I know my Vet must think bad things about me when I take mine in for a vacation. First of all, I start feeding them the "good stuff" (i.e. some sort of beef usually)a couple of days before our trip to spoil them even more. Corgis are prone to weight problems anyway. I don't have children but if I did I know they would be huge!

Also, my male is definitely an Alpha. As soon as we walk into the reception area Belfour starts with his little high pitched bark, "Belfour's in da house!!!!!" All of my friends have dogs & it would be so nice if we could trade favors but my male is too much for anyone to handle. (They all have males so there is the agression thing.)

In the beginning I had an emergency & had to leave my dogs overnight at a friends. She ended up sleeping in her guest room with my two dogs & her husband slept in their bedroom with their 3 dogs. They had to keep them separated & I felt awful. Thank goodness it was only one night. I won't do that to her again.

After working at a shelter, I would never leave any pet of mine at a kennel (not to start any arguments, just my opinion). It is far more stressfull on an animal to go to a place where they aren't comfortable, have tons of other animals around barking and making noise not to mention that there is a high liklihood your pet could come home with Kennel Cough or some other illness. I have seen it from Pet Stores, Shelters and Kennels

...hit post too soon...

No matter what you hear about your pet's behavior while you are gone, I would always try to find someone to watch them at your home. Your cat might be under the bed while that person is at your home but they probably run all over the house when he's gone. I just think it would be more traumatic in a kennel.

You could always do what our neighbor, who works at Logan for TSA, swears he saw a passenger do. The baggage screener called him over because he saw a dog skeleton in a passenger's carry-on as it went through the x-ray. Upon examination of luggage, it was discovered that she was trying to smuggle her little yappy dog onto the plane in her carry-on. When told that the dog had just received mega-dose of radiation, she said "That's OK, he has cancer anyway and maybe it will help"

gail-OMG! I am ROTFLMAO at that one! Maybe the lady didn't want to spend the money on radiation for her dog.

I always feel bad but a vet told me dogs don't have a concept of time (how does he know?) so now I choose to think my dog doesn't know if I have been missing an hour or a week. They certainly do know what suitcases are. I remember leaving on a family vacation and all of us looked up at the picture window as we were pulling out of the driveway and our dachshund was hunkered down in the window leaving a special good-bye treat!

Your vet may be onto something with the time concept. If we run to the grocery store, our girls greet us like they haven't seen us in a week!

Leona...why do you think I take a vacation.. I get called by name loudly by the grey, she asks for pizza, chicken, cheese....she insists upon having a shower (showa-boston accent) and I need a rest from her demands..and that;s just her..She calls the dog by name..asks if he has to go out to do "sissie"...she calls at supper time and insists upon joining us at her perch..and begs. Then as we are clearing the table she calls the dog.."Aflie..supper big boyquot;....who asked her..lol One night we had lobster and gave her a part of the shell.. My friends are now lined up to be adopted..lol They definetely interact with you more than a dog or a cat...and are so loving.. but please...give me a rest...

Has anyone ever taken a small dwarf rabbit (the ones that fit in one hand) on a plane w/them in an airline approved carrier? The airline said I can do so, it fits under the seat. What was your experience w/this if you've done it? I need to decide for a trip in April.
Also after reading the above post, I am going to call and ask if he would have to be xrayed. I forgot about that and they didn't mention it when I called.

This is why I'm glad I have cats. I give them about 10 cups of food and a gallon of water in self feeders and put out an extra litterbox.
The longest I've left the cats was six days. I was stressing, but when I got home, they were fine.

So, Leona and Parrotmom--either of you in NYC and volunteering to parrot sit when I head off to Costa Rica in April? Boy will I ever miss her there with all those wild parrots around!

It took me a while to figure out what she was doing with that handbag trick. At first, I thought she just liked the bag. I really didn't want her hanging out in there (chewing, pooping, and doing god knows what. It was a Louis Vuitton & cost about $550 at the time. So, I went to Canal St. and bought her a knock-off. I put stuff in it like tissues and keys, old lipstick. I put it on the bed, she gave it a peck, and then turned her back on it! She has very good taste I think and knew it was a fake. Good thing she hasn't developed a liking for Manolo's.

I resolved the guilt by taking my little guys to the country to stay with their "grandparents' when I travel for more than a couple of days. Although they don;t like to leave home they love having 2 grandparents to dote on them, I'm confident they're being cared for properly and it saves the $40 per day cost for the pet sitter (who is fine for a couple of days - but the little guys are wild when I get home if all they've had is the sitter for 1/2 hour twice a day).

I also feel awful leaving my 4 kitties behind, even though my mom checks on them at least every other day (checks on them and gives them cat treats, and plays with them, and sits and cuddles with them....). We just got back from Maui and I felt so bad that I spent $6 for a small catnip sack that said "Meowie Wowie" on it. Am I a sucker or what?

I always feel bad leaving my 3 year old Black Lab in a kennel.

In fact, I was feeling so bad when I made plans to do Germany that I have included Bismarck in the plans.

We are flying to Germany this summer for 2 months. Couldn't imagine leaving him in a kennel for that long a tme or feeling comfortable with the responsibility of leaving him with someone for 2 months.

He'll be great company while I'm there.

This is to "JaneS" if you are still out there. I too, live in the Minneapolis area. Could you please let me know the name of the place you found 35 minutes outside of the cities????? I would LOVE to know which one it is.

It appears to me that there is indeed a strong demand for responsible pet-sitters, I should have done this while I was single!

Jane, I hope you are out there to answer above question. Thanks, Tiff

Tiff-
I'm still here! Below is the website of the "un-kennel" which is what they call themselves. They are located in New Germany, about 15 miles past Wayzata. We pay $45 a day so the price is steep but it really does make us feel better to take Ellie there. The woman who started it used to be an exec at Marriott and applied her skills from the hospitality industry into Top Dog. She is a true dog lover and you can tell that just from the way the place is designed and operated. Let me know if you have any other questions about the place....

www.topdogcountryclub.com

Big applause to you JaneS for saving us. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Tiff-
No problem. Glad I could help and I hope your dog loves it as much as Ellie does!

Well, just returned from a week in the Bahamas, and our cats did fine. They were both under the bed when we got home and didn't come out for a few minutes, but this time they actually had some interaction with our nephew. One of them even slept on the bed with him. Of course, right now they are acting like holy terrors, running around, meowing, and knocking things off tables and counters. But they seem none the worse for our week's absence.

bugswife1--sorry I live in MA.. check out the local bird clubs (I know there is one on L.I.) and see if they recommend anybody. A dear friend owns a bird store here and had been bird sitting unti she found one clients bird had mites and it was a problem and she had to fumigate the room and tell her other clients.