What do you do with your dogs, cats, birds and other pets when you go to Europe? <BR>

I pay a college student from my office to move in while I'm away. Works out great; student gets some privacy to study, "kids" don't have to be relocated. And there's someone there in case the hot water heater blows up, or whatever.

A very dear friend who loves my cat, too, comes by twice a day...once for food and water, once for conversation and lights. When I travel with friends, my husband does. They eat sardines together. I HATE sardines, so I guess it's a guy thing.

<BR>Thank god for baby brothers! <BR>He moves in and takes care of the babies <BR>and anything else that may come up! <BR> <BR>Celia lynn: They eat sardines too!!! Yuck, Yuck and Yuck! <BR>So it definitely is a guy thing!

We home exchange with people that also have pets! This year though we are deviating from the formula, so family members will care of our little pooch and beloved three cats.

My Sam the Siamese has been diabetic for five years (insulin injections twice a day----yes, I know we're crazy but he's lived happily for five extra years and it is not that big an inconvenience.) Anyway, because of the injections, we board him at the Vets--adds the cost of another night's stay to the trip but I have peace of mind. Pre-diabetes we were alwasy able to find someone to come in and feed him in his own house.

Dogmom, I can relate because I always feel badly leaving my dog & two cats behind. We always hire a house-sitter. Usually a college student, who most of the time is happy for the privacy. Cost wise it works out the same for us (or less) as boarding them, and they are MUCH happier. It also makes me feel better to know someone is at my house in case there's a problem and you also have the added benefit of not having to cancel the mail, etc.

During my solo visits to Europe, my son stops by daily to feed and water our cats. When we take family trips together, a friend of my son's takes over.

I love my little dog like my children and want only the best for her. The Vet I use also offers boarding, and that is what we use. My dog loves going to the Vet and also loves going to the "doggie hotel". All I have to do is tell her that she has a reservation at the doggie hotel and she gets all excited. I trust this Vet as she is wonderful with animals and knows how much they mean to their humans. I never worry about my baby when she is here and know that she is well taken care of, but I still am excited (as she is) to get back and go pick her up.

Years ago, I had cats. I left them at a "cat motel", which looked beautiful andwas highly recommended, for three weeks and came back to two wild, mad cratures with fleas (it made me wonder about where they put them after I left - what did I NOT see). <BR> <BR>Now we have dogs and we pay our dog walker to move into the house. In addition to the dogs being happy I don;t have to worry about anyone breaking in.

Rusty (aka Mango-pie) goes to the All Cats kennel where everyone hugs and kisses him all the time. He gets treated like a king, is very happy with the comings and goings and all the people who talk to him. He always comes home happy, although annoyed that he doesn't get the same royal treatment from me! Even though I'm SO happy to see him. This thread reminds me of those days when I had many cats and a new husband who just didn't understand the relationship we had. After two weeks in England, I picked the three feline tykes up from the vet and brought them home, put down a big plate of food on the breezeway and went into the house. Ol' Pokey (eatin', settin', sleepin' kinda cat - 18 lbs of her) followed me back in. I thought she might want something special, so I put down some crunchy stuff; she ignored it. So I put down a chewy treat; she ignored it. I finally put down - MILKIE - her favorite and rarely served drink; she ignored it! We stood there for a minute, me looking down, her looking up, then she meowed piteously and I sat on the floor. She crawled into my lap, curled up and laid her head against my chest, purring loudly. My husband came in a few minutes later asking why Pokey wasn't eating with her sisters. When he saw her in my lap, he said, "Good grief, I guess she really missed you!" That was the start of his understanding about pets and their people. What would we do without them?

You wanna hear a story about weird priorities? Even though I love animals, dogs in particular, we don't have any BECAUSE we spend so much time in Europe. I've never figured out a way to have a dog and do the right thing by the pet and spend as much time as we do overseas...so we enjoy our neighbors' dogs in the Dordogne. One day, when we're in France for good, we'll have a dog again.

I leave my 10 year old blue-and-gold Macaw (large parrot) with a local pet store--it is often almost as expensive as a hotel.

well we have 2 cats and a dog. the cats stay i the house and the dog goes to the next door neighbors house. the cats love the privacy and time away from the dog while the dog loves being with our friends next door. they love him and are teaching him how to speak russian. Our dog is a special needs dog he has seperation anxiety and needs to take elevil twice a day, so we are lucky he has a family he trusts.