Pets and Vacation Preparation
We just got back from a week in Hawaii! We had a great time and with a little bit of preparation I think our pets did too (and no, they didn’t go with us!).
The cats have been through extended vacations with us before, meaning they’re used to us leaving and them staying. Since cats are fantastically self-sufficient we don’t worry about them too much while we’re gone, and that’s because we prepare well ahead of time. We also have a friend (who’s also getting our mail) check up on them (and the betta fish!) to make sure they’re okay. Here’s what we do:
The cats have an “auto feeder” dish (similar to this) that we make sure is full before we leave. I also like to leave an extra dish of food out because I’m a worry wart. I also put out a bath towel on the kitchen floor and lay out all my casserole dishes and mixing bowls on it. Then I fill them all with water. The friend who came in to check on them refills or changes them as needed, but if she can’t make it in for a day or two the cats are still fine.
I also make sure the litter boxes are completely cleaned the night before we leave, and we have two extra boxes that we haul in from the garage and fill with litter as well. I don’t want the neighbor having to take care of that and we’ve found that having the extra boxes really help keep things, well, distributed. These are also the first thing we take care of when we get home.
Now dogs are not nearly as self-sufficient as cats, so a coworker of my husband’s took them for the week. I made sure I gave them plenty of food in a giant Ziploc bag with a note written on the front (the dogs are small and I didn’t want them being overfed), a bag of their treats, and packed up their dishes and a small favorite toy each. I also made sure they each had a bath the day before and their beds/crates were cleaned and had a fresh towel in the bottom. My husband also stayed at the coworker’s house for an hour or so when he dropped them off to make sure they got comfortable and answer any questions.
We got a few pictures from the coworker while we were gone and the dogs were very happy! (When Chip is curled up on a lap he’s never met and Honey is stretched out on her back for tummy rubs we know they’re doing well!).
What do you do to prepare your pets for vacations?
Tags: Cats, Dogs, holiday, litter, My pets, Pet Food, Pet safety, Pets, Pets online, preparation, treats, vacationRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cats, Dogs, My pets, Pet Health, Pet Pictures, Pet safety, Pets, Pets online
4 opinions for Pets and Vacation Preparation
Peggy
May 2, 2008 at 8:42 pm
My cat is too social to just have someone check in on him. My cat sitter (brother in law) also spends time with him each day. I think this helps a lot, but he still vomits! I’d never board him though. He wouldn’t last a day.
Other than that, I do many of the same things you do — clean the box and make sure food is stocked up.
jess
May 4, 2008 at 9:37 am
i have two dogs, a yorkie-poo and a schnauzer mix. for vacations, they go with us :). i couldn’t imagine leaving the house without them. they are our babies. but if we did have to plan for a vacation, i would actually take them to petsmarts hotel. they do a wonderful job with them and they would put them in the same room with each other, they’d get their exericse, and they even get to watch t.v.. but i could never board them at a kennel place. it would break my heart.
Heather
May 5, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hi Peggy! I hear you. Two of our cats, sadly, couldn’t care less about people and probably shot straight for the underside of the bed when our friend came by! Turbo, on the other hand, probably got as much loving from her as he could before she had to leave. He’s the only one I really worry about when we’re gone for a while.
Heather
May 5, 2008 at 11:42 am
Hi Jess! When we road trip we always take our dogs with us too and always search out pet-friendly hotels (not easy, but do-able!). There was no way we’d have been able to take them to Hawaii though (which requires something like a six month quarantine before you can bring them home on the island!), so leaving them with a friend was our only option. We looked into the Petsmart hotel and took a tour (which really only involved a salesperson standing with us outside the window telling us what they offer), but we knew they’d get more one-on-one time with our friend, so we went that route.
Have you used the Petsmart hotel before? What do you think of it?
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