Before we completely gained custody of Roman, our family friends had him. They rescued him from the pound and he became a great part of their family. Whenever they traveled, however, they would ask drop off Roman with my family. We would spend a good week with him and become extremely attached. Later on in the years, our family friends were moving away to another country. We were supposed to hold on to Roman until they moved into a home within a couple months. A couple months rolled by and no luck -- they said we could keep him, and we did.
Whenever we went on vacations, we would bring Roman with us. Our vacations were often places that we were able to drive to. Once there, we then went to our booked hotels that allows pets. So overall, our dog would be on our adventures all the time!
When we travel, sometimes they come with, depending on where we're going and what we're doing. We've kenneled them before at our local veterinarian office. They take really good care of them and make sure they get plenty of exercise. Recently, we've been fortunate enough for my family to move close to us so they get to watch my dogs while we're gone as well. That has worked out really well for us. If they're busy and can't watch them and we can't take them with, then the go stay with the other dogs at the veterinarian's office. They actually really like it because they get to play with the other dogs. They make sure all of the dogs have had their proper immunization and are healthy, which in turn eases my mind so then I don't have to worry about my boys catching something.
Usually this depends a lot on where I am going, and how long I will be gone, as well as what pets I have. When I lived out in the country, and had the horses, goats, and the llama, as well as the dogs; there was no way to take them along, so the only choice that I had was to find someone that was trustworthy to take care of them while I was gone.
Now, my husband hardly ever goes anywhere, and sometimes I take trips out to Idaho with my daughter to visit our family out there. When I do that then, my husband is home to take care of the dogs.
When we moved out here from Idaho, we sold our cars, bought an older motorhome so we could take the dogs along, and we just drove out here with the dogs, stopping at campgrounds every day, so he dogs could be outside and exercise. They really enjoyed the trip, but they were as happy as we were to arrive out here, and they had their own yard to play in again.
I wish I can ask someone to look after my cats when I am traveling. Unfortunately, I can’t. I travel sometimes out of town for work, and since I don’t have any other option, I leave it at a pet shop I know. My heart breaks actually, because they are put in cages, but like I said…. I don’t have any other option.
We usually leave our two babies home, and ask someone (usually a family member or friend) to come over and feed them and do the pan once a day. We've never been on a vacation that was longer then a week though. My cousin does do pet sitting as a side job though; when people leave on vacations, they call her up and pay her to come by their house and feed their animals, and if they're dogs, walk them around. I also have a friend who does pet sitting, but instead of dogs and cats, he'll take care of lizards, snakes, birds, fish and other "exotic" pets. He's in training to be a vet tech, so all the pet sitting counts as "experience" handling animals.
We don't travel often but when we do and it's a trip out of town we board our dogs at a doggie kennel. We have been blessed with an amazing woman who grooms one of our dogs. She boards too and she is amazing. We trust her completely with our pets and are confident they are well taken care of when we are gone. They actually don't even mind going.
Our cats usually stay at home. If it's a weekend trip then they are fine on their one. I make sure they have plenty of food and water and their good. If it's longer than that we normally have a friend or neighbor come to check on them every other day!
We sometimes take one of our cats with us, but only if we're going somewhere where she won't be shut up alone in a strange place for any length of time. Each of the cats seem to enjoy spending some alone time with us, when they don't have to compete for attention.
Otherwise, we leave them at home. If we are just going to be gone overnight, I add and extra couple of litter boxes and make sure they'll have enough food and water. If we have to be away for longer than that, we have a friend come in and change the litter boxes out, and make sure they have fresh water and food. Since she doesn't like dealing with cat litter, I keep some extra cat litter boxes around and fill them for her ahead of time, letting her just dump the others into a plastic bag in our shed, for me to deal with when we return.
I try very hard to avoid being away for long because two of my cats are twenty-four and, although they're healthy, I don't want them to have spend any more time than they have to alone or uncomfortable.
It is hard to know what to do with pets when you are traveling, and I think that each case is different; so there is no good answer for everything in this case.
If we were going on a trip, I would ask my neighbor lady to take care of Tootsie, our younger dog, since she is friendly with just about everyone.Then we would take Chipper along. He is 10 years old, and doen't do well with strangers and doesn't like children at all becasue he is pretty delicate.
If we went somewhere on a bus or train, then it would not be possible to take any kind of a pet along; so in that case; I would have to have someone come over to the house and make sure they had food and water while we were gone.
When I used to sell insurance and traveled a lot; I often took my big Gladiator Doberman along with me. I had a Mazda pickup with a camper on the back, and could make him a nice comfy bed back there, and opened the little slider window that went from the back to the front, so he could put his head through and look out the front.
He totally loved going along with me, and I would just make sure to rent a motel room where they allowed pets, too.
Chipper loves to go places with me, and if I am just going out to look for yard sales, or somewhere that I can watch him in hte car, I like to take him along with me. If I am going shopping at the grocery store, then I would worry if he were left alone in the car; so I don't take him along anymore.
When I used to live in a very small town, and didn't have to worry that someone might try to steal Chipper, then he pretty much went everywhere that i went.
If we have to be gone overnight, and are traveling in the car, then Chipper can go along with us, and he is trained to sleep in his crate when the need arises.
I really like taking him along, and he enjoyes going on the little trips in the car, and has traveled ever since he was a tiny puppy. I would hate to have to leave hhim somewhere and have him boarded out while i was gone; so it would have to be a very necessary thing before i would consider doing that to him.
I haven't traveled in several years, but not because of my birds. I can't afford to miss a day of work. I think I traveled 2 times after I got the birds. Since I have a pair, they are able to fully entertain themselves and not be lonely in my absence. I was gone for about 5 days. I gave a friend a key to my apartment and asked her to change the water and give them fresh seed and left a note saying how much they needed. She gave them way more just to be safe, which was fine. The birds hardly seemed to have noticed that I had been gone. She said they were a little confused when she was there feeding them, but when I came back it was just like I'd come back from work, everything normal.
I'm in the fortunate position that my in laws live close by - so if we ever have a trip planned that isn't pet-friendly we ask them to care for our cat and dog. They are animal lovers too, and have their own dog that gets along very well with our pets also, so it's also a good opportunity for all the pets to socialize together.
I honestly don't know that I could take a vacation somewhere if I didn't know the people caring for my animals. To me, they are such a part of the family that I need to keep them with someone I trust 100%. I guess they're just like our kids, honestly. If we are traveling within the country, rather than overseas, we try to find accommodations that are pet friendly. There are quite a few out there, and even if they don't advertise it we always still ask the question of whether it's possible. Our ideal scenario is being able to keep the pets with us at all times, even on vacations, because truly it feels like a part of our family is missing when they're not around.
Other people I know sometimes board their pets when they go on vacations, I don't see a problem with that as long as the place is a reputable one. I would want personal recommendations from family or friends if I ever had to go down that route, but hopefully I'll always be in a situation where I have a trusted family member or friend nearby who is happy to watch the pets if I simply can't take them with us.
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What Do You Do With Your Pets When Traveling?
