shelters) remain at home and receive 2x/daily care from a nearby ranch. They've become dear friends, are extremely knowledgeable in the large animal care and are very, very trusted.

On the other side of things ... I care for a mix of livestock and farm animals for others in my area. Last month, a friend left 13 horses, 4 goats, 1 sheep, 1 pig and one mini-donkey in my care. The first night? 4 goats turned into 7 as a very pregnant nanny delivered triplets in freezing weather. I was very busy caring for those darling babies!! Kept two inside my jacket at times while rebuilding wind breaks and relocating water troughs. Goodness! Baby goats become quite athletic just a day after birth. (All is well. I visited them last week ... they've grown a bit and are now rather difficult to catch. Still cute as can be!)

 

[artringwald]

Our nephew used to house sit when we had dogs. Now we just have 2 parakeets. I advertised on NextDoor.com for a parakeet sitter and found a couple that really enjoyed watching them. We were afraid they might want to keep them. We're planning on inviting them over for a visit.

 

[b2bailey]

Short version: The indoor animals go to boarding. The outdoor animals receive twice daily care visits.

Longer version:
The bird is boarded with his vet. This is a long-term relationship of 34+ years! The staff knows him well and he is quite comfortable there. The downside: the vet is ~2 hours drive in each direction ... so it takes most of the day for drop-off and pick-up. And driving that long with an unhappy parrot in a small carrying crate? Not so fun.

Since 2016, the dog goes to a "like home" boarding facility. I understand that he runs the entire house while he visits and enjoys watching TV from their couch. Before that, he went to a more traditional boarding facility with his own small indoor/outdoor run. For grins, the bird's vet and dog's boarding facility are in opposite directions. It is quite a stretch to drop off or pick up both on the same day; often I extend the bird's stay by a day on both ends of our travel allowing me to transition the dog closer to our travel window. Logistics!

The horses and cats (outdoor w/ access to shelters) remain at home and receive 2x/daily care from a nearby ranch. They've become dear friends, are extremely knowledgeable in the large animal care and are very, very trusted.

On the other side of things ... I care for a mix of livestock and farm animals for others in my area. Last month, a friend left 13 horses, 4 goats, 1 sheep, 1 pig and one mini-donkey in my care. The first night? 4 goats turned into 7 as a very pregnant nanny delivered triplets in freezing weather. I was very busy caring for those darling babies!! Kept two inside my jacket at times while rebuilding wind breaks and relocating water troughs. Goodness! Baby goats become quite athletic just a day after birth. (All is well. I visited them last week ... they've grown a bit and are now rather difficult to catch. Still cute as can be!)

Feel like I would need to eliminate the word 'travel' from my vocabulary with that many animals.

 

[geist1223]

We hire a pet/house sitter. She moves into our House. She does this as a semi-permanent side line. She and her sister own a 2 Bedroom Condo. They both do pet/house sitting. They are rarely at home at the same time.

 

[nerodog]

So we have 2 dogs, a 10 yo husky and a 2 yo border collie. We are starting planning for next year's Hawaii trip...2 weeks + 2 or 3 additional days. We used to have a sitter through Rover that was really good...our husky is a problem because she is a masterful escape artist and we can't just leave her anywhere. The sitter kept growing and growing and was taking care of about 20 dogs the last time we used him. When Nina came home, she was traumatized for several months...would not leave our sides and was super skittish. We then found another sitter that only took a few dogs and had an excellent setup...but she quit. The last trip we boarded them at the vet. The vet called us while we were on vacation to tell us they had a case of kennel cough. Ours had been vaccinated but they both came down with it when we returned. The vet provided the meds to get them better free of charge but I am hesitant to use them again. We don't have any family close and my husband would not be comfortable with someone coming into the house.

Just curious what everyone else does.

Hi...I know how you feel and not when you find that special person or place. Have you asked your vet for recommendations ? Sometimes they have leads .

 

[WinniWoman]

We no longer have dogs but when we did we had 2 at one time (except once when we only had one dog) and we always boarded them for the most part. As they got older we just so happened to have found a woman up the road who would come to the house- EXCEPT- she did not have to come inside the house because we had a kennel with a doggy door that led into the garage, dog igloos in the kennel, automatic feeders and waterers, and also the invisible fence around the property.

So for $25 per day she would come over and let them run and then clean up the poop and make sure all was well with the food and water.

 

[wackymother]

We used to use one of those country places where the dog goes and plays with other dogs all week, which she loved. But she aged out of it--when she got to be about ten, we started thinking it was too rough-and-tumble for her.

Now we use a wonderful sitter we found on Rover. Our dog is really not that into other dogs, so we looked for a sitter who had kids and only takes one dog at a time. (You can set up your search parameters to suit your needs on Rover.) Our dog seems to love it there, she is crazy about children and they make a big fuss over her. The sitter moved about an hour away and it's turned out to be worth it to drive the dog to her, just to know that everybody is doing well while we're away.

You do have to meet the Rover sitters, with your dog, before committing. We talked to one sitter and the whole situation was extremely off in many ways. I still wonder what was going on there!

 

[rhonda]

Feel like I would need to eliminate the word 'travel' from my vocabulary with that many animals.

Awww, no can do. Travel is an important part of our lives. As for the animal care, it is a game of logistics, scheduling and money. I'm aware of the bottlenecks and try to plan around them.

Edited to add: Turning it around ... if I can do this (given the number & variety of animals) ... then most others could, too!

 

[mdurette]

I'm consider myself lucky. I have a 26 year old cousin that loves the opportunity to get away from home and live at my house while I am away to take care of my 2 cats. I pay her $40 a night.

Bonus: She is a wonderful artist, but doesn't make a lot of money so if I need painting done, she does that too while she is here (of course for extra $$)

 

[Snazzylass]

Currently without animals, but a friend just mentioned trustedhousesitters,com

She uses it to stay places and care for people's pets. She had a single woman staying in her place with her cat while she was visiting me.

Seems like a great option, especially for adventurous solo travelers who are animal lovers Or even folks who have a great location - would be very easy to find someone to stay with your animals for free

 

[pittle]

We have friends that keep our cocker spaniel. They have not had a pet for years and enjoy having Kyle stay for 2-3 weeks when we go to Puerto Vallarta. They will not accept money, but hubs does do various household repairs and keeps their computers working. They even call and ask if Kyle can come visit for a day every couple of weeks.