Who took care of your pets while cruising?

[2tall]

I would love a live in to take care of our six feline companions while we're away but we've never been able to find anybody to do it. The alternative has been to have a very reliable neighbor come in once a day to spend time with them, prepare and serve the gushy food and spruce up the cat boxes. Our neighbor, however, just got married and moved away so we've asked another neighbor to take his place for our upcoming trip.

 

We've always paid about $20/day for the cat sitting services (even though the neighbor offered to do it for free) but we're increasing what we pay since one cat, Toby, has just been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and has to have medication twice a day. Luckily, the meds are transdermal so they're easy to administer (with something that looks like a lip gloss pen) and the neighbor lives right next door so she doesn't have to come very far. But it certainly has increased our concern about Toby's health and wellbeing while we're away. If there are any difficulties with our March trip or if the neighbor who is now available ends up hating this, we will have to reach out to the vet and start paying a premium to have a professional service come in.

[SixOneTwo]

Walter goes to stay with friends who have four Siamese cats. When they go on vacation, we watch their four. You'd think they have enough cats, but they're always begging us to bring Walter for a visit, even if we're not going out of town. Not sure if he likes it or not, but they do have some nice "amenities" like a screen porch that overlooks a deer-filled woodland.

 

Walter's pretty happy when we get home. No snubs. We're leaving in a few days and even though he's home with us now, we already miss him.

[bplazo]

I have a couple of customers and they alwasy insist on watching my three babies whenever I go anywhere. These ladies are so sweet and will take no payment for dog sitting, however, I do send them something while I am gone.

 

My babies love them, however, they are still happy and carry on when my husband goes and gets them.

[constable145]

We have an Old English Sheepdog. My wife got very excited when we booked a cruise on the Oasis upon seeing " Pets at Sea".

 

I had to be the bearer of bad news and tell her it was in fact a build-a-bear type store.

[Guest maddycat]

We adopted a cat last year and our upcoming cruise will be our first vacation since we've had him. He's staying home and we have friends coming in each day to check on him. We didn't want to board him or have him stay with someone because he's a little on the skittish side so we figured its probably best if he stays in familiar surroundings.

 

I know he's in excellent hands & will be well cared for while we're away, but I'm still nervous about leaving him, probably mostly because this is the first time.

 

As a precaution, I leave a signed and dated letter with the cat sitter stating that she has our permission to take our cats in to the Vet for emergency treatment while we are away. I also leave a detailed information sheet which includes where items are located: cat food, extra food dishes, litter, litter scoop, dust pan and broom, Nature's Miracle for any unexpected accidents, and cat carriers. I also leave contact info for the plumber, electrictian, handyman, etc.

 

We've been using the same cat sitter for years. She comes over once a day. She's not cheap ($30 a day) but is very reliable and the cats like her.

[Guest maddycat]

Since we have cats they are not very found of being uprooted, so we usually have a family member or close friend stop by every other day to check in on them but we leave a million bowls of food and water, luckily cats unlike dogs don't eat everything in the bowl immediately after we leave! :p

 

You're lucky. My cats will eat everything put in their bowl.

[funNsun4me]

It was so easy when we just had our cats and we miss them but it is so hard to find anyone who is willing to watch our bird more than once. He hates to be in his cage and is quite vocal until you just let him out to shut him up, but it's not so easy to get him back into his cage. Most people are afraid of him, and I know he can do some damage but he is such a people person. We have boarded him at out vet a few times but idt they enjoy him being there and will not take him for more than a few days. He is partial to girls and thankfully we have friends that have a daughter that he has bonded so we just bring him and his cage to their house.

[K1200S]

One of our neighbors lets our dogs out and feeds them.

[alohanails]

I hope to get a dog soon preferably a Black Lab puppy so that I can raise it as a Therapy Dog and take it with me on Cruises. I would much rather have the dog travel with me so he can experience different countries. I would take the dog to various organizations that cater to individuals who are visually impaired or have a disability . My pooch would get treats from the Windjammer(beef or honey stung chicken).

 

We're you being serious? The cruiselines allow assist dogs but I have never heard of being able to bring a therapy dog on for the purpose of giving "therapy" to strangers....

[lady_cruiser]

I loves dogs but don't have one, because I'm hardly home on weekends. When I go on a cruise alone, I always ask fellow cruisers how are their pets back home? Sort of an ice breaker after asking where they are from.

 

I remember one couple saying they took their old dog to stay at a friend's house two miles away. The dog ran home. Now whey they go on a cruise, the dog stays home but someone will come in to take care of it.

 

So who looks after your pets? And do they give you an attitude when you return?

 

I don't mind see some pictures too.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

We have two cockatiels and a cat. The cat came years after the birds and it was a case where she adopted us and not we adopted her.

 

The cat goes to the vet. We know she is well taken care of because you can tell they love animals.

 

The birds stay home and a friend drives 10 miles, each way, to come to our house to check our mail and makes sure that the birds have food and water.

 

Here's a photo. And oh, if I take away the frog from my bird he will scream until he gets it back.

 

 

 

[Raptor2010]

I would love a live in to take care of our six feline companions while we're away but we've never been able to find anybody to do it. The alternative has been to have a very reliable neighbor come in once a day to spend time with them, prepare and serve the gushy food and spruce up the cat boxes. Our neighbor, however, just got married and moved away so we've asked another neighbor to take his place for our upcoming trip.

 

We've always paid about $20/day for the cat sitting services (even though the neighbor offered to do it for free) but we're increasing what we pay since one cat, Toby, has just been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and has to have medication twice a day. Luckily, the meds are transdermal so they're easy to administer (with something that looks like a lip gloss pen) and the neighbor lives right next door so she doesn't have to come very far. But it certainly has increased our concern about Toby's health and wellbeing while we're away. If there are any difficulties with our March trip or if the neighbor who is now available ends up hating this, we will have to reach out to the vet and start paying a premium to have a professional service come in.

 

Check with your local rescue groups for a good pet sitter. We pay $1,000 a week for someone to live in our house and take care of our cats. Granted this is probably more than most pay; however, we had one licensed pet sitting company quote us $1,485 for the 8 days to live in our house so I'm thinking we saved almost $500

[sfrieman]

We were supose to go on a cruise leaving Baltimore 2 days ago. We had to cancel because our senior dog had a hard time getting up and needed constant care. We were not sure how much time he had so we decided to cancel 90 days before cruise. We had to put him to sleep in early January. We replaced him.

 

In our prior cruises our son was living at home and took care of our 2 dogs. We booked a cruise leaving Nov 16 and our son who has moved out and got married will stay at our house to take care of our 2 dogs. We have a fence and put in a doggie door.

[venicia]

We take our dog to a fantastic place. It really is more of a pet spa than a kennel. He has his own room with a doggie door that is open during the day to the fenced outside. Each morning and afternoon he gets to go to the pool rec area and play with dogs his size. This spa is owned by the vet who has the animal hospital next to the spa. All his records are available here and there is a vet there almost all the time. The pets are under security and we can see him as there is video in his room. All the pets have sleep time around lunch time to calm them down from active times together in the morning. They are put to bed around 7 pm, they lock the doggie doors and turn the lights down low until they go off around 9pm.

 

Our dog loves this place and as we approach it he begins to get excited. We do take him there sometimes just for a play day with other dogs. All the dogs here must have there records on file to be boarded.

 

We leave here with broken hearts, but I have a feeling, Cody is absolutely in heaven. When we go to pick him up, yep, we both go for him, we are so anxious to see him. When the attendant brings him in he is so happy and almost looks like he is smiling. He makes his rounds saying good by to his 2 legged attendant friends and off we go. They give us a report card to indicate if he ate well (we take his food and toys and a blanket) if he went swimming, who he was playing with and any other items they want to remark about.

 

sounds great doesn't it..........it is and it better be for the price we pay for our buddy that can't come along on the cruise. I never posted a photo on here and tried, but just can't seem to do it. Cody is a first generation Labradoodle, apricot color and we love him with all our heart.

[JMG]

First, we are lucky that our cats allow us to go on vacations! We are there to serve their every need and absence is not an excuse!

 

The hardest part of any vacation is closing that door behind us and leaving them home!

 

We have 2 Maine Coons and they have very different personalities. One is cautious but curious, the other is a real timid cat that runs when the doorbell rings. We tried the kennel for an overnight and it was a nightmare. We heard them "crying" as soon as we arrived to take them home. Next we tried my parents. A 2 hour drive but well worth it since we knew they would be well cared for...problem is that my Dad has balance issues and 2 cats under his feet scared me. Fortunately, I have a very good friend that loves cats but her DH is allergic. So, she enjoys getting to come to my house and be Mom for a week or so. We are limited to the time we can be away but it has worked thus far. We give her a real nice "gift" for the holidays.

When we get home we get mixed emotions. First they come to see us...then they give us attitude! In a day or two things are back to normal, they meow and we respond their wants and needs!

[jmf123]

We have always had a petsitter take care of our kitties, usually a vet tech from our vet's office. They come over to feed & water, scoop litter, give attention to the kitties, and bring in our mail. If a feline has ever needed meds, the tech has easily handled this. The 'kids' are much more comfortable staying at home in our absence, and it's much less expensive than boarding them. Only one of our kitties ever gave us an 'attitude' upon our return. Hootie (our beloved Scottish Fold) would snub us for about a day.

 

I hope to get a dog soon preferably a Black Lab puppy so that I can raise it as a Therapy Dog and take it with me on Cruises. I would much rather have the dog travel with me so he can experience different countries. I would take the dog to various organizations that cater to individuals who are visually impaired or have a disability . My pooch would get treats from the Windjammer(beef or honey stung chicken).

 

Really? Only service animals are permitted on board, and they are trained to benefit a person with a disability. Service dogs are not considered pets. A therapy dog to help others is a nice idea (other than taking it on a cruise).

[Guest maddycat]

This little lady...

 

[/img]

 

...goes to a cattery for longer holidays. The worst part of the experience is getting her into the travel box... it usually ends up with me having plenty of scratches!

 

When I get home though, I don't get ignored, quite the opposite... I'm pinned to the sofa for most of the first evening as she demands cuddles.

 

She has to go on a post holiday diet too though, as she seems to comfort eat while we're away!

 

She's beautiful!

[bigfig63]

 

Bob and Darla stay at a kennel known as the Pet Farm.

 

The building used to be a Joes Crab shack restaurant and they feature elevated beds, heated floors, a swimming pool and during the day get to do playschool with the other dogs of their size. The staff also runs them outside and best of all they have live cams and take daily pictures of the pups and post on facebook.

 

www.Toledopetfarm.com

[RocketMan275]

I'm trying to figure out a way to smuggle Ginger and Doc on board. You think I could dress them up as kids and get them on? Ginger is a 185 pound Great Dane and Doc is a 110 pound Pyrenees/Chow mix. Both are rescues.

 

Seriously, we've made arrangements for a good family friend to stay at our house and watch the both the dogs.

[Guest maddycat]

Since everyone who is reading this thread is an animal lover I'm posting 2 links for sites that supply free food to shelters. You don't have to sign-up. All you have to do is go to the sites and click to feed the animals. At the free kibble kat site there is also a link to feed dogs. Take the quiz, right or wrong answer and the animals get fed. At the animal rescue site there isn't any quiz, you just click on a button to donate food to shelters. I go to these sites daily. It's a nice way to help animals and it doesn't cost you anything.

 

Freekibblekat

 

The Animal Rescue Site

[temple1]

We use a house sitter also for our pack, 2 greyhounds and a little mutt. Our first house sitter was great, then she had the nerve to move away. :( The next one was nice enough, but kind of strange and she has birds. She would bring them with her and they smell. So we have 9 months to find someone for our December cruise.

 

Our current greys have never been kenneled. Katie is kind of skittish and I don't think she would do well in a kennel. Poor lil Boomer, the last time he shared a kennel with one of our greyhounds he came home with a torn ear. :eek:

[Scribbles77]

First, we are lucky that our cats allow us to go on vacations! We are there to serve their every need and absence is not an excuse!

 

Love it and oh so true ;)

 

I have a WONDERFUL father. He comes 54 miles up to my house to look after my 2 cats 3 rabbits and 1 hamster whilst i go cruising with my mother :D

 

He says he doesn't mind as when i go away with my mum he gets peace and quiet :rolleyes:

[RCI Cruisers 004]

It's cheaper to have a house sitter stay with our dogs, than it is to board our dogs for the week !

[Natitude61]

Our golden goes to camp...a cageless boarding facility where he plays indoors and out all day with his doggy friends and sleeps on a futon, with a human counselor in the room, at night. Really grateful for this place...there's always someone with the dogs, and Sawyer gets so excited when we pull into the parking lot. Only problem is he sleeps for about a week when he gets home!

 

I would love to have a pet sitter, but I'm weird about having people stay in my house when I'm not home. Is anyone else like this?!

 

Has anyone used the service called Dog Vacay (I think that's what it's called). It's an online service that "matches" pet owners to people willing to board pets in private homes. Of course there's a "meet and greet" first, and reviews are available for many of the pet sitters. Debating whether to work up the nerve to try it...

[joand452]

We had built-in dogsitters in our two adult daughters, but they each moved out last summer. Now our youngest DD will come stay at the house (we actually live closer to her work than she does) and take care of our 15-mo Scottie. We've had two at a time over the years, but our little old lady Scottie just had to be helped across the Rainbow Bridge last month. So now Mac is an only child. I have a friend who will come over in the afternoon to take him for a walk.

[Beth C]

Before I had to put Hershey my chocolate lab down last fall she would go to the "spa" which was a doggy daycare / Bed & Breakfast that did sleepover's when both Dad & I would cruise... They didn't kennel the dogs (she would freak if she got kennelled - hadn't happened since she outgrew her's @ 6 mos!)it would cost just as much for her to go there as it would be for my cruise but I knew she was well taken care of and they had puppy cams so you could check in at any time to see what they were up to! If they didn't have any other dogs sleeping over the owners would take her with them to stay in their room... had to warn them that her dog bed @ home was a Queen size Sealy Posturpedic that she definitely hogged!

 

She went to back to the breeder the 1st time I went away but it took months to 're-train' her... too much freedom on the farm and the hunter in her came back with vengeance!

 

When I cruised with friends she would go with Papa for the week. Last January we decided it was going to be the last cruise we'd go on at the same time so she wouldn't have to go to the "spa" any more since she was getting pretty old and needed pretty constant attention.

 

I would love to get another Lab but as much as I miss the company for the moment i'm loving the lack of dog hair in my house...