How do you vacation?

[MySongAngel]

I know I'm jumping the gun a little. I don't even know yet what my little Sara has in her future. She's at the vet's being treated with steroids for her calcified discs, and I don't know yet if I'm going to have a paralyzed dog.

Anyway, going through all the scenarios in my mind, when we go on vacation we always board our dogs or let them stay with relatives. If my dog needs special care, I'm not sure what to do. Do hotels let dogs stay in the room? Or are there facilities that can care for a special needs dog? It's probably a dumb question, but I'm not sure what the answer is.

[puremutt]

no it's not a dumb question at all.
you can click on this page and see if there are handicapped pet sitters in your state:
http://www.handicappedpets.biz/www/link ... urces.html

here are pet friendly hotels : http://www.petswelcome.com/
and more : http://petfriendlytravel.com/
hope this helps!

[kristenv]

What a great question!
The only time I was gone since all things began with Samy I used the rehabilitation center as I knew they coudl manage him.
Locally I have not been so lucky, even my vet's staff is a little nervous to manage Samy.
It is a good thingk to plan for though, as you never know when you might need some assistance.
Thank you also for the links!!

Kristen and Samy

[CarolC]

Two times I travelled across country by car, I took her with me, expressed her bladder on the hood of the car, and kept her in the motel room with me. In the motel I expressed her onto puppytraining pads. She loved travelling and I have fond memories of those two trips.

The 1-day absences are harder to manage as I am single. I've had jury duty twice in the 5 years I've had a paralyzed dog. This is a big city and the courthouse is downtown, I can't be sure to get home during the lunchtime recess to express her. The first jury duty I tried to go home to express, took the wrong exit returning to the courthouse, and arrived late with 30 people standing outside the courtroom waiting for me. I can't leave her at my regular vet--in order to get to the courthouse in time I have to start driving before they are open.

I was able to leave her at her PT facility the second time. They share a building with a nighttime emergency vet clinic so I left her there while the emergency clinic was open, she stayed at PT during the day where they know how to express, and by the time I was back from jury duty the emergency staff were back on duty. I did the same thing this year when I had to go out of town for 1 day. Dropped her off about 2 am the night before the flight, picked her up about 11 pm when I arrived back in town. They were very nice about it.

[Bobbie]

I usually don't vacation much. Right now I'm trying to figure out a way to leave one paralyzed dog, one dog with DM who probably won't be walking by then, one epileptic dog, and one with an auto-immune disorder, and one with thyroid meds, while I go on a cruise (family thing.) It might be do-able through multiple pet sitters but what I'd really like is one person I could trust to come take care of all of them. I haven't found an available person.

Normally I take them, or get someone to handle the more disabled ones and my mom watches the others. But the cruise is for her birthday.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

? Vacation ? What's a vacation
I was able to travel when my cousin was here, which was fortunate, as I had to attend a funeral out of state for my sister's son.
My sister wants me to go on retreat with her, and I told her I couldn't because of the pups. So she is sending her husband up from Florida to pupsit while I join her.
Do you have family to sit?

[critters]

I don't go anywhere, and I don't want to go anywhere. If I had to go somewhere for some reason, I'd probably have to leave the 2 most severely disabled ones at the vet and get a sitter for the others, unless Ari could go with me.

[Goldenz2]

Hi there,

We have been taking the dogs with us on vacation for quite some time now. We rent a house wherever we go that allows pets. The website I used is http://www.vrbo.com Wherever you see the pawprints, those are the places that allow dogs

Our last vacation in August we stayed across the street from the Bay in NJ. Dogs are allowed on the beach on the Bay side so we brought a wagon and wheeled Angelo across the street and down onto the beach. It was one of our most favorite vacations!

Good Luck!

Jeanne in NJ
Goldens, Angelo & Archie

[Dianne]

We took our incontinent para pup to son's wedding 1000 miles away. Schnitzel is unable to board as we can't find someone who will reliably express. His temperment is such that he doesn't like kennelling, doesn't like many people, and has been known to bite. Difficult !

Last May he destroyed the rug in the pet friendly hotel where we were staying. Luckily, we paid a $100 fee to keep him in the hotel, but were never billed for the rug destruction. He refused to eat, got diarrhea, and wanted to sleep between my knees.

Sure, take your pet with you. Life's an adventure.

[connie]

vacation? mmmmmmmm, what a nice word. lol. never had one even before cricket got paralyzed. but if i did it would have to be one where he could go. we are never apart. am lucky with job where i get to come home 3 times or more a day to express and a boss who loves and adores him too. been offered free trip to germany to see brother and family, but as long as cricekt is alive, i will just be content to stay here with him. but everyone deserves a break, so don't feel guilty. if possible i would take one believe me. if in states try and take your pet. most hotels would rather have a dog than kids i hear. lol.
good luck and let us know how it works out for you. hugs to your furkid,
connie and cricket

[raiders mom]

Hi I have found a lot of hotels are dog friendly,most web site tell you whether dogs are allowed..you sometimes have to pay a $25-$100 dog fee but it's worht it to be able to take a little vaca and not have to worry abut your Fur Baby.another thought is maybe a vet tec or college student studying vet med. to keep your dog.They bare usually into animals and could usually use the extra $$$.Raider's Mom

[wicketsmom]

We were planning to take a vacation, but when Wicket got hurt it was more important for us to get him surgery. Now it is almost a year later and we would really like to take a vacation. We are not sure how to handle the pupster. Although you wouldn't guess it by looking at him, our little Wicket is aggressive. I don't feel comfortable leaving him with a boarder because he will bite them. I would ask our family, but they are all uncomfortable with expressing.
Has anyone ever taken their pets on a plane? We have thought about that too, but aren't sure how it would go. Any advice?

[kristenv]

From looking at flights in my quest to get a rescue dog that I may be adopting from another state I have found several airlines that allow your dog to be in a small carrier on theplane. The others require you to have them stored in a temp control area of cargo, which is a bit scary to me.

Kristen and Samy

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Five week old Gabriel flew in the cabin under Sandy's seat Frequent flyer miles donated by Charmaine Fedick. Driven from WY by Peggy Jo.
The lifesaving trip of the century! I met Gabriel at the Savannah airport but he had my heart from the moment I saw him sitting alone in the dirt.

Yes, he flew first class!

[CarolC]

It works fine as long as you have a carrier that will fit under the seat. A soft sided carrier is good because it smooshes down when you push it under the seat, just be sure your dog won't chew out of it. You have to take the pet out of the carrier at the security gate and send the carrier through the x-ray machine while you carry the pet through the gate. I saw 2 people transporting a standard dachshund that way, he looked like he was having fun, the couple each had hold of one carry handle on the carrier and were carrying him between them with his head poking out the zipper watching everything as they walked down the concourse.