Do you board your animals???

When you go on vacation, do you board your animals or prefer to have someone come watch them?

If you do board, what do you like about that? What would be the perfect boarding facility in your eyes?

If you don't board, why not? Have you had bad experiences?

I refuse to go on vacation without them, thus recently I did not go to Michigan, I stayed home with them.

I just would not be able to leave them. I even thought about who I could or where I could leave them, it just wasn't possible in my eyes... not even with my sister.


A vacation wouldn't be a vacation without them.

We're leaving on a vacation sometime in August for a few weeks. My parents want to see if we can board them somewhere [we've never done it before..] rather than leaving them at my aunt's. I found a good boarding kennel in the area that refers to the dogs as "furkids" too, and it seems pretty decent.

I have a REALLY hard time trusting anyone else; even my parents, with my dogs, though.

Up until 2001 my parents would come stay with Disney and Ripley whenever we went somewhere but then my parents health got bad and they couldn't do it. I started boarding Disney at a kennel about a mile away and I'd leave Ripley home (we were never gone more than 4 days). Then when we got Jazz we took at trip and I boarded Jazz and Disney because I was afraid to leave Jazz alone with Ripley since she was still so young.

Now that we have Scout we tried leaving all three cats at home with my sister in law coming once a day to feed, play with them and clean litter boxes. It worked okay but our trip was cut short so we were only gone a few days.

Actually I would rather just stay home. I hate to travel, sleep in strange beds and be away from them too much.

As for boarding, it's fine for Disney because she's not active and sleeps most the time but I think my cats would go insane and I'd hate to cause a personality change because of it.

I guess I'm lucky... My petsitter is Laura (UABassoon) so I trust her completely. On the rare occasion that we go somewhere or just need a break, like all parents sometimes, Laura is usually more than happy to look after the kids. I prefer to keep them home, in their own environment, to lessen the stress of being boarded.

I did board Chloe and Charlie once, and that was because I was going thru a hard time, and I was flying to MI, and didnt have any other alternative. I called the kennel every day to check up on them. :)

Plus, I actually groomed in a boarding kennel for a while. It was supposed to be one of the better ones, since it was owned by a major company, but I was often shocked at the conditions and treatment of the animals. They always tried to make it seem like it was such a GREAT place, but it was terrible. The animals never really got any excercise unless you pay them extra for 20 mins of playtime. blah... After that, I'll never board my kids again.

And most petsitters are friends of friends, for the most part, so in general I'd trust a petsitter more than anything else short of leaving them with friends or family.

I don't like to travel much because I don't like to leave my babies behind. When I do travel though, my mom watches my animals and a friend I volunteer with at the shelter watches my fosters.

My dogs would not do well in any boarding facility. I took them to doggie day care once and Lolly spent the whole day in a corner while Reece ran around looking for me the whole time.

I also don't think Lolly would do well with a petsitter she doesn't know. She'd probably get really depressed.

So my dogs are very happy with my parents and I'm so grateful they do that for me.

I haven't taken my dog on a trip yet but I will this year before school and we are going to visit our old town utah this will be her first time.

I don't think I could ever board my kitties. I think they would just be too scared, being in a strange place without me. I have a petsitter from the company I work for come over and take care of the kitties. They really seem to like her and she does a great job. Plus having a sitter is nice because they can alternate the lights, water plants, pick up mail and other little things so that it doesn't look like whoever lives there is on vacation.

We don't board. We have G R A N D M A!!!! She cuddles on the couch, plays ball and brings treats!!


We try not to travel too much, however in the summer we do production for a few festivals so we are Very Thankful that my mother lives just down the street.

I have not had to deal with this yet. Alden and I have been on a few weekend getaways but we have a 20 year old son who is still living at home and he takes good care of the furkids. I already have a doggie day care/kennel picked out for when we need it though. Katie and Tori do their dog obedience there and Katie has been a few times for doggie day care. It is a wonderful place! Each dog has there own bed in their own room, there is a wonderful indoor play area and three huge fenced areas outside with swimming pools, playground equipment and all kinds of toys for the kids to play with. The owner and her employees are fantastic with dogs. It is a bit pricey but well worth it to me.

Robin :)

I have very good experiences with petsitters. Every year we travel one time for 3 weeks and make sure our cats get visits at least 2 times per day. It's our cleaner who loves the cats dearly and knows them well together with the downstairs neighbor. This year Filou and Tigris had weekend guests. A friend of mine spent the first weekend in our condo and my sister came the last weekeend. F+T slept in their bed and were very happy to have companionship.

The good thing is they don't have to cope with a different environment. They have all their favorite toys and spots:)

My mom is my petsitter. She's only 5 minutes from my house so it's easy for her.

I would never board my kitties cause it would just be way too stressful for them. If the need arises, I would rather have a petsitter come to the house.

I live with my boyfriend, and we take separate vacations. I know it is not ideal. But to get a petsitter would take one heck of a person who could visit many times a day. Two or even three times a day would not be enough, due to the advanced (elderly) age of the majority of our animals. Bandit is diabetic, Bo is hyperthyroid and both need meds. Bandit gets insulin shots twice daily. All our dogs are used to going indoors/outdoors multiple times a day.

Boarding would be very expensive, adn then there is the fact that my boyfriend refuses the whole boarding thing - he does not approve of animals (especially ours) in cages. I don't trust anyone else I know to be so dependable.

So separate vacations work for us.

I voted that I use a petsitter. It is the best thing possible for us. I used to board the dogs (when I just had two) and would either leave Mimi with plenty of food and indoors, or have a neighbor check on her once a day. There was a time many years ago when I was married before that Mimi and Chuck (our Lab) were boarded at a terrific kennel too. But once my "flock" increased in size with the addition of Butter, a couple of hamsters, then the birds, it just made more sense to find someone who could come to my house.

I think my animals are much more content to stay at home in familiar surroundings and have someone they know and trust to come here. It is NOT cheap and she comes 2-3 times per day when we are away. But she also will come for "one at a time" visits if both of us are traveling or if we take a day trip. It has been a great relief for 3 years (or maybe even longer than that). And my pets are definitely happy when Wanda comes because she is more generous with the treats than we are!!!! :p

I boarded Clover and Elvis 3 weeks ago and i will never do it again. :( I came home to the 2 most depressed scared dogs, the poor dogs had to sleep OUTSIDE :eek: and it is the middle of Winter i was not happy at all (I cried when we had to drop them off) :( But we had no choice but to board them.

It took a good week for clover to leave my side when she came home and was very clingy and whiney.

So it looks like i am not going inter state without them again LOL, our next holiday is to Adelaide in September for FLYBALL so of course the dogs have to come. ;) :D