This is Missy, the one on the bed, with our neighbours cat – best mates!
Often in my travels people say they can’t do what I’m doing because they have pets to look after. Well, I’m here to dispel this myth. Pets are lovely and I’ve had many over the years. Yes, they do require extra planning, but you have that any way, so I don’t see it as an extra burden to sort to be able to still travel.
So what have I done over the years to sort the pets out?
There are many avenues and these are the ones I’ve found to work.
1. What do you do with them?
Friend/Neighbour, great way to get to know your neighbours better or find a friend who is either willing to stay in the house or come and do the daily duties that said pet needs. I know I have had a list of people, so don’t rely on that one friend or neighbour – have many and then it’s easier to find someone if your favourite pet carer isn’t available.
2. Options for Pet Care
Pet sitting sites, now these range from paid to non paid and are often found under house sitting, so you get the added bonus that your pet and home are well looked after. These range in free to small fee to full fee people. I’ve only ever used the free and its worked out well. I’ve been also been on the other side of the fence and pet sat as well, in fact, in a few weeks I’ll be doing this again – it’s for a friend. I love to pet sit when I can and it’s meant, when I’ve been abroad and done this, that I had a free, often, beautiful place to stay with the added bonus of pet love! I only use sites where people are police checked and have references, so you can find reliable, pet and house loving people who save you from that worry of looking after your ‘fuzzy friends’ as I like to call them. Also, you can find anyone from someone who will look after house, rabbits, birds, etc. You name it and they are likely to be on these sites!
This is Spike – the rock star dog – who I looked after while staying in Vancouver
Micky, my parents cat, who walks on a lead.
3. Happy Fuzzies when you come home!
Is your local vet or pet hotel. Now you can either put them up in these places or they may know of local services where you pay to have them either come and stay in your home or just do the daily duties for your pet. These offer more guarantees with them than the top 2, but, to be honest, I’ve not had any problems with my pets being well cared during my time away by using the ones above. I would use this one as more of a last resort or, if like us where options are limited. When we were traveling across the US with my parents and their pet cat, we all went on a cruise. Mikey the cat needed a pet hotel, so we looked one up, checked it out and he had a vacation as well as us. He came back happy and healthy. Another thing to note, if like us, you are traveling in an RV, which broke down a few times, so we had to find some accommodation which would allow pets, now some hotels do, but, also, check out Air BnB, we found a place in Lethbridge, Alberta which took all 4 of us in with the cat! It was amazing and a lovely place to stay. The couple who ran the listing ran a pet store and had a beautiful dog and cat of their own!
Our Lethbridge dog companion – he didn’t interest my parents cat at all!
I say, if you really want it, there is a way and you can find the right person for the job, as many say they just don’t think anyone can look after their ‘fuzzy’ or ‘not so fuzzy’ friends like they can. Maybe not, but I say, the pet is always really happy to see you when you get back and that is always a great thing to come home to and, to be honest, it’s not in the persons interest to leave your home or pet in a worse state then when you left. I know when I have been the house sitter or pet carer for someone else, I try to leave everything as it was when people left or better, if I can! I’ve just been so grateful for the place to stay and the lovely little friends to make it feel more like home.
What things have you done that I haven’t mentioned with your pets? What pet stories and travel do you have?
How can anyone resist that face? This was a house sit where the owners were worried the cats wouldn’t like me, as you can see – I’m a pro at pet love!
I had a great exchange thing going on with my neighbours- my kids and the her kids earned money for feeding/playing with each other’s cats. Good for me. Good for her. Good for the cats. Great for the kids!!
When I lived in the Canary Islands, I had a list of folk who ADORED my dog, and babysat him when I had to travel without him. Now I’m living back in the UK I have to rely on my parents. I live in their home so getting someone in to look after him is a no-no. It limits when I can travel as to when they are home, and they hate doing it for long periods of time.
However, obviously, he has a passport, so when I eventually decide to take a long trip he will be able to come- across Europe, at least- with me. Hurrah! Plus he is getting old and grumpy and just wants to be with his Mummy these days!