Take Good Care of My Baby!

Caring for Your Pets While You’re Away

It’s one of the biggest challenges pet parents face: what to do with their dog or cat while they are away on vacation, and how to prepare the caregivers to take the best possible care of their furry best friends.

Kennel or Caregiver?

First things first: deciding who’s going to take care of your best friend while you’re away.

Many people have a trusted friend or neighbor who is willing to house-sit for a small fee while they are away. This arrangement is great if you want someone to take in the mail and make sure your plants are watered while you are on vacation.

This is an especially good plan for cat owners, since cats require far less time than dogs. Caregivers watching cats simply need to stop by, make sure the cat has plenty of food and water, make sure the litter box is clean and spend some quality time with cats.

Having a trusted friend or neighbor house-sit with a dog is a much more difficult undertaking. The housesitter would need to be available to walk the dog, clean up after it and give it lots of time and attention. Housesitters caring for dogs basically have to be willing to stay at the house with the dog so the dog isn’t too lonely or scared, since lonely, scared dogs can be very destructive.

Pet kennels, on the other hand, are generally staffed around the clock. Dogs and cats that stay at kennels are cared for by multiple employees and are given attention throughout the day. The drawbacks to kenneling include stress on the animals, who may not be used to being surrounded by many other animals, the fact that the animals spend much of their time in crates or pens, and kenneling for long periods can be costly.

Meeting Your Pets Needs

Be sure to figure out everything your pet’s caregiver will need to know well in advance of leaving. Important things like medications can be forgotten in the last-minute rush to get out the door.

Write down your pet’s normal schedule, his preferences for play (making sure the caregiver knows what toys the pet likes to play with will go a long way toward making the vacation easier on both of them!) when he is used to being fed and walked (and how often) and anything else that will make the time go more smoothly.

It’s difficult to leave pets behind when we go on vacation, but if you make sure all of your bases are covered well in advance of your trip, you and your pet can both have a fantastic time while you are out of town.