Isn’t it great! You have a healthy pet that loves you and enjoys hanging around your home. What happens when you have to leave town for a few days? In the absense of kind friends who can board your pet while you are away, you have to come up with a good pet boarding facility to keep them while you are away.
All in all, picking a place to board your pet is a serious decision. Unless you know someone personally or have decent referrals, it’s hard to know where to go. The best choice is a place where you know your pet will be well taken care of and content. Since many house pets tend to do poorly in strange surroundings, finding a place that will meet their needs and keep them reasonably happy is especially challenging.
Don’t board your pet anywhere until you have personally visited and observed the conditions there. Some boarding facilities are filthy, poorly run, and represent a health hazard for your pet. Take some time to check out the cleanliness and general appearance of the operation.
Make sure that the boarding operation requires all pets to have up to date vaccinations. A worm check should also be required.
It’s pretty common for veterinarians to provide a pet boarding facility as an add-on to their practice. You would think this would be the best choice, but don’t count on it. The boarding is sometime just an afterthought that isn’t given a lot of attention.
Consider this from your pet’s perspective. If you were a cat or dog, how would you feel hanging out in a human hospital for a few days? Hospitals are what they are. They are places for sick and recovering pets. Your pet is probably will not have much fun staying in a veterinary hospital while you are away, nor are they likely to get the care and exercise they need.
Veterinary clinics in general are not set up to do a good job of boarding pets. Their staff is dedicated primarily to attending sick animals, and they are often highly stressed and overworked. Your healthy pet boarding in such a facility is more likely to just be left sitting in a small cage for extended periods.
As you go about evaluating animal boarding facilities, take a look at the routine they follow when allowing the pets outdoors to exercise and run around. The pets should be supervised by a human at all times. Look at the quality and construction of the fencing to make sure it is secure and doesn’t have obvious holes or other damage that a pet could take advantage of and escape.
If you are boarding a cat, they should be contained in an area that is separated well from the dogs. Few things can stress out a normal cat worse than around the clock barking and howling! If you will be boarding a dog, be certain to find out how he will be cared for. How often will he be fed? Will he have regular outdoor play time? Will they give him his own healthy dog food that you bring from home?
Finally, the one intangible you need to look at. How do the people working at the pet boarding facility work with the pets? This is not an easy job and requires a special person with lots of patience and desire. If the workers seem hurried and stressed with their job, this is probably not the best managed environment for your pet.
Choosing the best place to board your pets is important. Don’t neglect to do your homework thoroughly on this.
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