pet care while out of town -- Cheri?

[Flynn]

I was just reading Suzy Sunshine's blog and was thinking back....

...during residency when I was out of town with the kids we had to pay for a kennel because DH was gone so much it wasn't safe to leave him in charge of our dog.

It was just another expense due to the wacky hours of a surgical residency. Most of our friends had their own issues and my dad is alergic so we had to pay for care 75% of the time which really adds up.

Anyone else have to do this?

[SuzySunshine]

We have had to do this in the past. DH is on night call when I'm gone on a trip in March so we will have to kennel her then. We have great neighbors who can't have a dog of their own so when I'm out of town and DH isn't on call they'll come over and let her out for us mid afternoon and then she's fine until DH comes home. If DH finds that he's going to be stuck he also can call them and they'll feed her or let her out. Molly is also used to be crated for 9-10 hours/day, she doesn't seem to mind at all.

The kennel that we take her to is great so she doesn't mind going at all. They even sent her a Christmas card.

[DCJenn]

Yup-

When I was travelling and Rick was doing fellowship, we boarded Petey because otherwise the poor pooch would have been alone for 24+ hours. Petey loved it though- and of course the closest doggie kennel was the 48 bucks a day kennel in Capitol Hill.

Jenn

Yes. :thud: And it has to be at the vet's office because our dog is diabetic and not all kennels will do the insulin injections. I have shown one of my less-squeamish friends how to do this which means he can stay in the house for short (one or two night) trips or days when DH can't get home in time.

[Flynn]

Ug Nellie -- I never considered if our dog had "special issues" how much more difficult finding him good care would be.

Residency is SOOO FUN!!!!

[Meenah]

Fortunately my next door neighbor and I take care of each other's pets. We both have cats and dogs. Even if DH is in town I don't trust him. One day when he left for work (after me) he left Winston (dachsund) in the bed. Now our dogs sleep with us every night so it wasn't unusual for him to pick up the dog, take him downstairs and walk him. He has been doing this every day for several years!!!!! The poor dog can't get up or down from the bed so he stayed there all day. The only cool thing was that Franklin (chihuahua/dachsund mix) who has no problem getting up and down stayed on the bed with him. When I came home Franklin would not leave Winston and come downstirs like he usually does when I come home. They were both sitting on the bed anxious to go outside!!!

[medpedspouse]

As soon as I move to a new place, I begin to investigate ways to meet local college students (i.e. potential dog siters). Students are great because they usually miss their dogs back home and like the extra $$. Once I find a trustworthy student, I let them stay at the house, leave them with pizza money, and let them do their laundry. Still way cheaper than boarding 3 dogs.