If you have to leave your beloved pets for any extended amount of time, you may have to find boarding facilities. This is where the pet hotel comes in. A pet hotel can be a convenient, reasonable, and healthy choice if you follow the advice of the animal boarding experts:
BOOK AHEAD: According to many, the first thing to be sure of is that you make advance plans and reservations, as many pet hotel facilities are full during peak seasons.
PROVIDE PAPERS: You will then have to get a copy of two documents from your vet—recent vaccination records and a negative faecal report.
READ THE RULES: Next, read over the pet hotel‘s contract, noting the policies about payment, hours of operation, and pick-up and drop-off times (and late penalties).
PROVIDE PLENTY OF INFO: Fill out the contract with as much info as you can about your pet’s medical history, allergies, and special needs. And be sure to leave contact information for you and your vet—numbers and email addresses where you can be reached, just in case—though most pet hotel people will tell you that now that you and they have planned, you can now go off knowing your cherished pets are in good care.
Pet Stores: Not for Pets Only
I must–as I would wager a number of us do–have some animal–mostly cat–blood in me. I love pet stores. I love the natural, chemical-free smells–mostly getting high myself in the catnip toy section. I love the fuzzy, furry feels, the shiny, sparkly sights, and the jangly, jingling sounds. Even though I no longer have my beloved Billie, I still find excuses to visit pet stores, to walk up and down the aisles in appreciation of the action toys, the balls, the ahem, yes, catnip toys, the feather toys, the interactive toys, the motorized and scratching and talking toys. I take more delight than I think most pets would, even, in the online pet stores with the political pet dolls that are shaped like Hillary and Arnold and George W. B., the psychedelic and funkadelic stuffed animals, the options for toys that enhance coordination and the ones that encourage the play and the hunt of the great pet within. And I usually end up buying something–for my, uh, friends’ pets. Yeah, that’s it.
