Furry Friends and Vacation Plans

[Figment56]

I just realized my pictures were gone!

 

[JVL1018]

Last year when our lab Jazz was 6 months my FIL watched her. Bad idea..he did not keep her in her crate like we told him to and she went to the bathroom in the house and chewed the wall.
This past June we were going to put her in the kennel and then I started feeling bad @@ so we had our friend come over twice a day. WE told him to let her stay outside the whoel day(big fenced in yard) if it was nice enough and to put her in the crate at night.
It was so hot and humid while we were away that he left her inside uncrated in the a/c during the day..which was totally fine. She did great. She went into her crate at night by herself.
My FIL lives upstairs in our 2 family house so he'd pop down and play with her during the week.

Our upcoming trip this August we are feeling bad about having him come over twice a day, so I think my husband's coworker will take her to his house for the 10 days we're gone. Our friend lives in an apartment so it's not doable for him to take her.

 

[wdwaholic]

We currently have 3 dogs-12yo Standard poodle;10yo Lab(Seeing-Eye give back) and the newest member is a 18mo Lab/pointer mix. The Lab doesn't do well in a kennel and DH refuses to have her traumatized so What we've done in the past and will do again is to have my 24yo niece come over and house-sit.But this year I have my friend coming over 2-3x/day to feed the dogs and let them out because my niece has a weird work schedule. So I'll wind up paying the 2 of them but this way at least I'll have everything covered(at least I hope so!!)
The things we do for our pets!!

Trish

 

[Debbie Jean]

We have a kennel attached to our home for our show dogs, so we get a dog sitter to come stay here and care for them. BTW, dogs do great at kennels when their owners are gone. We often board dogs (usually pups we have sold), and the dogs consider it as much a vacation as the owners! They have a great time being around all the other dogs. Believe it or not, most of us "dog people" are very good at taking care of other's dogs.

That has been my experience boarding our dog. She really loves the whole experience And we've met some wonderful caregivers

Happy is our little furbaby. She's a little Tibetan Spaniel now, 4 years old, that we adopted from a rescue group. She's had some health problems including seizures which are controlled by medication. We board her at the vet's and refer to it as "doggy camp"! She LOVES to go! When I pack her bag, she gets all excited and starts pawing at the door to leave! Everyone in the office loves her so she gets lots of attention She also gets to play with the other dogs and I can relax knowing that if she has any health issues arise, her doctors are right there. If she's due for any shots, exams, etc. they'll also take care of that while she's boarding. They even offer a grooming service! Happy always knows the day she is coming home, because that's when she has her bath! We call it her "spa day"!

It isn't cheap by a long shot! $40 a day But she enjoys going and I know she is well cared for, so it is worth it.

 

[iankh]

My groomer (well not MY groomer, the dog's groomer) on a very limited basis will board dogs for only some of her customers. I guess I'm one of them. The great thing is the 3 kid-lettes (Truman, Tallulah and Jane) are around other dogs during the day in the shop and they go home with her at night. I've tried other boarding alternatives and this seems to work out the best.

I think this is the first time all three will be boarded for an extended period. My only major concern is that Truman and Tallulah are litter box trained and worry a bit about having to retrain them after their little "vacation." Truman and Tallulah will go outdoors, but seem to prefer the privacy of their screened in litter boxes.

Jane on the other hand doesn't care who sees her (well she's blind anyway) and prefers to go outdoors.

 

[Alexander]

We've got ol' Meeko. He showed up on my mother's front porch at 4 months old. 10 years later, he is my big (20+pounds) baby. He recently was diagnosed with diabetes and I have to train my MIL to give him his twice daily shots before we leave in August. She comes and feeds him, cleans his box, and tries (he usually hides under the bed) to play with him. He is a wicked, wicked shy cat. He will hide if ANYONE other than our immediate family is in the house. Boarding him is not an option since I couldn't put him through that, but I am worried about MIL giving him the shots!

 

[Tennesotans]

One of our kitties (Abby) has asthma -- and "uses" an inhaler twice a day.
We were very new to this last Feburary (our most recent DVC trip),
she was having attacks every other week and it took a while to get
her meds straight.

ANYWAY -- we were so anxious, we had someone stay in our house for
our last trip! We left extensive notes and requested daily email update.
Not sure if that will be necessary next year... we recently took
a shorter trip and had some friends drop by twice a day and Abby was fine.

Cat care is no small problem at our place...

Tennesotans

 

[iankh]

We've got ol' Meeko. He showed up on my mother's front porch at 4 months old. 10 years later, he is my big (20+pounds) baby.

That's quite a CAT! Truman weighs 6.5 pounds, Tallulah and Jane each weigh 5.5 pounds. All together they are 18 pounds! Although Tallulah and Truman think they're HUGH dogs.

 

[beagle744]

Cute dogs!

We have 2 dogs and 1 cat. We pay a friend to stay over to house and animal sit. He brings his dog along so it ends up being like a play date for the week. One of the dogs has a heart and thyroid condition which requires twice daily medication. I feel more comforatable having some one stay with him at home so that he gets his meds regularly and on time.

We had a dog with cancer and had to put him down today . Our plan for him for our upcoming trip was to send him to MIL's house for the week as her house would have been quiet and she is quite the animal lover. He would have been overwhelmed, in his fragile state, by the visiting dog who is very large.

 

[WOW]

Hmmm, let's see. We have a lab so we have to get the large suite for her @ around $30 per nite (depending in the season, it varies, just like resorts).....then if you want play time that is $20 per day, we don't feed her the food the kennel uses, so we need to pay $1 per feeding and she is feed twice per day.....so that is about $52 per night if she goes to play time every day!!! Then we have her get her "going home bath" for about $40.....We live in the Metro NYC area, so I guess this isn't too different from other places. The place where we take her is very good, but the town the kennel is in will not allow the boarding facility to allow the dogs outside and that is the part that I do not like......but I know she is well taken care of and enjoys being there. We usually vacation for 7 - 10 days.

 

[emememem]

Cost 50.00 each way for Bosley to fly to MCO. We carry him on in his dog carrier purse. Disney Kennel charges 9.00/night to board overnight...we walk him 3-4 times a day. Each park has a kennel, once you register your pet can go to any one of them. Sometimes we'll move Bosley to the park we are visiting to make it a little easier on us.....

 

[flexsmom]

I had no problem having a neighbor check in on the kitty, Zoe, who at 12 years would rather stay home and track the sun up and down the staircase through the windows in the house! But our lab, Flex, was better suited for the kennel and at his age (turned 12 in May) it was better for him to be monitored more regularly. Sadly, he passed away three weeks ago, so this will be our first trip where we haven't been worrying about him. So I'm not Flexsmom anymore, except for in my heart. He had a good, long life, and my kids have a wonderful memory of their first dog.

 

[Cmadsen]

flexsmom, you will always be flexsmom and don't forget how lucky he was to find you!

Seems to me that folks who love Disney also have a soft spot for our furry friends. We have three cats (and one loaner) and all are on medication and "special needs" kitties from the local humane society so we have someone come in to house and pet sit. Glad to see this thread as we had been wondering if we were paying too much, but now see that we're in the norm. Of course, how can you say it's "too much" to see that our much loved pets are taken well care of?

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

We board our Welsh Corgi (Fernando) at the vets. They love him there, and he loves going there. They have a bunch of girls that work there and when we drop him off, he doesn't even look back at us. The people that answer the phone get so excited when we're taking him in to get shots because they love to play with him. Our vet actually called us up after we had been going there for about 6 months and asked for the breeder's phone number so she could get one too. It makes it easier to leave him there knowing that he isn't pulling on his leash as we drag him in the door.

 

[colleen costello]

We have two healthy cats and a neighborhood teen who is happy for a paying job so she comes every day. She takes care of the cats and refills all my bird feeders for me.

We also have Cosmo, the kindergarten snake. We took him over the summer last year and when school started, the teacher saw my son and said we could "keep" him! He is a cute little garter snake and very low-maintenance, but no way that teenage girl is dealing with him... I have learned since aquiring Cosmo (of whom we have become quite fond) how many people HATE snakes... God bless my best pal Tammie. She comes over with her two boys and they feed Cosmo worms while we are at WDW. He would survive a long time without food, but I would feel bad leaving him hungry while we have fun.

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

Our sheltie gets boarded in an indoor/outdoor run similiar to one described in an earlier post at a local kennel and my mom comes in and checks on the cat everyother day.

 

[rbuzzotta]

Bella, our 2 year old chocolate lab, will go to the 'country club'!! We will board her at a wonderful kennel. She gets soooooo excited when we pull up the road to the kennel. She gets play time everyday.

We will be gone for 16 days and she will be boarded for 18 (we leave early in the am on day 1 and return late at night on day 16). We figure the cost will be between 800-1000. She does get groomed before we pick her up and gets a special diet. Expensive but we know she is in great hands!!!!!

Simba, our indoor cat, will be checked on every other day by my parents!!!

 

[starwood]

When our Sheltie, Augie, was getting old we would board him with our vet. When we returned from our trip to DL in 1999 we picked him up and the next day he couldn't walk or move. He had to be put to sleep that day. It was not a good way to end the trip. This trip our Beagle, Elvis, will be going to the kennel and our 3 cats, Lil, Bobby and Pesto will stay home and someone will come in and feed them and make sure they have water.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Cost 50.00 each way for Bosley to fly to MCO. We carry him on in his dog carrier purse. Disney Kennel charges 9.00/night to board overnight...we walk him 3-4 times a day. Each park has a kennel, once you register your pet can go to any one of them. Sometimes we'll move Bosley to the park we are visiting to make it a little easier on us.....

I have to remember to get a "carry on" dog the next time I go to a shelter! Buster is able to come with us to Dollywood when we drive, we hadn't done that yet, but we do have an appointment for him there. We have a ressie at a motel that takes dogs, and he'll spend the day at Doggiewood. Our kennel is closed for that week, and we're going to a John Anderson concert!

Bobbi

 

[Debbie Jean]

...he'll spend the day at Doggiewood.

How cute is that!