What Should We Do With Our Pets While Traveling?
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Hi Sara,
Deciding what to do with your much-loved pets will be one of the more emotional decisions you’ll have to make when taking a long trip.
You can engage a housesitter to live in your home and care for your pets while you are away. Alternatively, you may have a family member or friend willing to care for your pets either in your home or their own home.
Either way, make sure you compensate them for any out-of-pocket costs. It’s a good idea also to have a Plan B just in case your pet carer becomes unavailable for any reason while you’re away.
There are organizations that will call at your home to feed, water and exercise your pets. They may also collect your mail and water the garden if needed.
If using a service like this, it’s important to also appoint a friend or family member as a local contact in the event something goes wrong.
Your pets can live with a professional pet minding service, but these services get expensive if you’re away long term. For example, Rover.com charges from $25 per night for a medium-sized dog, excluding food, and depending on your location within the U.S. Petsitter.com is another similar website.
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So true, can get pricey. I use TrustedHousesitters.com to get sitters that specifically have experience with cats (and are self-professed cat lovers!) I have easily found sitters with great reviews for sits as long as 3 weeks. I think you might be able to find someone thrilled to do an even longer sit, taking on the full-time role of pet mama or papa and even some expenses in exchange for free lodging (that's what the site is for, to facilitate a cashless exchange, usually pet sitting in exchange for a nice place to stay).
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Personally, I have some people I trust that stay in my house while I am away. There are many people looking for these opportunities in Facebook gorups in Costa Rica, so that might be one place to start. I would also try TrustedHousesitters.com. Good luck!
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Anybody here take their pets with them? I would like to hear from them too:)
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Hi there,
I've taken my cat to Ireland when I'm going for an extended period. It's certainly easier to bring your pet to one country than several, but we have members who've done that too. I wrote about traveling with a cat in the July issue:
https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/july_2024/4202982/What I've detailed applies to small dogs too. For larger dogs, the main difference is they'll be required to travel in the cargo hold. Note that if you have the means, there are several airlines now designed just for pet travel.
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Julie and Warren Knox have traveled across multiple countries with their pets. You might find their tips helpful too: https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/may_2023/4094026/