Pet lovers, be honest.

[TEXASMUNK]

You are close, but not right onthe money. My comments, when re-read, came off way too cold. I understand, and care, guess I was trying to say that I would not balance a cruise versus the pets....the pets don't enter into the decision, but you are right, we do really care about them..otherwise, why have them!

[EmJakeBubbie]

Dogs come when they are called. Cats take a message and get back to you! What's to miss about a cat?

[JoePDX]

We joke that Katie, our Jack Russell Terrier, goes on vacation too, because she goes to a house with no rules and three other dogs to play with. She is depressed for a week after we get home! But oh, how we miss that dog while we are gone - we even send her postcards! :eek:

 

Joe

[lel5344]

Our buddy, Beamer (16 lbs of 7-year-old orange tabby) misses us exactly the same way a boss misses a loyal employee.

 

After all, we know that a dog has a master and and a cat has a staff.

 

We're fortunate to have a neighbor who is petless, but loves cats. She'll spend about 3 hours a day (which is pretty much all that beamer is awake anyway) totally spoiling him. Of course, that's exactly what we do, too.

 

Beamer is a great story. My wife and I had a great golden retriever when we lived in our house. Left us when he was almost 14. Couple of years later, we bought a condo, and we didn't feel right about having a dog in a condo.

 

However, we loved to make frequent trips to the animal shelter just to say hello to the dogs. Two years ago, we had to wait in the cat area because the dog area was crowded.

 

This orange paw comes poking out of a cage and brushes my wife's elbow very gently. OK, let's keep him company for a while.... He is allowed out of the cage and settles into my wife's lap for the next 45 minutes, purring constantly. Guess who came home with us.

 

He's a delight - goes running to the door anytime he hears someone in the hall. Loves people! And I'm sure other cat owners can identify with this - Beamer talks to us in punctuation marks!

[02143]

FIVE KITTIES? Wow. What a great Mom you must be to them!

 

We live in a two-family house and our tenant always looks in on our two cats every day we're gone. He says he enjoys it, not that he doesn't have reason to tell us what we'd want to hear. Sometimes, when we're in the living room and the younger one is sitting in the front window, we've seen our tenant outside on the front porch and scratching the window to get his attention and making little waves to him. The little one loves it!

[luckylady1]

My cats are very clingy when I am only gone 3 days. I can't imagine what they will be like when we get back from the cruise. We have a Birman and a Ragdoll and they really like attention. I have a friend that is going to be checking on them but I'm afraid I will be missing them a lot.:( Some cats may "take a message and get back to you" but most cats are a lot of fun to watch and be around.:D

[Randyk47]

We have two cats and while we'd never plan a cruise around the cats we obviously have to make arrangements to have them cared for while we're gone. We do miss our animals though but not to the point of taking pictures with us. Right now it's particularly exciting around our house as we lost our old guy and brought a kitten into the house. All I can say is that it has been a long time since we had a kitten. Hopefully she'll mature a lot before our next cruise....not sure what the place would be like with "kamikaze kittie" still thinking she can go anywhere, anytime, and at any speed. Poor kitten thinks her name is "NO!".

[L11]

Poor kitten thinks her name is "NO!".

 

I love it and ain't it the truth!

 

We never intended to have 5 cats, but I am a complete sucker for homeless cats and kittens. My old cat, Pete, is the only one I have ever paid for. Got him at a cat show. He sucker punched me. Blasted kitten sat in my arms purring and rubbing for HOURS until I took him home. Hasn't let me hold him for more than 30 seconds in the 12 years since (though he does sleep under my chin at night). All the rest are either from the Animal Assistance League or, in the case of OUR kamikaze kitten, from a litter abandoned at our barn that would have been eaten by the coyotes if they had not found homes.

 

Our poor petsitter!

 

Linda

[critterchick]

We have somebody live in our house while we're gone. The dogs just adore her, so they are very well taken care of, and I don't think they miss us very much. Not like when we had to board them - the tech bringing out Blanca would have to let go of the leash and let her fly at me!

 

The 6 cats do pretty well, although two of them will hide for several days until they're sure she won't kill them. The others catch on a lot faster - must be the Maine Coon in them.

[Rumorhasit2001]

We have quite the managarie here- 5 dogs, 3 birds, a cat and a bearded dragon ( lizard). I own a pet sitting buisness so I am usually the "minder" as opposed to the "mindee". Luckily our wonderful vet has an equally wonderful 20 something daughter who housesits for us. The animals love her, she loves them and we have never had a problem. This young woman is so great that we come home to a clean house, happy pets and a casserole in the fridge for that first night home. We are in the process of moving from NY to Myrtle Beach and I have threatened more than once to "kidnap" her and take her along! I already have her booked for our April 2006 cruise-she and her fiance are taking vacation from their regular jobs to mind the critters for us. OF course the new house is 5 miles from the beach so there is a little added incentive there :>)))

[brigittetom]

Thank you all so much for the wonderful replies.

 

We are lucky to have a professional pet sitter right across the street which means even in bad weather, she will come.

 

I remember the first cruise Tom and I took together. I hired one of my employees to feed my cats. We left town just when it started snowing. I happened to overhear a conversation on the elevator during the cruise that the South had a major blizzard. For some reason it didn't really register. I woke up at 3am and it did register. It dawned on me that my cats won't have a feeder since the roads weren't accesable. Lucky for me, I always leave a huge cooking pot with dry food in the kitchen just in case and another cooking pot with water.

 

You never know.

[Blazerboy]

Hey all! Hubble loves his "spa" lady, but certainly loves to come home to us at the end. He's always a little fatter, but none the worse for wear, so we don't feel too badly about leaving him, but we definitely miss him, and acknowledge that it makes coming home from a cruise a little easier when we know we get to see him again.

 

Just got back 2 days ago from 10 days in the East, and Hubble won't leave our sides just yet. :)

[LindaM]

We don't feel guilty leaving our Westie now that we found a WONDERFUL kennel. The kennels are probably 5 ft. wide, separated by glass blocks. She had a picture window view of beautiful gardens AND a waterfall. For an extra fee, she went to daycare, where she played with other small dogs, watched videos, went in a pool and other things too silly to mention. On the days she didn't go, she was walked for 15 min.

 

We just got back from a Med. cruise. For 18 days, it cost $740. But, when you factor in the cost of the cruise and tours (which was a fortune), I felt it was well worth it. We didn't have a balcony, so we spent that money on Maddie.

 

The only problem is, if we got another dog, we wouldn't be able to afford it!!

[jula]

We were very lucky to find an amazing kennel for our little girl, Zoe. They have a doggy play area that is on web cam. They play in the morning and afternoon. On our last cruise we were in port in San Juan, PR we stopped into a internet cafe and brought up the web page...and there was our girl running around having a great time. It was a real comfort to see her doing so well. You may want to check around your area and see if any of the kennels offer this service.

[wander]

Our cat goes to a wonderful Pet Lodge. As we travel a lot he goes there a lot. I judge his "happiness" with the place by the fact when we place his carrier into his Pet Lodge enclosure he immediately saunters out, sniffs everything he can and settles into a bed, all within minutes. I say "a bed" as he has several choices, including one of his beds we bring from home. We also bring his scratch box, his own food and his water fountain, all of which he seems to really like. I kid that per pound of body weight he bring far more stuff than we take on the cruise.

 

How do I judge his "happiness"? Well, when we get to the Vet we have to pry him our of his carrier, one foot at a time. Now that to me implies a different level of comfort.

[brigittetom]

We don't feel guilty leaving our Westie now that we found a WONDERFUL kennel. The kennels are probably 5 ft. wide, separated by glass blocks. She had a picture window view of beautiful gardens AND a waterfall. For an extra fee, she went to daycare, where she played with other small dogs, watched videos, went in a pool and other things too silly to mention.

 

We just got back from a Med. cruise. For 18 days, it cost $740. But, when you factor in the cost of the cruise and tours (which was a fortune), I felt it was well worth it. We didn't have a balcony, so we spent that money on Maddie.

 

LindaM, I'm just sorry we don't live in Michigan. We have a picture window with wonderful views and at that price we could install a waterfall and I would be happy to show Maddie video's all day long. :)

 

It's really nice to see that people care about their pets so much. I'm personally a firm believer in that if you are not going to care for your pets enough to give them a wonderful home, don't have pets. Linda M, I must say that you go above and beyond. :)

[suntan]

I too hate leaving my cats behind when I go on vacation. If I'm going away on a short trip, I try to bring my cat along with me especially if the hotel allows pets. However, for longer trips, like cruises, I put my cat into a cat "condo". The kennel is out in the country; the dogs are separated from the cats; the "condo" has three "floors" - the main floor where the bathroom and dining area are,there is also a walk out to the full enclosed outdoor run; the second "floor" is for sleeping; the third "floor" is the sun room. I have a kitten at the present time; Seamus (born on St. Patrick's day) and when I go away next February it will be his first kennel visit and I will be nervous as to how he will do while he's there. As for when I come home,I expect to get the cold shoulder for a couple of days, but at least we will be together once again.

[tuggers]

LindaM, I have a Maddie, too! Her real name is Madison (CeGee's Madison Avenue), which gets corrupted to Mad, Maddie or Madders! Mine is a 140 pound Great Dane!

 

The place that my two stay is so great that they start getting antsy as soon as we start to drive there. Maddie can hardly contain herself! She comes bounding out of the car and heads right for the owners! Tuggie likes it too, but he's a mama's boy. He is okay staying there but he lets me know that he would really rather stay with mama!

[Elaine0138]

Our dogs have all enjoyed going on their holidays too.

 

Our local kennels are great and really make a fuss of the dogs, they don't even turn round to say bye they just bound off with the kennelmaids.

[brigittetom]

This is a super thread. Thanks so much to all for responding. I think you may have inspired me twards a new occupation. My husband and I love the home we live in because the livingroom is all rock fireplace, glass and high ceilings and our house stands out as contemparary in a historic neighborhood but I would love to own more land to be able to have more pets. We live in an area where we could buy a house with property to open a deluxe kennel.

 

I love the idea of kitty condo's and I certainly would make sure that all residents are given constant attention. What better job than to take care of pampered pets? Walks on the leash, videos, paying attention to the pets, personal time with the pets. You can't find a better sitter than a pet lover. :)

[Maybebell]

We have 2 wonderful cats. The one has a disease called FIP. so with her medical problems i can't take the chance of boarding her. The stress could set off an attack. So we have our friend come stay here at the house with the cats. She takes great care of them and they love her. She know what to do if the one cat does get sick and it is such a relief for us not to worry with her here. We can enjoy our vacation. The cats love when she comes to vist too, she spoils them something ferious. :-)

 

Sherrie

Mariner of the Seas 11/27/05

Navigator of the Seas 4/3/03

[TidePrideGA]

This thread has been very interesting to me. This is our first cruise. We have a motorhome and normally travel that way, lugging along 2 of our 3 dachshunds. It rotates which two, but we can't take all 3 because the 2 girls do NOT get along.

 

This will be the first time I've had to make arrangements for all 3, and the first time for this long (we'll be gone 9 days). I went into total sticker shock at what it would cost to board them all 3 at the doggy spa we use for the stay-behind. For all of the extra attention, etc., it's $19/day, $17 for additional - so we'd be talking $53/day for 9 days - $477!! YIKES! My son didn't cost that much a day to CRUISE as an additional in our room!

 

I saw y'all talking about "licensed pet-sitters" and have checked it out. We have a place called Critter Sitters that looks great - and at a mere $21/day for all three (although we would probably farm one of the girls out so the sitter wouldn't have to deal with the "not getting along" thing). AWESOME!

 

Thanks, guys!

[The Prussian]

Have never worried about is. We drop our pets off at my moms and they live the life of luxury themselves as my mom babies them to death.

 

Same here. My mother views them as grandchildren and spoils them ROTTEN.

[Troy1_98]

So I am not the only one who misses my Golden when we cruise. I have even thought of getting him certified as a service dog. Now isn't that nuts.

 

As an alternative I found a great cageless day care and boarding kennel. All the dogs a prescreen for tempermant and are well supervised. The best part is they have web cams. When in port we drop by a local internet cafe and check in on him.

 

The only problem is when he comes home he is so worn out from playing he sleeps for a full day.

[brigittetom]

The best part is they have web cams. When in port we drop by a local internet cafe and check in on him.

 

I try not to think about the pets while on a cruise because I really do miss having the little furballs to cuddle but I have to admit that if they were on a webcam I'd be hitting the internet cafe's in every port. :)

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with missing our pets. It's not as if we don't enjoy our cruise to the max. :)