Daycare – Vacation Care for Dogs
Part ONE – long time care

Contrary to cats, you should NOT just leave your dog home alone for a week (or longer), just providing daily walks with a friend or a pet walking service. Your dog will definitely be very distressed, maybe bark non-stop, chew up your furniture, or else.

If you go on vacation and can’t/won’t take your dog with you, check into the possibility of bringing him to a pet sitting service. There is always the option to board him/her at a kennel/veterinarian, but in these facilities the dogs will be kept in a kennel most of the time and only taken out for regular walks. If you prefer for your best friend to be happy while you enjoy your vacation, look for institutions that keep the dogs free, not locked up. There are many pet sitters that operate from their own home, offering space only for a very limited number of dogs, mostly one to three maximum. In these places the dogs are kept together with the family and suffer less from the stress of being separated from you.
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Vacation Care for Cats

Dogs and cats are very different when it comes to daycare/vacation care. Cats prefer to stay in their familiar surroundings rather than being whisked off to some facility or a friend’s house. Unusual places, smell, people can turn the nicest, purring cat into a “curtain climber”, “couch scratcher”, refusing food, and even neglect the litter box, using carpet and furniture instead. I talk from my own experience, as my mellow, loving cat turned into a hissing maniac, literally destroying the house of a friend within a week.
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