Apr
24
Pet Sitting or Kennel Boarding?
April 24, 2007 |
Most of us pet owners contemplate on this whenever we need to travel and no one is around to look after our pets. This has been my long standing problem too and makes me think twice about traveling abroad for long periods to avoid unnecessary stress to my dogs until I found my reliable pet sitter.
Placing your pet in a kennel can be considered but before we consider this option, let us take a look at what are the possible challenges that may cause trauma to your pet when placed in pet hotels.
1) Your pet needs to travel to a new environment they are not familiar with
2) If the pet hotel does not handle special diets like barf or homemade diet for your pet, they may end up getting tummy problems and may even stop eating if they are not agreeable with the diet provided.
3) Some pets get depressed being caged up most days without much human interactions, so ensure they are let loose at least twice a day for exercising and socializing with other pets and humans.
4) Some experience character changes to our pets when our pets are brought back home. We may never know unless the pet hotel shares the truth of what actually happened to our pets when under their care. I have come across quite a number of such cases.
5) Your pet may pick up contagious illness, other skin problems or even ticks and fleas from other dogs in the kennel. This is one of the worst nightmare of any pet owners and we have to deal with the illness or condition thereafter.
6) Some male dogs are bred secretly by unscrupulous kennel owners trying to stud boarding dogs (especially rare breeds/colour) and breed puppies for sale. One such case happen to my friend and my friend’s dog’s penis had a very bad infection which requires much care and medical expenses. The kennel of course denies responsibilities.
Having said that, kennel boarding is still a popular option but do ensure you trust the services of the kennel and pay surprise visits once in a while or get a friend to help you to ensure that your pet is well cared for when you are away. You may also wish to board your pet for a day to observe how well your pet take to the new environment before boarding them for longer periods.
Alternatively, there is another option to look out for is hiring a pet sitter. Pet sitting is less traumatic for most dogs as they are in a home environment and gets sufficient attention daily from the pet sitter.
Here are some tips on what to look out for when hiring a pet sitter.
1) Get recommendation from friends is best. They have prior good experience with the recommended pet sitter.
2) Go to dog forums in your country/state to ask people for recommendation
3) Meet (if possible) and discuss the details how the pet sitter operates and options available for you.
4) Do a trial for a short trip (e.g. 1 day) to see how well they accomplish their task before giving them longer durations care.
5) Ask if they can handle your dog’s diet
(e.g. homemade diet, BARF, etc). Best option is for you to precook pet food and freeze them in daily portions for your pet sitter before you leave so there is no change in their diet. Include the necessary supplements in the frozen daily supplies to avoid complicating feeding instructions for your pet sitter.
6) Do a check on the types of training the pet sitter have with animal care.
7) Check if the pet sitter has any backup sitter if they should fall ill and cannot tend to your pet on those dates you need her.
Check if your pet sitter has a detailed contract especially for Live-in pet sitter. Detailed contract is necessary to avoid contentions should things go missing.
9) Check if your pet sitter has any clients you can contact to check on their service performance.
After doing your background check and feeling confident you have got a reliable pet sitter, make sure that your pet sitter comes by to visit your pet so your pet is well socialized with her and enjoy her company. And if your pet does not seem to like your pet sitter, you may want to think twice about hiring this pet sitter.
Here are some tips to ensure safety of your pet when you are away.
1) Give extra set of keys to someone other then pet sitter, e.g. trustworthy neighbor (in case the keys are lost and pet sitter can call your neighbor for the extra keys)
2) Ensure she gets a list of emergency nos. to call. (include the vet contact and address)
3) Leave your pet supplies in a single place so your pet sitter need not hunt for anything.
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