Adults Only --- nervous to leave furbaby behind

[kiford]

I can't tell you to not worry about furbaby because I worry all the time when I'm away about my 3 cats. DH has to stop me from calling or texting when we're away. But they are always fine. I usually keep mine at home now and have friends come in to feed them and play a bit with them. They do really prefer to stay at home in a familiar place. I had one who has now sadly passed away after surgery but in her last year, I'd board her at the vet so that she could be watched more closely and left the other two home. I was constantly worried about her, then would go to pick her up only to have the vet staff all come out to pet her to say goodbye, rave about how adorable she was and how they'd put her in a basket in the middle of the main treatment area so that she could get regular attention (what a total little princess she was). That's when I realized that she was perfectly fine and happy while I was gone. And my friends tell me about how the others come and greet them when they come in to feed them, even when one of my previous cats was 19 years old. They're really happy to see us come home but they're also perfectly fine while we're gone.

 

[drwadadli]

A side note to everything written....

Maybe your dog doesn't want to go up the gets into your in-laws because at 14, he has arthritis and those steps are getting difficult to climb. I will guarantee that at 14 your dog has arthritis so I would make sure your dog is on a joint support medication (see your veterinarian for recommendation versus buying something that won't work off Amazon/Chewy).

 

[Bete]

We have travelled with our dog for the last 10 years; all of her life she has gone with us on trips. We've been to 33 states with her. There are plenty of pet friendly resorts. We always do road trips. We have travelled on road trips as much as 3 weeks at a time.

For Disney we would go to the park in the morning, come back in the early afternoon to the resort to be with our dog for a while and then go back for the evening to the park. This schedule worked for us. It's a little harder to do two trips to the park but it's what we do to be with our dog.

I can't say if I'll continue to travel with my dog at 14. It will just depend on her health. I will say if my older dog couldn't travel with us we would stay home and do some staycations instead. I would perhaps consider separate vacations; so, one of us could be home with the dog.

How responsible is the 25 year old? How much time will this person actually be with the dog? Will the dog accept this person, day after day for 9 days? If you go this route I would have a very specific schedule to follow like feeding times, potty times, and even play times and cuddling times. You didn't mention how small or large of a dog you have. Could the dog bite someone if you are gone that long? It sounds like your dog has arthritis based on the dog not wanting to do stairs. If someone touched a tender area on the dog would the dog act negatively? Personally, I wouldn't take that chance.

 

[seashoreCM]

Maybe your dog doesn't want to go up the steps into your in-laws' because the last time he went there he had a painful or traumatic experience there. No doubt you have seen a joke cartoon if not witnessed the actual event where a dog refused to go to the vet'. Newspapers do not quite abound with stories about children who melt down when being dropped off at babysitters' or other places but once in awhile someone plants a voice recorder or video recorder that reveals that something bad did indeed happen to the child in the past.

 

[Orionreplay]

We can relate. We chose to leave our 3.5 year old lab at home this November instead of kenneling. We bought some Blink cameras and then had my MIL visit. She ultimately chose to stay there too, which really helped. She came and went as she wanted. The whole time our dog was home and safe in familiar surroundings. It can work! We'd be standing in line for a ride at WDW and be watching our dog on the camera. We never spoke to him, even though the technology allowed for it. Didn't want to stress him out.

Our last Weimaraner traveled with us right up to 3 months before he passed from liver failure at age 13. He was very, very travel friendly and knew the ropes of travel.