Pets & Vacation?

Since I have 8 babies and my sister lives handy to my house, well actually Titden is my sisters cat but I say she is mine she lives with me right hehehe anyway I have my sister come over to feed,water & change litter. I know she is going to visit for awhile and give them love and attention and the cats love her too.

in the past i have either left them here so someone can come in and feed them, or taken them to my mums so she can look after them

Wow, I'm surprised at how many people have someone come to their home to take care of their pets. I really thought that I would be in a minority. I thought that most of you would take them along with you!

Vacation? What is that?

We need an option of I don't go on vacation because it would stress Sierra too much!

Couldn't really answer the poll, 'cause we generally do both. Kellie is kenneled (boarded at the vet's usually) and if we're only going to be gone for no longer than about 3 days, the cats will probably be left with several clean litter boxes, plenty of fresh water and enough food for that length of time (this is what we did before and never had a problem.) The house has central air and heat (heat pump) so that's not a concern. I've taken Kellie with us a time or two, but I'm usually worrying so much about her while she's with us, that I can't enjoy myself so I usually try to avoid that.

The cats are going to be a problem if/when we go somewhere for longer than a long weekend. I may look into a pet/housesitting service but I don't believe that there are any in this area.

I've usually had one of my co-workers come over even though she lives 10 miles (one way) away from my house!! Once we had a friend's sons come and feed and water them but now that our neighbor's kids are getting older (2nd grade and 4th grade) I think I will ask them. They really like petting the cats. I think they would be thrilled to earn a few dollars or some souveniors!!

I don't go on holiday with my Mother so she stays and looks after the pets.

when pandy was a kitten we snuck her into the hilton, have snuck them in a few times, if i can't, i have a lovely friend who will look after them, she loves cats and is very careful not to let them out, her cat is indoors too.

nassa comes with us all the time unless it's a hotel that won't allow dogs, then i just don't stay away for long


felicia

We don't go because of the cats. There is no one I would trust with my 2 babies, and the local state parks don't accept animals in their cabins . so we are stuck for now.

We can usually get my stepson (who's 20) to come and stay at our house when we go on vacation. That's nice because they have someone they know with them so they don't get so lonely. If that doesn't work out my parents or sister come to feed them and try to spend a little time with them each day.

I don't think they'd take well to us bringing them with us...they get SO stressed out whenever we take them anywhere.

Just a little info that might help some of you. There's a program coordinated by our area shelters called, "You take my pet, and I'll take yours". Basically, local pet guardians trade pet sitting services free of charge. You have to sign up in advance, of course, indicating what pets you have and what pets you have experience with, and the pets have to be up to date on their vaccinations as well as have "personal liability insurance". That's especially important for dogs, e.g., we "sat" for a 9-month-old German Shepherd who chewed on our kitchen cabinets one night while we were sleeping - I didn't mind him destroying shoes, because it was our fault for leaving some within reach, but the cabinets were an unwelcome "surprise". Dogs generally go to the sitters' homes, while cats remain in their familiar surroundings. Shelter volunteers are available with advice/help at any time, and a refundable deposit of €500/c. $600, held by the shelter, is required to cover any vet fees.
I foresaw problems during school vacations and over holiday weekends when the program started 5 years ago, because I thought that demand would outstrip supply, but that hasn't been the case. Many people who currently don't have pets have volunteered, too, generally senior citizens who feel they're "too old" to take on a pet at this stage in their lives, or people who want to see whether their kids will have allergies, act responsibly, get bored after a few days, be too jumpy, etc..
I prefer to have somebody whom the pets are really familiar with, but that obviously doesn't always work out, and I think this type of "plan" is less upsetting to the pets than boarding them.

It's funny that this thread came up.

My husband and I are going on our delayed honeymoon at the end of June. My parents don't want my cats back in their home (took them days to rid the basement of cat hair and they don't want it back as my mother is allergic) I used to live with them.

I USED to be a pet-sitter so I am very anal about who takes care of my cats. Boarding is not an option as the cheapest I could find was $20 a day for two cats for 12 days. That is WAY too expensive for me. My father agreed to make the one hour journey to my apartment every few days to check in on the cats and hopefully my downstairs neighbor (who owns a cat) can fill in the other days.

I have a Lovebird and a five year-old blind Betta fish that will be staying at my parents house during our trip.

For shorter time periods (up to 4 days) I leave lots of food/water/litterboxes out for the cats, feed the fish before and after I get back, and sometimes the bird comes with when I visit my parents. Other times I leave him with extra food and water for a few days.

And I completely can relate to this:

Having parrots, I can't/don't trust most people with them, parrots are different from cats & dogs, not many non-bird owners understand their needs.

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I used to bird sit for a couple that had two finches, a Jardines parrot, a yellow-naped Amazon, a Sun Conure, and a Citron Cockatoo. They NEVER locked the birds in their cages. I had to chop up fresh fruits and veggies for them EVERY day, clean their cages and scrub the bottoms, wash their food/water cups EVERY day, and cover them every night around dusk. This couple got a HUGE bargain for the exact care I gave their birds. I didn't mind though as I got to see what it is like to own larger birds (and many at that).

I have never owned anything larger than a Cockatiel.

When I go on vacation I take the boys over to my parent's house. I know they'll get just as spoiled there as they do at home and I normally take them over a couple of times a month anyway so they are used to the house.

My Mom would come over to my apartment except I live so far out of the way so it's just not practical.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

I have 3 horses, a dog, and currently 7 cats in, and 6 out. I couldn't afford to kennel them all! We don't vacation much, last time was when my sister got married in Colorado 2 years ago. Then we kenneled one dog, and she did fine.

It is hard to find someone who can take care of such a different bunch. The horse people aren't dog people, etc! All our family lives out of state, or they could help. Too bad I don't live next to some TCS people, I'll bet they could handle my crew with no problems!

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I know the feeling all too well! Last fall on our trip to Minnesota we had someone feed the cats, someone feed the horses, the dog went to the brother, and my friend came by to check on all!