Boarding Vs Pet Sitter

[Pjg8r]

My kittens will be eight months old in December when I will be traveling for 10 days. I have someone who is a vet student who can come by twice a day to visit and give canned food. She will spend some time playing with them and I know she can evaluate any health issues. The other option is a boarding facility where they have their own kitty condo with some play time but they will be able to see people all day. One of the kittens is somewhat shy around strangers and I’m concerned Alex will hide if someone comes into the house that he doesn’t know. I will arrange a meeting before I travel but I’m still unsure. When I’ve had adult cats they have done great with the pet sitter but obviously kittens are more needy. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[susanm9006]

When it comes to full grown healthy cats, it is almost alway best to have a sitter versus board them because they feel safer and happier at home. That is also true of kittens but with kittens I am in favor of kenneling them simply because they can be so crazy and get themselves into so much trouble that I worry about injury while home alone.

 

[Blakeney Green]

I've done both, and I would recommend going with a pet sitter if at all possible. Kitties are a lot calmer and more relaxed in their home environment. I found boarding to be much more stressful on my cats.

 

[lacy2000]

Pet sitter! My old cat went to a boarding facility and it was so stressful he was never the same again. He had aggression and trouble with the litter box (and yeah, the vet ruled out any other problems). So I would 100% go with a pet sitter. Especially if your kitten is shy, it is better that he hides at home than it would be if he is put into a place he doesn’t know AND have people he doesn’t know.

 

[sargon]

A halfway competant sitter is a much better option if possible. In addition to the psychological stress of essentially being thrown into kitty prison, there is also he chance for diseases and fleas...

If you're concerned about kitten madness, you can set up a safe room or, barring that, there are some large dog kennels you can put in your house (under $40 on amazon) that you can set up with food water litter, toys, etc. Your kitten could be in the cage/safe room when unsupervised, and let out for interactive play each day by the sitter.

Your cat won;t enjoy you being gone, even with a sitter, but it will be infinitely less stressful than boarding.

 

[Blakeney Green]

I'm never going to board my cats again unless there is literally no other option. It went so badly that I almost had to come home early from Disney World to get them. Boarding is fine for dogs, but just not the best option for kitties.

 

[leeannintx]

I have no experience with boarding so cannot speak to that. However, we had a pet sitter come by the house 2x a day to feed, play with our kitten when he was just 5 mo old. He did wonderfully. We did do a couple introduction sessions with her when we were still present to show him this person was safe. We let her feed him and play a bit while we were there.

 

[Pjg8r]

I’ve decided to go with the pet sitter. My two kittens have met the sitter and Alex was less than thrilled but at least came into the room when the sitter was there. I’m nervous but believe this is the best choice. I’m using the next few weeks to adjust their feeding schedule to be closer to the times of day the sitter will be coming. Thanks everybody!

 

[huxleysmom]

I only board Huxley when he has a flare up of whatever chronic illness he has (IBD or pancreatitis) and stops eating days before I leave. I hate doing it, but since he takes his meds with food, when he stops eating I have to pill him, and let's just say he does not enjoy this process. I know boarding him causes a lot of stress for him, but at least there, I know he will get his meds, plus extra pain meds or shots that he may need when experiencing a full blown flare up. I had to board him for Thanksgiving. It took him a few hours to forgive me and go back to his normal behavior.

 

[Blakeney Green]

Unfortunately I had the opposite experience with boarding. Maisie has CKD and has to receive subcutaneous fluids as well as oral meds, and I couldn't find a pet sitter who was comfortable with sticking a needle in my cat. My friend suggested boarding, and recommended a place she had taken her pets to and had a good experience. I spoke to the owner and I thought we were on the same page. She seemed to be really listening to my instructions and assured me that a vet tech would be administering the sub q, so I assumed Maisie was in good hands and left for vacation.

I spent quite a bit of time I was supposed to be enjoying my trip exchanging increasingly worried Facebook messages and then phone calls with the boarding kennel because they said that Maisie was not being cooperative with the fluids to the point they couldn't do them. I was pretty surprised because he's never given me any trouble at home, and I don't have any specific training or anyone to help me, so I had just assumed a vet tech could do it with no issues.

It got to the point where I ended up sending my parents over to the boarding kennel to check on him to see how badly he was doing, and I was prepared to end my vacation early and fly home and get him. While they were visiting, my mom offered to hold Maisie so the vet tech could try again with administering the fluids, but the vet tech declined saying she felt it was just too stressful for him. She also made an offhand comment to my mom (which I didn't find out about till later) that she felt the issue was he should have a shaved area on his leg(!) so she could find a vein(!) My mom doesn't know how to do his fluids, so she didn't realize this was a red flag.

When I got home, I learned that the boarding kennel had significantly oversold their services. I think they meant well, but in their eagerness to gain business, they sort of misrepresented themselves. The "vet tech" was a first semester student who thought she had to give the fluids intravenously despite my written instructions saying the fluids were subcutaneous. She had tried to stick the needle in Maisie's leg vein, and got freaked out when he (understandably!) objected strenuously to that. He was pretty dehydrated when I picked him up, despite my efforts to make sure he got what he needed.

So all this to say - be careful, especially with medically fragile pets. I'm not sure what I could have done differently, because I went with a recommended service and asked all the right questions and got the right answers. The only thing I can really see in hindsight is I should have asked to see the vet tech's license instead of just believing the owner.

I'm sure most boarding services are great. I probably wouldn't use one again, even if the medical stuff was sorted out, because it was so stressful (especially on Zephyr) that it just wasn't worth it.

 

[Pjg8r]

I wanted to update this thread. I am now back from my vacation. Alex and Tyler did great with the pet sitter. She came twice a day and sent me pictures. They were happy to see me but haven’t displayed any stress behaviors on my return (yet). Based on my experience a pet sitter at home was definitely better than boarding them.