Today we have another talk in our pet series, Travel With Pets or Leave Them at Home?
What happens at holiday time or vacation and you need to go away? Do you Travel With Pets or Leave Them at Home? May people these days will make arrangements to take their pets with them instead of leaving the pets at home. There are things to consider when making the decision to take your pets traveling with your or to leave them at home. Here are a few things to think about and options for your to consider before your next trip.
1. Leaving Pets at Home
a. House Sitter
If you can not take your pets to holiday with you, you may need to leave them at home. The best solution here provided it is available, is to find somebody who will house-sit and mind your pets at home, as the pets will feel most comfortable in their own normal surroundings. For this, you will need someone that both you and your pets are familiar with. It would also be good to have someone you trust not only with your home but with your pet’s well being.
b. Daily Pet Sitter
If a full-time house sitter is not available, find somebody who will come in once or twice daily. Your pet sitter will be able to feed, and water the pets, and be sure all is well with them. It would be best for your pet sitter to be able to sit with your pets for a short while every day just to keep them company.
Most of the time, cats will be fine at home by themselves as long as they have someone to check in on them. Give a cat food, water, and a litter box and they will be happy at home alone.
Dogs may need a bit more looking after. Still, if your pets are well-adjusted and familiar with your pet sitter, dogs can be left at home and checked on several times a day. After all, you go to work and leave your dog home alone. It is basically the same thing but just without you coming home at night.
The pet sitter will need to visit early in the homing as in when you would normally get up. Then again around the same time you would be getting home, when you would normally be feeding your pets, and then at night before you would normally go to bed. This routine will keep your pets on the same schedule as when you are home.
This setup should be good for both cats and dogs or whatever pets you have. Fish tanks, reptiles, and small animals usually will be ok with feeding, watering, and checking on once a day while you are gone.
c. Boarding Facility
Dogs may be ok at home if your pet sitter is a person that they are familiar with, a neighbor or friend. But if your only option is out of house care, consider a local boarding facility. Dogs will generally do fine in a boarding facility for a few days.
1. Do Your Research
If you intend to leave your pets at a boarding kennel do some research first to check on the facilities. Go to the facility and find out for yourself how your pets would be housed. See if the other pets at the facility seem happy and well cared for. If possible talk to other people who have left their pets there to find out whether they would recommend them to other people.
2. Cat Accommodations
Cats can be more tricky when it comes to out of home accommodations. Many cats do not like to be left in unfamiliar surroundings such as boarding kennels, whereas others are completely happy provided they are getting some form of company and sufficient food throughout the day. If a boarding kennel is the plan be sure that facility is set up with a cats only room and each cat will have its own kennel or room.
3. Proper Pet Vaccinations
Make sure also if you are leaving your pets at a boarding kennel that they has had the proper vaccinations to eliminate any possibility of picking up any illness or disease. Most boarding facilities will not allow unvaccinated pets to stay but it is always best to be on the safe side and know that your pets have their vaccines.
D. Traveling With Pets
1. Short Trips in a Car
If your holiday involves traveling by road then it might just be able to take your pets with you provided they like to ride in cars vehicle.
The majority of dogs will be happy with a car ride. Most of our dogs love to ride and it does not really matter where they are going or how long the ride is.
If you have a cat or cats that need to be provided for car travel still may be an option provided they doesn’t mind traveling in a vehicle.
If you have never taken your cat or dog on the road before you may need to test by taking your pet on a smaller road trip first to determine whether it feels ill, stressed, or has any other problems before taking it on a longer trip.
2. Training Your Pet To Travel with You in a Car
If your pet has never been in a car you may have to work them up to it. Usually, a happy, trusting pet will go wherever you are so they can be taught to get into the car with you.
Start by getting in the car and placing the pet in the car with you, do not crank the car at first. If this is ok with the pet, then crank the car to see how they react. If all goes well, drive up the driveway and back to the house. If the pet loves it then you are golden.
If the pet is still unsure, take it slow, you do not want to give them a bad experience while in training. Stop with this quick, short drive and let the pet out of the car with you.
Do not just open the door and let the pet jump out and run off, that is not a good start. Sit for a minute with the car off, then put a leash on the pet and slowly get out of the car. You want them to know that the car is a good, safe place for them. The pet needs to know that you like the car, this will help them feel safe and like the car too.
Go for another ride the next day, take a longer drive if all goes well. It may take a few days for your pet to become comfortable with a car find so be sure to start early and give yourself and your pet enough days to get settled in with a car ride.
Then try getting in and out of the car while on the short rides. Your pet, usually dogs only, will need to be comfortable getting out at gas stations and potty breaks. If you are on a short trip this may not be an issue but for long trips you will need to take potty breaks for your pets.
If you have trained your pet to be comfortable getting out at different places, you should not have a problem with walking them on a secured leash. Do be sure the leash is the right size and comfortable for your pet.
3. Traveling with Fearful Dogs
Small dogs or fearful dogs may need to have a crate to travel in. This way they will have their familiar stuff and have a place to feel safe. The whole point is to be able to take your pets with you and have then feel happy and safe at the same time. Make arrangements or accommodations to keep you and your pets happy.
Yes, there medications you can get from you vet to help calm your pets on a trip. But like all meds, there are side effects. With people, meds can affect each person differently, this is the same with your pets. Each pet can react differently to the same meds. So if you are taking your pets and they need meds for the ride, test it before you go. As with training your pet to ride in a car, do a test run with meds to see how they will affect your pet on the big day.
There are also natural herbs that can help take the edge off when dealing with upset pets. We would recommend trying this method before moving to pharmacy meds but as with all new things, consult your vet first.
If it is just too much, reconsider the plan. What good is it to force your pet to ride along with you if they are terrified the whole time?
4. Traveling with Cats in a Car
Generally speaking, though not always, cats ride in a travel carrier and do not need to be take out to potty on trips. This being said, there are always exceptions. For a car trip, it may be best to have a travel crate larger than the cat needs so you can have a bed, litter box, food bowl, and water in the carrier with your cat. This set up will eliminate having to take the cat out of the car at rest stops and risk the cat getting away.
Space in a car might be tight but it is better to make accommodations for your cat than to have an accident on the road and loose your cat.
5. Traveling with Pets in a Caravan
With people who do a lot of traveling with pets, they have a set up ready for each pet. If they are in a camper, caravan, or Winni-Bago type vehicle there should be room for each pet to have its own travel carrier with its stuff in it. Dogs may learn to ride loose in the caravan but a crate should be available if it is needed. Again, dogs should have their own space with bedding, food bowl, water, toys, and chewys. In case of an emergency you will need to be able to secure your pets in carts for their safety.
Cats will need their carrier with food bowls, water, bedding, and toys. As we said before, there are always exceptions. It is possible to train cats to ride loose in a and be just fine. If cats are started young, they can be trained to ride and live in a caravan.
We had some friends who had retired and traveled in a caravan. They had several dogs and a cat who traveled with them. The dogs and the cat were trained to ride and live in the caravan and they did just fine.
Traveling with your pets can be a fun and rewarding experience. You can have time to spend with your pets and tighten the bond between you. But remember not all pets will travel well.
Depending on the pets past and personal nature, you may have a fearful pet that just will not do well traveling, consider that before you decide on travel arrangements. We understand you want to take your pet with you but it just may not be the right thing for that pet and you need to do what is best for your pets.
Don’t leave your pets care to the last minute when planning a holiday. By doing some research in advance you can save you and your pets a lot of stress.
We hope you have enjoyed this talk about Travel With Pets or Leave Them at Home? Hopefully, it has given you some ideas when traveling with your pets. The next time you are planning a trip for your family think about including your pets.
In case you missed any of the other talks in our pet series, check them out below.
You Are Thinking of Getting a Pet?
Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.
Lots of good information