Four legged fur face children...

[Sandy Sails]

We have a 13 year old black lab (my husband's dog, I was stuck with her when we got married 8 years ago, and surprisingly I, not being a dog person, fell madly in love with her). We decided to RV instead of cruise so that we could take Maggie with us on our many 3-day weekend camping trips and our longer annual camping trips. We know she's in the twilight of her life now and want to spend all of our vacations with her. Once she's no longer with us, no more pets. And perhaps some day, we'll cruise again.

[cruzeluver]

We are very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors two houses away who love our dogs as if they were their own. While we are gone either the wife or husband comes over several times a day to feed them, play with them and let them out. We do pay them but its far less than a kennel would charge. They tried to insist on doing it for nothing, so we compromised at $100.00 a week.

[mzloolue]

Worrying about home is one of the biggest problems I have with cruising.

 

I worry about my pets a lot.

I had had pets in delicate health that I could not leave

And I have dealt with illness of parents.

 

I worry a lot about one of the pets getting out and not coming to the caretaker.

 

I love cruising, but it is terrifying to be stuck at sea in an emergency.

It happened once on a totally screwed up 7 day cruise when I called home and found out that my mother was in the hospital and was having emergency heart surgery.

 

And all that is one reason why I like 5 day cruises booked at the last minute.

[GUT2407]

Yep hate leaving them behind ... don't much like leaving my pets behind either.

 

I am lucky my dogs normally stay home with DD, if they have to be boarded we get them to share a run and that way we know they are happy.

[GUT2407]

Too funny. Your pet is more important than your hubby!

 

parrotfeathers is just telling it like it is. Every husband around here will verify that!;)

 

 

I tell DW all the time that I wish had spots as I'd get treated better.

 

Dalmatians being her dog of choice.

 

Others I just say that if reincarnation is real I want to come back as a pet in our family.

 

As I type this the Cresty is curled up on the bed the Dal is on the leather lounge.

[Ocean Boy]

We have a 13 year old black lab (my husband's dog, I was stuck with her when we got married 8 years ago, and surprisingly I, not being a dog person, fell madly in love with her). We decided to RV instead of cruise so that we could take Maggie with us on our many 3-day weekend camping trips and our longer annual camping trips. We know she's in the twilight of her life now and want to spend all of our vacations with her. Once she's no longer with us, no more pets. And perhaps some day, we'll cruise again.

 

I can't tell you how many times my father said that to my bother and me. I also can't tell you how many times I have said it in my own house. I also can't tell you how many deaf ears the statements fell on. But I do know it was a waist of breath.;):D

[Sandy Sails]

I can't tell you how many times my father said that to my bother and me. I also can't tell you how many times I have said it in my own house. I also can't tell you how many deaf ears the statements fell on. But I do know it was a waist of breath.;):D

 

Yup, I agree - a waste of breath. I should have said, once we retire, we may get another pet. :p:D

[sethandgina]

The saddest part is that some of the larger ships now have lawns. Why not allow us to bring our furry friends with a pet deposit. There is a huge market. Where are the investors?

 

 

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[BeagleOne]

 

Others I just say that if reincarnation is real I want to come back as a pet in our family.

 

 

My parents have several friends who want to be reincarnated as my parents' cats. I wouldn't mind coming back that way either!

 

I have two housesitters. One stays at the house and until she got a job about 18 months ago she was available pretty much whenever I needed her. Now she works four days a week but is available on weekends...she lives an hour away so she can't really commute to work easily. She was very upset the last time because my animals gravitated more to her boyfriend than to her, haha.

 

The other one will come multiple times a day to let the dogs out, and sit and watch TV and play with them during the evenings. So it works out well.

[Gabby415]

It is the single most difficult issue for us. We have 3 miniature schnauzers who are like children to us. We simply include pet sitting fees in the budget anytime we travel as we prefer to have them at home in the environment they are accustomed to. Price would depend on the going rate for a given area I assume but for us it's $30 per day. We also provide food, toiletries, etc for the entire stay. We have never been able to cruise more than two weeks at a time because of our concern for them. As we drive two days before and after, that makes for a long trip...at least they seem to think so...[emoji6].

[Fydlstyx]

Have two little maltese's both housebroken.

One will be one yr old and the other 14 months at the time.

I know boarding is $$$ did it for my other little guy (but is now at the rainbow bridge)

I want to give her a fair price.. she doesn't work and have two school kids.

She has to let them out in the am, feed them. Afternoon let them out

Supper feed them and let them out and bed time let them out.

She lives a two minute walk and I know she could use the cash...

 

I do petsitting through the website called House Carers. Have had a listing there for many years. I live in PA but primarily petsit and housesit in Florida, because I love Florida so much. Some of the people I initially met that way as strangers have become like my family. They've watched my children grow up, and we've gone back and stayed with them just for visits when they don't need a petsitter. :)

 

The perks for me are that I have a free place to "live" while I petsit, often have use of the family car, and have built in furfaces to love. The perks for the family are that they have no worries while they are gone. Someone is there taking care of their beloved pets, their home is not empty, and it costs them nothing.

 

Sherry

(you are welcome to contact me at spinamonti at g mail dot com if you ever would like to discuss me doing a petsit for you (anyone)).

[Fydlstyx]

Leaving the pets behind is the only bad part of going away for us. They know the second the big suitcases come out that we will be gone for a while.

 

(I apologize in advance for what I am about the write, but I just have to.)

 

Friday we found out our 12-year old cat has cancer and we are absolutely devastated. He was energetic and acted totally fine nine days ago but then started acting different out of nowhere and we just knew something was wrong. We went to the vet twice last week, received the bad news on Friday and now we are going to a specialist on Monday to find out our options.

 

He seems to be getting worse each day. He's sleeping all day, hardly eating or going to the bathroom so we are expecting the worst. We have already decided that we will cancel our cruise in September if he is somehow still with us because there is no way we could possibly enjoy ourselves. And I know my travel insurance will probably not cover it but I don't really care. We are so heartbroken.

 

 

Sorry again for bringing everyone down but we are just so crushed over this.

 

Aww, I am so sorry. He looks precious.

 

On one of my petsits, the family cat became very ill and ended up needing to be euthanized while he was in my care. It was devastating for us, but the family was many states away and were just heartbroken.

 

Decisions like the one you need to make are just so difficult. You're in my thoughts.

 

Sherry

[Fydlstyx]

The saddest part is that some of the larger ships now have lawns. Why not allow us to bring our furry friends with a pet deposit. There is a huge market. Where are the investors?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I hope this never happens, despite the fact that I am a major dog lover. There are just too many opportunities for things to go wrong. You do not know the personality of other dogs, and there are irresponsible owners who would lie about their dogs' temperaments. I can see kids being bitten, people antagonizing others' dogs and causing major fights, etc. Then there is the question of what happens to the dogs on board when their people head ashore to participate in excursions....... It just isn't practical. :(

[Ocean Boy]

I hope this never happens, despite the fact that I am a major dog lover. There are just too many opportunities for things to go wrong. You do not know the personality of other dogs, and there are irresponsible owners who would lie about their dogs' temperaments. I can see kids being bitten, people antagonizing others' dogs and causing major fights, etc. Then there is the question of what happens to the dogs on board when their people head ashore to participate in excursions....... It just isn't practical. :(

 

I, too, hope it never happens. You list very good reasons and I don't want anyone in the family pestering me to take any pets along. It is much better for RCI to say no then for me to have to say no.;)

[Yorkvillain]

Aww, I am so sorry. He looks precious.

 

On one of my petsits, the family cat became very ill and ended up needing to be euthanized while he was in my care. It was devastating for us, but the family was many states away and were just heartbroken.

 

Decisions like the one you need to make are just so difficult. You're in my thoughts.

 

Sherry

 

Thanks Sherry. We had to put him down on Friday. We miss him a lot but we knew it was time.

[BeagleOne]

Thanks Sherry. We had to put him down on Friday. We miss him a lot but we knew it was time.

 

I'm very sorry for your loss. No matter how long they live, it's never long enough.

[travelbuddies]

I recently downloaded the app DogVacay and found someone in my community that will stay at my home to pet sit while I am on a cruise. There were also many local dog sitters that would dog sit in their home. The service lists dog sitters by zip code. We do not kennel our dogs as they are more comfortable in their familiar surroundings.

[travelbuddies]

Thanks Sherry. We had to put him down on Friday. We miss him a lot but we knew it was time.

 

Sorry for your loss https://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

 

Susan

[Lard Greystoke]

This used to be a huge problem for me, particularly on business trips. My business would send me for "free training", and of course I was stuck with $$$ for boarding the dog.

 

Recently my sister got a rescue dog which gets along famously with mine. So, when she goes on vacation her dog comes to me, and when I go vice versa. I'm lucky.