What do you do with your pets when you cruise.

[Cruise Arizona]

Just curious about how you take care of your pets when you cruise.

 

We have a medium sized dog. On our last cruise we had the Grand Mother's taking care of the kids, so they also watched SueEllen our mutly dog.

 

In November we will need a kennel or a pet-sitter.

 

On our trip to Disney World we had our 14 year old neighbor girl take care of her for $5 a day. She said she really loved doing it. She loves dogs and dog was happy to see her. Not sure she'll be available in Nov.

 

What have you all done while gone?

[Mike2131]

I board my cat with the vet. They are a 24-hour emergency vet so someone is always there in case something happens. He is young and very healthy, but I travel without worry knowing he is getting the best care.

[doree]

We usually leave them at home in their "own environment" and have someone come in and take care of them.....works for us. I always make sure that I have a written statement that "whomever" is taking care has my permission to seek vet care if needed and I also call my vet and tell them that I will be away and will pay them when I get back......have known my vet for 25 yrs. When we were gone in Jan on a cruise, my daughter had to take our 16 1/2 yr old dog and have her "put down".....she stopped eating and drinking. We were very sad, needless to say, but she never would have made it till we got back.

[BettyB2]

We usually have a relative stay at the house and take care of "our girls" while we are out of town and it works out great as the dogs are HOME. There are occassions when we do board them with a local animal hospital - we have one close by and I pay for play time for them twice daily, plus they get to be in the same run together (indoor/outdoor) - of course, would always prefer to have them stay at home and be totally spoiled:rolleyes:

[newmexicoNita]

This is our biggest problem, our spoiled children. We have 2 cats and 3 dogs. We have tried everything; when we leave them at home the dogs doing nothing buy bark and cry all the time, whether in the house or in the yard. the cats open up cupboards and drawers and drag things all over the house. We now have a very good kennel, it's small, she loves the animals and they love her, well not the cats, they really don't like very many people, but oh well. She quite inexpensive. Still,when we are gone in Oct it will be about another $1000 just for that. We are thinking of having our neighbor, who does bring the mail in and used to take care of just the cats, house sit.

 

NMNita

[mikiew]

We have an excellent kennel where we have boarded our dog. However, due to old age, he passed on.

 

 

Our new dog we had our daughter keep him for a month..........but now that he is over a year old we will be taking him to the kennel that we used before.

 

However, I am very picky, and this is the only one in our area that I would take him. I like our vet, but do not want him caged up for a month.

 

It is hard when you have a pet.........had a house sitter one time with the other dog, and that was a disaster.

[Randyk47]

We've only got the two cats. Neighbor comes in and takes care of them and they don't seem any worse for the wear. We've always thought the cats were more comfortable at home and less stressed. Our older cat was 14 years old when we sailed last March and he wouldn't even go outside if you left the door open.....no adventure in him near the end of his life. Lost our big boy a few weeks ago and replaced him with a 4 month old kitten so we'll see what happens the first time we leave them alone.

[teedee]

My dog doesn't do well in a kennel, tried it once, it was a good place but they told me she was miserable the whole time she was there. Now she goes to either my daughter or my brothers house. She likes it at either place & I don't come home to a traumatised dog!

Terri

[mahdnc]

We have usually been able to get someone to stay in our house to watch our dog, Emily, while we are away. She does not take well to kennels either.

[davis0056]

Usually our son and his wife watches our 3 kids. They get paid with a free cruise with us. Of course then we have to make other plans for the kids. We're doing a 13 day New England cruise on the Connie in Sept. The kids will have the petsitter we have used before. We have a doggie door that they all know how to use. Unfortunately our oldest girl is 15 and 'forgets' sometimes to go out to do her 'choirs.' So we're going to have the petsitter come 3 times a day. It will be about $700 but still cheaper then boarding the kids in a lifestyle they are used too. The petsitter also brings in mail and feeds the fish.

Dave and Elaine

[mare s.]

Our dogs don't go to kennels either...just wouldn't do well there. So we always have a pet-sitter (usually close friend or family) who is willing to sleep at our house while we're away. (The dogs have to be locked in at night because we have coyotes in the area...one of our dogs was attacked a couple of years ago.) The pet-sitter has the use of a nice house, swimming pool, etc. and gets paid to boot. Our dogs, fish, and bird get to have company and feel secure while we're gone. And we are happy knowing that there is someone watching over our house and our pets . good deal for everyone.

[newmexicoNita]

Well we have just discussed this and I think we will try the pet sitter (our neighbor) again. Our biggest problem; our dogs sleep with us (no lectures from any of you) LOL and one, our great dane sheds like crazy. I guess the pet sitter can sleep in our guest room and leave our room for the spoiled brats. Believe it or not our 3 kids are not spoiled at all. I wonder how this happened? NMNita

[phtktz3]

Funny I should happen upon this thread today...I am right now at my parents house watching my "sisters" My folks are on a cruise and I always stay here and watch them while they are gone, unless of course I am with them then they get a friend of the family to stay. One of the dogs is diabetic so she has to have shots twice a day.

 

With my own babies (3 cats) either my live in 19 y/o son is there or if he is with me we have a friend stay at the house with them. I do not feel comfortable with someone just checking in on them so we have them stay there the whole time.

[sdcruiser]

We have pets which we have our neighbors watch for us while we are cruising. We love them dearly. Just don't bring your pets aboard a cruise ship, as 'service pets'. Pets don't belong on cruise ships, IMHO.

 

The last cruise we took on the Mercury, there was a woman aboard in a Sky Suite, down the hall from us. with a 'service dog'. There was barking out on her balcony that we could hear from down the hall and when we were outside on our balcony. The dog went everywhere she did, elevators, etc. It was not cool. There are plenty of other options for people to travel, other than cruise ships, where they can opt to take their pets along. I would hate to think of where the dog does his/her business in the stateroom or otherwise...

 

I wonder how much cruise fare the pet has to pay???

 

SDCruiser

[cruiseyguy]

In the "old days" the big oceanliners had kennels onboard--a great idea but I'm not sure how I would get my dogs to the port. On my recent Alaska cruise one couple had their "service dog" with them--a toy poodle. Somehow, they managed to get the necessary certification for this dog but I never saw it peform any particular "service." Maybe it was adept at mixing martinis.

[cirpi]

We leave Jack, our Brittany spaniel, at the kennel and neighbors look in on and feed Grappa, our cat., for $7 a day. At $13 a day, the kennel is spendy, but Jack loves his stays there and looks forward to play time with other pooches. Grappa fares well, gets in little mischief and is happy as a cat can be when we return from any trip, even as short as a weekend.

[mikiew]

I forgot to add, that on all of our trips my son and daughter-in-law live in the same town, and would never let a pet in their house......you know "think they are dirty"..........so I do find the kennel to be very nice........this will be the first time we have left Mike, and I kind of feel bad about it.....but we cannot stay home.

 

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[AFT_LOVER]

who loves nice days with our full screen door open as she hears our African Grey cracking jokes, singing, whistling at her. She always stops in to refill her water bottles and give "her pumpkin" a peanut.

 

We used a petsitter who charged $15 a day to stop over, change newspaper in bottom of cage, change water & put ice cubes in it, and make sure he has plenty of pellets to eat. Neighbors told us they'd see the car come & be gone in 5 minutes & not back the whole 2 weeks til the day before we got home. Last year, the cage company was having their cages repainted for us, so they had loaner cages to stay in. Well he figured out how to open it & tore apart our living room furniture. We found our key in our mailbox with a note - I QUIT.

 

So we got new furniture, which we wanted anyhow, and our mailgal was over & playing with him & I asked her if she'd like to visit him every day to feed & water him. She said YES. Even brought her 8 year old daughter over. On weekends they'd spend the night, as her husband is a pilot & off to other countries. They even ordered a pizza & learned he loves it!

 

We got home & he tells us "Oh you are back". So now Hawaii, cruises, we just tell her a year in advance & she is here!!!!

[Rustynail]

My father-in-law sits with our kids while we cruise. We'd love to take them but stowaways are frowned upon!

 

Here's Zoe and Tanner:

[Cauvet]

We have been asking a neighbor to care for our four cats, but she has proven to be unreliable. Therefore, we will be going back to a pet sitter. The last time, I boarded my very old, senior, senile cat at the vet and it was a good thing because the "pet sitter" didn't show most of the time saying she thought she lost our key (it was on our kitchen counter--needless to say our front door also was unlocked for who knows how long). I have always had very good luck with paid,bonded pet sitters.

[IggleDoer]

We suspect that our dog comes from a different planet. He gets upset when pet-sitters come into HIS house. However, he never minded staying at a kennel. He seems to prefer to "Motel 6" variety to the fru-fru kennels that seem to be sprouting in the San Francisco area. One even required that we (and Thor) interview with them! They charge $45 per day and pay a lot of attention to him, but Thor isn't interested. He's better with the $15 garden-variety inside-outside kennels. For an extra $5 per day, they will take him outside to a park-like area and throw the ball with him for 15 minutes.

[cruisinjudy]

We uses to have relatives house sit, but there is no one left near us anymore. Then we tried kennels, but haven't found one our dog, Misty likes. We have had seniors stay through a service, but that is up to $55 a day plus food and tip now. And the last couple left the door open for a pest service guy while they were out. Misty barked up a storm while the guy was here. We had arranged the visit expecting the couple to be here and told them when he would come.

So now we are looking for other solutions. We are trying a small kennel nearby next time, since it is only for a week, but I doubt that Misty will like it.

[SusieV]

My husband and I have seven guinea pigs, and four of them have chronic medical conditions so finding a pet sitter is a big issue for us. We need someone who has pig experience.

 

I have a friend who lives about an hour away who watches them while we are away if we bring them to her house. It's a PITA to take them there, but I know I don't have to worry and she has an excellent vet if they need care.

 

Our betta, I can just leave home and not worry about. If I feed him before we leave and again when we come home, he's fine. They don't need to eat every day.

[esther e]

I need advice from all of you. We have 2 kittens, now 4 months old, and we are planning some rather long trips (no, I don't want to cancel!) over the next few months. The kittens have their food and litter box in the garage and sleep there also. They are very happy. Of course, they're in the house when we're around. My daughter has volunteered to take them into her house while we're gone, but I'm not sure about this because she has 3 cats and a dog and I don't want my kitties traumatized. As I say, they are very happy and loving and I'm nervous about exposing them to a strange environment with more animals. My other option is a neighbor's daughter who cat sits, but she's a teenager and in school all day long. They'd be alone for most of the day. Please give me some good advice. Thanks!

Esther

[crb04]

I think they would be happier in the familiar environment they are used to. Many cats and dogs are alone while owners at work and do okay. As long as someone is checking on them and playing with them everyday. My concern would be extreme hot/cold temp in garage? (Went on on long weekender once and forgot to turn on air since temp had been 70s-- 100 degree hot spell while away and temp inside house hit 130...dead fish and gerbil on return). Would make sure they had plenty of play items too. We have also had neighbors/friends/family take "shifts" (someone comes over in AM, another in afternoon, etc.).