does anyone else feel badly about leaving their pets when they travel...
 

I always feel bad about leaving our cats when we travel.We have someone stay in our house but he tells us the cats spend most of the time hiding under the bed while we are gone.

I always feel terrible, even with a trusted friend as live-in cat companion and care-taker. I just hate to be away from them; every trip it gets harder to leave.

No, not really. We have had the same girl watch our house and our cat for the past 3 years, about 4 trips a year, so by now our cat "knows" her and is more comfortable with her.

The really funny thing is that our cat is still always "mad" at us for about 2 days whenever we get back. More meowing, won't sit with us as usual - sounds patently rediculous, I know, but it really does seem like he's mad at us for having left. (And I do trust the girl who watches him - she's my colleague and she's very sweet and loves animals, so I don't think there is a problem there).

I would feel guilty if I left a pet home alone, but since we do provide a person primarily to be there for the pet, I don't feel guilty about it at all.

There was a HILARIOUS (satirical) article on this on the Onion a while back, but unfortunately they didn't archive it. It was point-counterpoint, where two people write on the same issue. The first one was "I Cut My Vacation Short Because I Missed My Kitties", in which the lady went on and on about how she was too preoccupied worring about her "babies" that she couldn't enjoy her vacation.

The counterpoint was written by her neighbor: "Crazy Cat Lady's Cats Do Just Fine Without Her", in which the neighbor says: "I don't know what she's talking about. I do my gardening every day, and every day, her cats sit in the window for hours at a time. When Crazy Cat Lady went on vacation, I offered to feed them for her, and they just did the same thing they always do - sit in the window for hours."

:)

That's exactly why I don't have any pets!

C'mon, yk - You do secretly want a cat. Otherwise you wouldn't have read this thread! ;)

Our only worry is that the dogs will be so spoiled by our sitter that they will be sorry to see us come back.
And too fat from all the extra cookies to greet us properly.

I definitely feel guilty! If I think about it too much, I will cancel the trip to Europe we have planned for this summer!

The goatboys (yep, we have two goats who are more like dogs - to us anyway) don't care who feeds them, but the kitty hides in the garage most of the time while we are gone. Sneaks in to eat when the housesitter isn't around.

I don't feel guilty about leaving my dogs, because they have a nice sitter who loves them, but spoils them. I do start to miss them though, and think of them when I see places they would like to run.
I always have to pet a dog on vacation to keep me grounded.

It is funny how I miss their little doggy faces looking at me and smiling.

We miss our rabbit when we travel. But not enough to cancel a trip, or not travel. We upgraded him to more spacious digs, so "the bun" has gotten pretty spoiled. We have friends stop by, feed him organic raw foods (he gets addicted to pellets in our absence), and let him run around our home. At some point during our travels, we'll look at each other and ask, "I wonder how Dusty is doing?" When we return, it usually takes him a day to get back into the swing of things.

Since we feel badly about leaving her, we almost always take our small yorkie with us. Granted, we leave in Europe, so we don't have to deal with a long flight, but in the past year, she's been with us to Rome, Tenerife, Süd Tirol, Alsace & in the next two months, she'll go with us to Paris, Vienna and back to Süd Tirol and Alsace. She's really like our little kid--and very well behaved and quiet.

We miss each other, but we're always glad to see each other again.

The worst (true story) thing that ever happened had nothing to do with human affection. We had a pot-belly pig that lived with our dairy herd of goats and they all won their categories at the county fair and went down to the State Fair--a mandatory week long stay. The pig quit eating and died before we could get the goats back. We felt horrible knowing he died from a broken heart, but we figured it out too late.

I feel a little guilty about leaving them (we have two cats and one dog), but they are well taken care of. My hubby's grandparents come and check on the cats everyday (and give them way too much food!). Our dog stays at a kennel at the home of her old obedience school teacher. He only takes dogs that he meets through the school, and we really trust him. She gets lots of exercise in his yard and lots of playtime with other dogs. Lucy comes back fitter and better behaved after a visit at Louis's house! Still, I do miss the pets, especially the dog, but I do not miss getting up at 6 am to take out the dog!

Yes, even though we have a house-sitter, I know the dogs and cats are missing us. Thats why I can only let myself go for 10 days or so, so all of our vacations are less than 2 weeks. What guilt I feel. I dont know how to shake it. Our pets are our little friends but I cant take 3 dogs and 2 cats to venice!!!....Patty

Almost as much as I miss the children. ;-)

flaneuse said it ~ Almost as much as I miss the children !
I miss Pup when I leave him for a day, so travel always bothers me. I think he has fun but he is too kind to admit it when I return.
We are about to go on a small trip and he will be left with a new sitter.
It will be difficult for me, we will see how he likes it.
You just do the best you can~

I would like to know if most people pay someone to "house sit." It's really "cat sit" for us because otherwise we don't need anyone to watch the house. And yes, I do feel terrible about leaving our kitty, who always sleeps on our bed at night.

We used to pay someone to stay at our house when we had a cat..now we take the Pup to someones and pay them for the pleasure of hanging out with a cool pup ((&))

I felt guilty when we left our African Grey parrot with a relative while we were in Paris. It didn't help that every pidgeon I saw reminded me of him since he has the same grey body coloring.

Several years ago I took a position in Texas for 2 years while my wife stayed in Florida to maintain our household. I obtained a Shih Tzu to keep me company in my small studio apartment. The dog quickly learned the routine of my packing for my monthly flight back to Florida of packing in the morning, leaving the suitcase on the sofa, then heading off to work - only to return home,finish packing, take her to a kennel and then head to the airport for my night flight to Florida. After several months of this routine, I returned home one afternoon to find my carefully packed clothes strewn throughout the apartment and my dog setting in my suitcase, her tail wagging, and I am convinced, a huge smile on her face. You bet I feel badly when I leave my pets!

Riffic: Please tell me about traveling in Europe with a small dog. I have read that France (particularly Paris) is very accepting of dogs and that you can take them in almost everywhere. Do you find this to be the case in other countries? Restaurants, small hotels, museums, shops?

I have a small 5 pound chihuahua and when I think of leaving him at a kennel or elsewhere, it makes me feel ill. On the other hand I love to travel and leave him I must.

I live in New York (Westchester County) and if anyone has a place which they recommend, I would be truly grateful for the information.

Thanks.