Is there anyone who has had a positive experience boarding their cat? I have heard that cats really hate this and act terribly when they get home. I have not heard one positive comment and this worries me because I may have to board my cat at some point. I know the best option is to leave the cat at home and have a sitter come in, but this is not always possible.
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boarding
- Thread starter tuffsmom
- Start Date
I hope some members can offer their experiences too. I was going to post the exact question.
I have a recently diagnosed diabetic cat along with a healthy one. We haven't been on a proper vacation in years and are trying to plan our honeymoon.
Our vet is also a hospital. The entire group of them, staff and techs included, are awesome. They do board cats; separately from dogs and will administer insulin also which is a plus. I know our older one does well when he has to be there for extended periods of testing but not sure about our other cat. I hate the thought of them being in a cage for a week - as large as it may be but we have nobody nearby to care for them, let alone dealing with giving injections. Boarding is the safest option for us, but I still have my concerns.
Anyone?
I have a recently diagnosed diabetic cat along with a healthy one. We haven't been on a proper vacation in years and are trying to plan our honeymoon.
Our vet is also a hospital. The entire group of them, staff and techs included, are awesome. They do board cats; separately from dogs and will administer insulin also which is a plus. I know our older one does well when he has to be there for extended periods of testing but not sure about our other cat. I hate the thought of them being in a cage for a week - as large as it may be but we have nobody nearby to care for them, let alone dealing with giving injections. Boarding is the safest option for us, but I still have my concerns.
Anyone?
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I briefly posted my experience with boarding here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/324473/advice-on-boarding#post_4079210 My cat was fine when he got home. He wasn't stressed or had litter box issues or anything.
@sivyaleah boarding both cats at the vet's would be the best option. The vet will have yoru diabetic cat's records on hand and will be able to treat the diabetic if something happens. The vet techs should be qualified on how to correctly give insulin injections. You can double check to be sure. Leave detailed instructions with the vet and staff about yoru diabetic's needs: insulin name, how much insulin to give at what times, amount of food to feed, etc.
If you don't feed comfortable with boarding, ask if any of the vet techs do pet sitting on the side. Some do for the extra money. You could also look into professional pet sitters who were previously worked as vet techs. Ask for references from when the person was a vet tech so you can be sure the person is qualifed. Vet techs can be a gray area. There are professionally certified and registered / licensed vet techs and then there are people who call themselves vet techs but all they do is paper work and general handling of pets and non-medical stuff. Anyone can take a vet tech class online and be called "certifed".
Thanks for the advice. Our vet techs do perform medical services. They are qualified to give injections. I've met all of them and they are such nice people. There's one in particular who adores Casper, he's always excited to see him and has assured us that he does really well when there for extended periods - plus the whole staff loves him too. It's hard not to lol.
All his records are with them there obviously, and I buy the insulin directly from them also so I know it's always available.
I do know the vet also provides at home services if needed. This certainly would be an option although I think I'd still feel better if Casper were being monitored more closely. Plus I'm sure the price is ridiculous let alone because it's 2 cats and they would need to be here 2x a day minimum. It's already going to be $60ish to board them ($39 for cats who require insulin, and $20 for Cocoa). They will also do play time with them - for an added price of $9.50 per cat. It's a lot to add to the cost of a trip but we'd suck it up to be sure they are taken care of properly.
We are lacking professional pet sitters in our area but the bigger issue is getting in the front door! It tends to stick at times, and even we've been known to have trouble unlocking it. We have to leave the back door barred as it's a patio door, so no way they can get in the back. Our garage is detached so no hope there. I am on the verge of finalizing a door with Home Depot, so hopefully this will be rectified within the next couple of months. Oh the joys of an older home
The boarding place I used charged around $30 for one cat so it was about $150 for the week Leroy was there. Peak times like around holidays cost more obviously. I never went on vacation when I had a diabetic (
) but if I had to, I would have done medical boarding with the vet. Hiring a pet sitter or a local FDMB member (I actually met one in person) would have been just weird because I was still living at home then and there were 4 other people in the house who could feed the cat and clean the litter box but I didn't trust any of them to give insulin or Flovent.
Hope you get to enjoy vacation without needing to worry about the cats because they'll be in good hands whatever your decision is
Hope you get to enjoy vacation without needing to worry about the cats because they'll be in good hands whatever your decision is
