Pet Boarding Versus at Home Pet Sitting – Which Should You Choose?

If you put yourself in the paws of your pet, it will be easy to decide whether you should choose pet boarding or use at home pet sitting. Sure as a human you may think it’d be fun to get out of the house and play with other animals, but your pet may be thinking something entirely different. Before you decide on which pet boarding service to use, read on why at home pet sitting will be better for your pet in the long run.

Home is Home

Even an animal knows “there’s no place like home” and they show it in all the lovely ways they mark “their territory”, the gifts brought in from outside, toys everywhere, accidents, rubbing their faces on EVERYTHING; you know the deal. They find great comfort in places where their scent is all around them. Although playing with other pets can occasionally be fun, say at the park, it’s very stressful for your furry companion to be exposed to that in a pet boarding school everyday.

Where Am I?

At some point during the day, play time is over, even for the most energetic and sociable pets. All they want to do is relax and nap but it’s hard to do that when they can’t sense any familiarity in their environment. Maybe your pet has a favorite spot at home that he settles his little paws into whenever he wants. If he’s not at home, however, he could become confused, lost, and stressed and feel abandoned by you or punished because he’s not happily relaxing at home in his own space.

Would You Enroll Your Child in Daycare?

Sometimes convenience and price wins this battle but lucky for you, an at home pet sitter is cheaper than a baby sitter or nanny. Just like in child day care, if you consider all the bad habits your pet can learn from his pet mates, you’ll no doubt choose an at home pet sitter! Say you’ve taken so much time and energy to train your dog to not chew on the furniture or shred his toys til the fluff comes out. But while at the pet boarding service, he sees another pet getting away with it. He could start to do it there (and get away with it) and bring that bad habit home. Then you’re back to forking out more money for repairs and training your pet all over again. Keeping your pet at home with a pet sitter will help continue his good behavior.

Achoo!

When your pet’s stress levels are heightened, their immune systems are weakened, putting them at a higher risk for illness. There are also a whole slew of new germs floating around your pet from the new environment. Other pets bring germs from their homes, the owners picking up their pets bring in germs from the streets, etc. Pets are even more exposed to germs in the car ride to the pet boarding school. It’s good for domestic animals to be sheltered from our polluted environment so they don’t become ill. Sure an at home pet sitter can transfer germs from place to place but the ratio of stress to germs is considerably less and therefor not nearly as harmful. Besides, a good at home pet sitter knows this and handles this situation by frequently using sanitizing agents so they don’t cross-contaminate. You pet’s health is also at optimum levels when he’s at home so he can fight off many more germs much more easily.

These are just a few points to bring to your attention when debating between pet boarding and at home pet sitting. You can also consider how much safer your home will be while it’s occupied, the extra help around the house, the simple routine your pet would be on, and most importantly, it’s convenience. Now that you’re seen this from your pet’s point of view, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision for him or her.