Are you ready for the holidays yet? It wouldn’t really be a surprise if you weren’t: this time of year can sneak up on us! As the season of celebration approaches, many people will find themselves with pretty packed agendas. Traveling, shopping, cooking, decorating, and just making time for all of those celebrations can be a bit overwhelming. And for those who have pets, travel plans may also mean making arrangements for someone to care for your furry friend. In this article from Valley Pet Hotel, your Rialto, CA pet kennel, also serving Bloomington, CA, you’ll read some tips to help you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to boarding.
Make Your Pet’s Reservations Early
The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for travel. Spots can fill up very quickly. You definitely don’t want to wait until the last minute. You may very well find yourself on a waiting list, or having to turn over every stone possible to find a spot. Be sure to secure your spot at our Bloomington, CA dog boarding facility well in advance!
Consider Your Pet’s Comfort
Even people that aren’t traveling themselves sometimes have a reason to book their pets spots at pet resorts. If your entire family is coming to visit, or you have a particularly busy weekend planned, it may make sense for you to put your furry bestie in a kennel.
A few examples? If you have a frail grandmother and a giant puppy who is still working on petiquette, you may want to put Fido in a pet hotel. You may also want to keep your furry friend in a pet resort if you have guests with severe allergies, or maybe just know that you’re going to have your hands full.
Talk To Your Emergency Contact
This is a big one. Whenever you are going to be boarding your pet at a facility, you’ll be asked to provide the contact information for a backup. This person will be authorized to speak on your behalf. That can be a pretty important role! For instance, if your pet is hurt, your backup contact may be tasked with authorizing veterinary care.
Of course, just like everyone else, your backup person is likely going to have a lot going on around the holidays. They may not be available. This is also something you’d want to sort out in advance. If your usual backup isn’t available, make a short list of others that may be willing to take on this duty.
You’ll want to have conversations with your backups. At the very least, make sure that they are clear on what your wishes would be. Putting these down in writing can help a lot here. While hopefully this won’t happen, it is possible that your backup could get that dreaded phone call. This can, understandably, be nerve-wracking. It’s not uncommon for people to get quite forgetful during stressful moments like this. Making your wishes as clear as possible is just a good standard practice.
Another thing we would recommend is having your backup put the Bloomington, CA dog boarding kennel’s phone numbers into their contacts list. That way, if they do get a call, they won’t mistake it for spam.
Keep Up With Pet’s Preventative Care
When it comes to pet care, an ounce of prevention is often worth several pounds of cure. We can’t overstate the importance of staying current with your furry friend’s preventative care.
That includes the core vaccines, which include canine distemper virus, canine adenovirus type 2, canine parvovirus type 2, and rabies for dogs and FHV-1, FCV, FPV, rabies, and FeLV for cats. Many kennels also require that pets be vaccinated for non-core diseases, such as Bordetella and Parvovirus.
Keep an eye on when your pet is going to become due for their next round. You don’t want to realize at the last minute that this will happen while you are out of town. Talk to your vet and your kennel about the requirements.
Verify Identification
Hopefully, this isn’t something that would ever come into play during a kennel stay, but we’re mentioning it anyway. Decent kennels will have some safety measures in place that will help prevent their furry charges from escaping. However, even the most foolproof system can break. There’s also always the chance of a disaster, such as a fire.
Make sure that your pet is microchipped and wearing proper ID tags. With the microchip, you would also want to make sure that the information on the chip is actually correct and updated. You can try the AAHA Pet Microchip Lookup Tool here.
Verify Requirements
Are you going to a new kennel for the first time? Take a very close look at their website, as well as any paperwork they require or hand out. You’ll want to make sure that all of your proverbial ducks are in a row. This goes double if you are trying a new kennel, but it’s actually solid advice even with one you’ve been to many times before. You never know what could have changed that may affect things!
Consider Layovers/Delays
Travel can be stressful at any time of year, but it can get particularly hectic around the holidays. Inclement weather, delays, and the elevated number of travelers both in airports and on the road can all throw wrenches into even best-laid plans.
When arranging your pet’s stay, make sure you have some breathing room with your drop-off and pickup times. You would also want to pack extra food, treats, and medicine, just in case you are delayed.
Don’t Forget About Fluffy
It’s much more common for people to want to board their dogs at a pet resort than their cats. It is true that our feline friends are much more independent than dogs. To be fair, most cats will be fine if left alone overnight. However, kitties are quite small and fragile. They really shouldn’t be left home alone for very long.
Your kitty’s age and health may also factor in here. Kittens really shouldn’t be left alone. They’re not only very tiny and vulnerable, they are also basically super cute little bundles of chaos that can very, very quickly get into trouble. It can also be quite dangerous to leave a senior cat home by themselves for very long. You definitely would not want to come home and find that something has happened to your furry buddy.
You’ll also want to keep your feline pal’s purrsonality in mind. If you only have one cat, your pet could be quite distressed by finding herself staying home by herself for long periods of time. While it’s easy to poke fun at cats for being cold and aloof, the truth is, they are actually very emotional, and can get quite lonely and distressed if left by themselves too much!
Have A Wonderful Holiday
With all that out of the way, all of us here at your Bloomington, CA pet hotel would like to wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season.
Schedule Boarding At Our Bloomington, CA Pet Hotel
Do you need to make plans for your furry bestie to get boarded? Please do not hesitate to reach out to us here at Valley Pet Hotel, your Rialto, CA pet kennel, also serving Bloomington, CA.
