DANGER ZONE: Vacation and Pets
Your Vacation may arguably present the greatest threat your pet will ever face. Vacation is a time when your pet, your home, and your future may be put in peril if you are not very careful to carefully weigh all of your options.
How do I know? Well, because I get calls all of the time describing the funny and often tragic incidents surrounding vacations and pets. Here is a list of the real life events that occurred over the last few decades when the new owners were on vacation.
Tragic Incidents When Dog Was Left While Owners Were On Vacation
1. Escape from a veterinarian's boarding facility. Death by a car.
2. Bronchitis from a vet facility. Result: Antibiotics and weeks of recovery.
3. Unspecified fatal illness from a vet facility.
5. Professional dog boarder: Trachea injury and resultant death from collar and leash.
6. Burglary of home by pet sitter.
7. Liquor to minors charge at pet's home by pet sitter's relatives.
8. Death by pit bull when relative let dog out of their home.
9. Escape from hotel room when maid accidentally let dog out of hotel room.
10. Fatal Illness contracted from roadside bathroom trips on car trip.
11. Death from chocolate eaten when friend left chocolate out and dog ate it.
12. Over vaccination by unscrupulous vet who wanted to make more money with unnecessary and even redundant shot regimen. Year after year this created auto-immune disease and early death.
13. Hyperactive dog from unscrupulous vet using several flea meds on dog simultaneously, including systemics and systemic heartworm meds. Hyperactivity lasted several years and dog died at 4 years of age.
14. Scarring on neck from shock collar used by dog trainer. Traumatized dog.
15. Lost dog from: vet, friend, pet sitter, hotel maid, relative, trainer, boarder.
16. Lost dog euthanized by kill facility, only to identify later.
17. Disease and death while owners were out of country.
18. Dog eaten by an alligator at a golf course.
19. Dog killed by a coral snake in Florida.
20. Dog killed by a wild boar in Florida.
21. Dog injured by a rough child.
22. Blind Dog drowned in pool.
23. Dog attacked by cats. Loss of eye.
24. Dog stolen by thieves.
25. Dog left out in elements.
26. Dog forced to live outside in bad weather.
27. Dog injured from "spankings" because he was whimpering all of the time.
28. Dog refused to eat while the owner was gone.
29. Old dog died unexpectedly and without known cause.
30. Severe pancreatitis from being fed meats and fatty food.
Funny Incidents When Dog Was Left While Owners Were On Vacation
1. A big fluffy coat was shorn into a buzz cut
2. A Macho Male Maltese boy was dressed in pink bows, and a tutu by a little girl who always wanted a girl pup
3. A prissy little white dog learned to lay in mud puddles with a large lab
4. A yappy breed of dog taught a quiet little dog to bark
5. The dog learned that the bathroom rug is the place to "GO"!
6. The dog started begging for table food
7. The dog became a night owl!
Vacation time is the time in which pets are in the greatest jeopardy.
When and how do you safely leave your pet with someone else while you are on vacation?
Your toy dog will become very bonded to you, and that close tie to you will make your Beloved even more determined to find you when you are missing! We cannot explain to them that we will be back in a few days, and they assume that they have been abandoned. They have a way of resolving their abandonment issues: They try to find us!
Microchips:
But, they don't find us, do they? They get lost and it is up to us to find them. So, if your dog has a microchip and you are relying on it, may I say that they are most unreliable as a source of security to get your pet back. Microchips sometimes stop working, and, sometimes they do not scan into the reader or scanner. Sometimes microchips migrate to other parts of the body. Oh, yes, it does happen. Oh, yes they can migrate to parts of the body that are not usually scanned!
Dog placement security and scanning microchips is vastly over estimated. Yes, microchips do help and they do sometimes work. If the person who finds your dog does not want to keep your dog, and, if the person tries to get the dog scanned for a chip, then there is a chance that you may hear about it. Did you register the chip? Did you redo your contact info when your cell number changed? Did you redo your contact info when you moved? Did you redo it when your secondary contact moved and changed his/her cell number?
And, to make matters even more complicated, not all chips and not all scanners are created equal. It is entirely possible that the scanner used by whomever does scan the dog, (if it even happens), will not read your dog's type of chip. Oh, yes, many chips have chip-specific readers or chip-specific scanners. Many scanners read only one type of chip. And, others only have the ability to read a few types of chips. Universal scanners are not really universal. Each country in Europe has its own chip and chip-specific scanner and some of that technology has found its way across the big pond!
Then there is the issue of animal shelters that do not even have scanners. Despite what you will read it is very common and I know of several places that do not even want scanners. Then there is the issue of if they do scan, and if they do scan thoroughly. I am one hundred percent certain that many, many shelters do not scan and do sell the dogs!
The vet's office, and boarding facilities of all types are no place for a well dog as they are rather traumatized by the depersonalized environment as well as the many other BARKING animals. Even a clean vet's office also has many contagions which can impact well/immunized animals, severely.
Then when it comes to a pet sitter - Security is one of the biggest issues, backgrounds on strangers leave a lot to be desired. Your home, your pet and your identity may be at issue.
Suggestions:
Dogs are usually safer in their own home than in any other environment. That is because you have made your home safe for your Beloved. You have created a safe environment without harmful elements and you have instituted safety protocols in your home that will protect the dog.
1. Family members in your home are usually the best alternative. This is often accomplished by a relative that will make several visits to your home daily. Sometimes a relative can live in the home while the owner is away on vacation.
Two factors that may help you select the right family member:
1. Maturity, honesty, and responsibility
2. Ability and desire to follow your safety protocols
The family member sitter usually works best for keeping a Beloved pet safe while you are on vacation. They can be trusted in your home and with your pet. They have enduring ties to you and often to your pet and offer the safest environment with the highest compliance to your way of caring for your animal. The animal is usually comfortable with this arrangement.
2. Pet Boarding in a small home environment is sometimes a good option. Occasionally there are a few people in many areas who will pet sit a few dogs, like 2-3 dogs at any given time, in their home. These are typically older ladies who pamper the animals like they are newborns. Some of these rare situations in which an older person takes in 1-3 small dogs and loves them like they are their own, will sometimes be good solutions. You can ask your vet and friends it they know someone who does a consistent, but small amount of pet sitting in their home.
May I suggest that you not consider any person who works in the vet industry as they could expose the little one to contagion. Vet techs may be great with the animals but they can and will consistently bring home contagious diseases for which your pet cannot be immunized. It is not worth the tremendous risk that these good people represent through no fault of their own.
3. While you are away try to stay in constant contact with the person who is caring for your dog. Call daily and ask if there are ANY changes, matters of concern, coughs, changes in eating and potty habits, etc.
Red Flags:
1. Pet sitter seems annoyed with animal.
2. Pet sitter says dogs is not acting right:
Ask questions:
1. Eating- how much, if less than half of normal go to vet that day! Runny stool, cough, etc., go to vet. You should speak with the vet yourself to assure health.
2. Make sure you know what meds and when they are to be administered. Check on proper med schedule when you call daily.
4. Speak to your sitter and your dog over the phone daily. Ask how the dog is acting when you speak to him, and if there is no reaction consider what might be wrong, is dog ill, etc. SKYPE is a good option for your dog to see you and you he.
5. Written Info for sitter:
Your contact info and itinerary
Vet's name and contact info
Alternate Vet's name and contact info
Dog's DOB
Medical history
Food names and amounts
Schedule for feeding, potty trips
Favorite likes
Places dog can and cannot go
Other animals to be aware of in the area
You can go on vacation and have a great time as long as you thoroughly school the right person in keeping your pet safe while you are away. We hope you are successful in finding just the right person to care for your dog while you are on vacation. Have fun!