Dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, and many other furry animals quickly become part of the family. However, what do you do with these pets when you want to travel and see different parts of the world? It’s not like you can easily leave them home to fend for themselves, but it is not always easy to take them with you either!
Three Options for What to Do with Your Pets When You Travel
1. Have Someone You Trust Take Care of Your Pets at Your Home
Sometimes your easiest option is to hire a pet sitter to care for your animals when you are traveling. Your pets will get to be in the space that they have grown to love, you do not need to worry about getting them from point A to point B, and it won’t cost you a small fortune to have them well taken care of somewhere else. With that being said, it can be slightly costly to hire a pet sitter to take care of your animals, depending on the type of pets you have.
When you are looking for pet sitters, you will want to hire someone that does well with animals. They should be willing to stop at your home as many times a day as you want them to, as well as let you know how your pet is doing during those visits. Pet sitters who send pictures are the best option, because you know that they are people who really love animals!
A professional pet sitter can make twenty dollars or more per visit, so you may want to ask a trustworthy neighbor or friend to help you out. That small favor can usually save you some money. This is not the time to hire the kid down the street who hates animals though, because you never know what you may end up walking into when you get home.
2. Board Your Pets
There are numerous boarding facilities available in many towns and cities, so you should never have any difficulty finding a place to board your pets. When you choose this option, you know that there is going to be staff available most times to play with your pets and keep them company. The downside to this option is that your pets will need to spend a good amount of their time in a cage, which can be stressful to many animals.
If you want to board your pets, but do not want to do the kennel route, you may want to look for a professional pet sitter who takes animals into their home for people when they are traveling. Some of these professionals only accept a certain number of animals at a time and allow them to be part of their family during their stay. Others will take many more animals and have them living in kennels like they would at a regular boarding facility, so you need to choose carefully.
Some veterinarians also allow animals to stay with them, so this may be an option that you can consider. This option can be extremely helpful if your pet has medical issues or you want to make sure that their anxiety doesn’t get out of control when you are not there with them.
Another option that you have is to see if a family member or friend can take your pets in to stay with them when you are gone. Imagine your pets getting lots of extra love and attention from your parents or your sister or cousin. Your pets would be in seventh heaven and may never want to return home afterwards!
3. Take Your Pets with You
Depending on your travel destination, you may have the option of taking your pets with you. However, it does depend on how you are traveling to your destination and where you are going!
The best times to take your pets with you are when you are traveling by either car or RV, as they can easily ride along with you. RVs are always the best, because they can stay with you all day and night without you needing to find a hotel that accepts animals. When you take a road trip via car, you do need to make sure that the hotels that you are making reservations at accept animals or you may find yourself sleeping in the car with your pets every night.
If you are planning on flying to your destination, you can take your pets with you, but they will most likely need to ride with the luggage underneath the plane. This can be very stressful for many animals, so you may want to think twice before doing this. Another issue is that many countries have really long quarantine policies for animals arriving from other countries, so you may not be able to see your pet the entire time that you are there anyway. Therefore, it is very important to do your research before choosing to fly with your pets, especially when you are traveling internationally.
For those trips where you take your pets with you, you should take a few extra precautions prior to your trip. First, you should always have your pets wear a collar with all your current information on it. This will ensure that your pets will be returned to you if they happen to run away or get lost in the shuffle. Microchips are another option, as they will not fall off like a collar can.
You should also make sure that your pet has some basic training, so that they know how to behave when they are traveling. After all, there is nothing worse than a dog barking all night long when they hear noises at a campground or inside a hotel.
Other measures that are necessary include finding the local veterinarian for your destination and taking your pet’s medical records and medications with you. And certainly picking the right hotel that will let you bring your pet with you makes a big difference.
It is not too difficult to travel with or without your pets, but it does take some advance planning to make sure that everything goes smoothly. First, determine where your pets are going to be when you are traveling and then make the arrangements immediately to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks when you are enjoying yourself while on vacation!
