Fostering cats and dogs: answers to the main questions

Every owner needs to know about overexposure of animals, because an unforeseen situation can happen to anyone. For example, the owner is taken to the hospital, and all his friends are busy at that moment. The animal will not be able to live on its own for a long time, since the food and water will run out, the tray will be overcrowded, and the pet will suffer from loneliness and unexpected separation. To prevent this from happening, familiarize yourself with possible places for foster care in advance, write down the numbers and find out about the services. Not everyone knows how foster care works, what types of foster care there are, and how they differ, so owners sometimes find themselves in unpleasant situations.

Myth #5: I won't know how my pet is really being treated.

Usually, foster care specialists send a daily photo and video report. But you need to be careful: sometimes unscrupulous sitters try to take all the photos and videos on one day and then pass them off as actual ones.

Ask to send photos and videos from walks - it’s easier to understand exactly when the photo was taken based on the weather outside. Or arrange video calls with a specialist via instant messengers to see your four-legged friend in real time.

You should not call every two hours: this distracts the specialist from caring for the guests. If you are worried and doubt that your pet will be comfortable, it is better to look for another foster home.

Hotel

Despite the cleanliness and friendly staff (let's be optimistic), pet hotels cause genuine horror in many owners.
Indeed, such places cannot be called cozy: cages, confined spaces, numerous neighbors. If a cat has lived in a quiet apartment all his life and has never seen other cats, then a hotel will be a real shock for him. In this case, it is better not to leave the animal at the hotel for several days. When choosing a hotel, read reviews and personally inspect the premises where your pet will be kept. Talk to the owners and ask the most awkward questions. What to pay attention to:

— no odors;

— kept cats look well-groomed and healthy;

— clean rooms, bedding, feeding troughs;

— there are separate boxes and common spacious rooms;

— the pet will not be able to escape and get hurt.

Before trusting your pet to strangers, make sure they are competent and love animals. In turn, the owners are required to have a veterinary passport and a set of all necessary vaccinations. If a cat is not vaccinated, it will not be accepted into the hotel.

Tip: choose a hotel with CCTV cameras that broadcast online. This way you can watch your pet and worry less.

Overall, this is a good option, but quite expensive.

Myth No. 6. In foster care, animals are kept in cages - this is harmful.

Many large foster homes actually have cages or closed houses. But there is nothing wrong with that if they only serve as a resting place for the pet.

Cats definitely need shelter during the first 24 hours after moving. The main thing is that it is not a transparent display container, like in a pet store: in them, animals see each other around the clock, cannot hide and become even more stressed. A closed house, carrier or cage with a blanket thrown over top will do. Bowls for food and water, a bed and a tray should be placed inside. When the cat gets used to the new environment, it needs to be let out for a walk. Even old animals should not sit in a cage 24/7.

The same applies to dogs. Constant physical and emotional stress is important to them: slow running, developmental activities with a person. Therefore, for them, the cage should only be a place to spend the night and rest. Alexander Buinov also notes that with the help of a shelter it is easy to control the time dogs play with each other. This will make both energetic and unsociable pets comfortable.

How to choose temporary housing and not regret it

To find a temporary home on Kabanchiku, you need to register on the website and create the appropriate task. It can indicate:

Breed;
Floor;
Age of the animal;
Overexposure time.

You can also write about the desired area and characteristics of the animal (sterilized, has vaccinations) and additional requirements (temperature and furnishings of the apartment, presence of other animals, etc.)

The first proposals from performers arrive almost immediately. To choose a reliable person, you should pay attention to the presence of a verification mark and rating. In the artist’s profile you can read reviews and often see happy and well-groomed foster animals. The price can be negotiated.

Bonus: how to choose a foster home

Collect feedback
The more reviews, the higher the chances of finding out how everything really works, whether any unpleasant situations happened and how they were resolved. Yulia Mysheva notes that the best recommendation is the presence of regular customers. If owners constantly bring their pets to the same place, it means that they are happy with everything there.
Ask questions
Agata Krainova recommends asking the owner:
- how the day is planned for the guests;
what to do if dogs get into a fight while walking;
Do they accept unvaccinated animals?
how and how often enclosures or cages are disinfected.

Come and take a look around the place
Try to arrive early and see in what conditions the animal will be kept.
Expensive renovations are not needed, but the place must be clean and tidy. And most importantly - adapted for animals. A dog or cat can make mistakes with the toilet, especially in the first days, so it is important that owners do not worry about new parquet flooring or sofas.
Check that the house or apartment has several levels of protection:
- “Anti-cat” mesh on windows;
in a private house - a fence that a dog cannot undermine and a cat cannot jump over.
Meet the sitter's favorites
If the specialist has dogs, observe how he behaves with them while walking. Some people react calmly when they disobey, while others start screaming or even hitting the animal. Alexander Buinov explains that people have such reactions at the reflex level, so it will not be easy for them to deceive the observer.
Yulia Gavrilina also advises checking the veterinary passports of the specialist’s wards: they contain information about vaccinations and treatment against parasites.

Preparation rules

Before deciding where to leave your cat during your vacation, read the preparation rules. They are simple, but require compliance:

First, visit your veterinarian 2-3 months in advance. This needs to be done in advance for many reasons. The doctor may not be satisfied with the cat's health. It may take some time to resolve health problems. The cat may not have enough vaccinations, and some courses are longer. Immunity to certain types of disease takes a long time to develop.
Secondly, take care of preparing provisions 2-3 days in advance. This is especially true if you are used to feeding your pet homemade food.
Thirdly, stop feeding the cat 5-6 hours before. This is relevant if the animal has to be transported. Not all cats enjoy traveling. They may feel sick on the road. In such a situation, an empty stomach is the best solution.

As you can see, the preparation rules are simple. Compliance with them is a guarantee that the overexposure will be as comfortable as possible for the pet. Having considered the rules of preparation, we should move on to analyzing the options themselves.

Cat House: where to leave your pet during a business trip or vacation

Where to leave your pets if you are going on vacation or a business trip? The first thing that comes to mind is that you can give your pet to friends, neighbors, family, or ask them to come and look after it occasionally, especially when it comes to cats and other small animals. But this is not always convenient or even possible. The Moscow 24 portal has found 6 alternatives for you on what to do with your pet when the owner leaves and how to avoid stress for your pet.

Photo: depositphotos/absolutimages

Leave alone

For small animals and especially cats, the ideal option is to stay at home, even if no one can visit them. The fact is that when cats change their environment, they can become stressed and even get sick, but in a familiar place, even without their owner, they will tolerate separation more easily. To make your cat comfortable alone, animal experts have prepared some tips:

Buy well-absorbent fillers, arrange several trays or build one large one;
Place the food in several bowls and place them in different places in the house. It is better to use dry and proven food;
The most important thing is to take care of the water. Plain water, if placed in sufficient quantities, can last up to three weeks in good condition. The container with water must be secured so that the cat does not accidentally turn it over;
Provide access to water, for example in the toilet. Especially if you have a bowl-type toilet. It can be set to supply a constant small amount of water.

Call a Dogsitter

Photo: depositphotos/gemphoto

The previous option is definitely not suitable for dogs: they are more attached to people and require constant walks. The easiest option is to hire someone to look after your pet for money. Similar advertisements can be found on special portals. The average price for caring for pets at home varies from 200 (for rodents, spiders, small birds) to 1000 rubles (dogs and cats) per day. Ads can be found using the keywords “foster care”, “animal care” or even “pet sitters”.

“Private foster care is the most budget option, but there are certain risks. For example, an animal may contract an infection or run away due to homesickness. Regarding the safety of your pet, it is better to choose the more expensive option of overexposure in a pet hotel,” notes Svetlana Ilyinskaya, president of the Center for Legal Animal Protection.

Check into a hotel

Photo: TASS/Sergey Savostyanov

A more comfortable and safe, but also much more expensive option would be overexposure in pet hotels. They are divided into three segments: for cats, dogs and rodents. There are about 20 of them in different districts in Moscow. Among them there are both relatively budget and luxury options. In the latter, owners even have a constant video link with their pet, so that they can check at any time whether he is okay and feeling well. When checking into a pet hotel, you must provide a vaccination certificate.

Also, in elite pet hotels, in addition to standard accommodation conditions, dog guests may have a fitness center where they can “pump up”, a grooming salon, handler services and a dog training center. Your dog will definitely not be bored here. The cost of check-in on average ranges from 500 to 5 thousand rubles per day, depending on the type of animal and the level of the hotel.

“A pet hotel is a good option for dogs, as they will be able to walk and interact with them. But when choosing a good place for such foster care, you need to pay attention to the contract (and its existence in general), it must stipulate financial responsibility for the loss of the animal. A large amount can protect the health and safety of your pet. The second mandatory item is video surveillance of the animal. Unfortunately, cases have become more frequent when pets are kept in terrible conditions instead of the promised spacious premises,” adds Ilyinskaya.

To the veterinary clinic

Foster care services are offered by some large veterinary clinics in Moscow. They most often accept cats and dogs up to 15 kg and can provide medical assistance if necessary. Unlike pet hotels, overexposure in a veterinary clinic can be called a sanatorium-boarding house for your pet. The pet will be looked after, fed and offered a comprehensive examination or treatment.

Take with you

Photo: depositphotos/alebloshka

Animal rights activists assure that the best option for a pet, which will bring the least amount of stress, is to go on a trip with the owner. In Russia and Europe, it is possible to accommodate small pets in hotels; airlines and Russian Railways allow them to be transported. However, it is better to clarify the cost and all the nuances of such a trip in advance. For example, Aeroflot allows pets on all flights, but employees must be informed about this no later than 36 hours before departure.

You can take a tamed pet weighing no more than 8 kilograms into the aircraft cabin, always in a carrier or cage. Heavier ones can be transported in the luggage compartment. But the large foreign airline Emirates does not allow pets to be transported in the cabin at all.

“You need to be more careful when transporting animals in the luggage compartment. Firstly, the cage must be locked, as pets go missing during trips. Secondly, keep in mind that this is a lot of stress for the animal and, if possible, choose an option where contact with a person is possible: travel by car or in special train compartments,” says Ilyinskaya.

When traveling by train, you need to buy a ticket for a specially designated carriage, provide veterinary documents and pay a fee of 400 rubles. Russian Railways also limits the size of the animal: the weight of the cage together with the animal should not exceed 10 kilograms.

It won’t be difficult to find a hotel with a permit for small pets. According to the popular room booking service, there are 29,016 such hotels in Russia, and, for example, in the USA - 35,474. As a last resort, you can rent an apartment; some of them also allow pets.

Ksenia Kornilova

“In your own home, even the walls help”

You can leave your pet in your apartment and hire a “cat sitter”.
This will be a comfortable option for your pet, because... separation from their usual territory is a strong stress for cats. The cat will not be able to completely avoid the stress of separation from you, but the nervous tension will be smoothed out by its presence in its native walls among familiar things, sounds and smells. You ask a neighbor or a special “cat sitter” to live in your house or come to your apartment twice daily to feed the cat, clean the litter box and interact with the animal.

It is necessary that this is a reliable person, otherwise your cat risks going hungry, and something valuable may disappear from the apartment.

“You can never do too much for a devoted friend” (Henrik Ibsen)

Reliable friends and loving relatives will certainly agree to adopt your pet. Most likely, you will not have to pay anything and your beloved cat will be properly taken care of. To prevent overexposure from causing stress, it is better if the cat moves to a new place with its own food dishes, sleeping place and toys.

In reality, situations may be different. If your friends and family don't have pets, having your cat may cause them inconvenience and stress. Friends may not know how to properly treat an animal or how to react to its antics. As a result, the animal can be fed incorrectly and cause health problems.

Allergies can often be the reason for refusal to keep your pet. In addition, your friends and relatives may not like cats in principle and treat your pet rudely.

If your friends or family already have another pet, it is unknown whether the pets will get along. During territorial disputes, your cat may be physically or psychologically harmed.

Looking for outside help

One of the most accessible options is to contact the people who live in your neighborhood. Naturally, the temporary guardian must be an adult who loves animals. You should not contact parents with many children, as your pet may become a toy for children. In addition, young parents are already constantly overloaded; someone else’s animal will clearly be their priority. If you are leaving your cat as a guest, it is worth refusing to have guardians of retirement age, as the cat may become frightened and run away. It will be difficult for older people to look for a pet.

Make sure the temporary caregiver is committed to keeping the pet comfortable. You can understand how serious the intentions are in relation to the preparatory procedures. It will be very good if the caretaker has experience in interacting with or keeping cats. By the way, it is extremely undesirable to leave your pet at a place where cats or dogs already live . Before leaving, exchange all contact details so that the guardian can contact you at any time of the day or night.

Paid foster care

Overexposure is something between a pet hotel and a home-type shelter. Animals are not in cages or enclosures; they move freely around the house and communicate with their guardian. The disadvantage of such overexposure is in a large number of animals, but the advantage is active communication (if this is important for the cat).

It doesn’t matter how long you leave the animal, for three days or a week, the owner of the foster home must ask you for a veterinary passport. Vaccinations must be completed at least 3 weeks before handing over the animal. If this moment is missed, look for another foster care! There are quite a lot of virus carriers among cats, especially those that were once street cats. If your cat is not required to have vaccinations, then the health of other animals should be questioned.

There are 2 options for feeding:

• You leave food for the cat. • All animals are fed the same - not suitable for animals with sensitive digestion or food allergies.

Advice: Be sure to visit the paid foster care facility before departure and preferably several times!

A very important point is the location of the tray and its cleanliness. Subjectively, this is the biggest problem with paid overexposures. Many owners, after vacation, are faced with the fact that their pet begins to crap in the house. A newcomer who finds himself with already settled cats may tolerate infringements of the territorial plan, that is, other cats will go to his litter box. Find out in detail how exactly these issues are regulated in foster care.

Important! The animal is transferred to paid foster care after concluding a legally valid contract for the provision of services.

Zoonanny

More expensive and higher quality service. Your pet will not be picked up by a pet sitter, provided that there are no more animals in the house. This option is similar to the above (leave the cat as a guest) with only one difference - the pet sitter receives a pre-agreed remuneration for her work.

Your task is to visit the pet sitter’s house and find out a number of questions:

How long the guardian is absent from home.
How long has the caregiver been providing such services?
What household chemicals are used to treat the home before a new guest moves in?
Does the guardian want to feed the cat natural food if necessary?
Does the pet sitter require vaccinations for animals?

Advice! Be sure to find out whether the guardian has primary veterinary care skills and how much such services cost.

Hotel

The hotel is a boarding-type shelter for animals . On the one hand, this option is the most reliable, on the other hand, it is very doubtful. Let's start with the pros:

Hotels for animals are opened by knowledgeable people with extensive experience in keeping animals.
The animal is transferred to professionals who can confirm their status.
When transferring an animal, an agreement on the provision of paid services is concluded, which means you can be sure that you will pick up the cat without any problems.
Temporary guardians are legally responsible for the condition of the animal in the hotel, provided that this clause is specified in the contract.
Hotels usually have enclosures for animals, meaning the cat will be safe. Typically, hotels do not accept animals that are unvaccinated or in the rutting stage.

If the hotel is organized on the basis of a veterinary clinic, for a fee, the cat can receive specific care or therapy. This condition is very important if the pet suffers from chronic diseases, such as diabetes.

Advice: be sure to spay or neuter your pet if it does not have breeding value . This must be done at least a month before your vacation. Neutered cats are calmer and less likely to fight. A cat can go on a spree due to stress and return home pregnant.

Now about the cons:

The cat will be placed in an enclosure with another animal, and this is not always good. You cannot be sure that the four-legged animals will find a common language and will not fight.
Care, feeding and treatment of animals does not take into account individual needs. Even if they assure you that they find an approach to every animal, this is not so. An exception is a hotel designed to accommodate 2-3 animals.
In a hotel, the cat experiences a lack of communication.

Note! Modern hotels offer the service of equipping the enclosure with a webcam. While on vacation, you can see your pet at any time and check the conditions of its detention.

When staying in a hotel, many risks are eliminated, but you must understand that quality services are really expensive. Be sure to visit the establishment before making your final decision. Assess the cleanliness, quality and integrity of the equipment, and the presence of drinking bowls in each enclosure. If several enclosures have a common paddock, it is worth inspecting the integrity of the nets. Be sure to clarify how the cages are treated, where the animals are during treatment, how often the filler in the tray is changed, and other details regarding the conditions of detention.

In hotels for animals

Until recently, hotels for pets were a fairly new phenomenon, but today they are rapidly developing and growing due to the high demand for their services.

Important! Typically, such hotels are ready to provide hospitality to many animals at once. Not only cats, but also dogs, rodents and other pets often stay here. Placement takes place in cages or enclosures, where a drinking bowl and food bowl are placed.

When choosing a hotel to foster a cat, it is better to arrive there first to scout out the situation, find out more about those who will look after the pet, what are the rules for staying at the hotel and, most importantly, what conditions will be provided. The advantages of being in such an institution will definitely be:

Taking care of your pet's health. When checking into a hotel, the pet owner will be required to provide a certificate about the health status of his pet, vaccinations (must be done a month before moving), as well as deworming and antiparasitic measures. If necessary, the latter will be carried out by hotel specialists before check-in for an additional fee.

Deworming in cats is carried out using drugs such as Milbemax, Prazitel, Milprazon, Profender, Dirofen Plus, and antiparasitic drugs include Dana Ultra, Amitrazin, Advocate, Otodectin", "Advantage", "Bars", "Ivermectin", "Frontline", "Ivermec", "Stronghold".

Legal guarantees. Since a stay hotel is an officially registered establishment, in this case an agreement will necessarily be signed, which will define the rights and obligations of the parties, as well as other significant nuances. In addition, when a cat is boarded, its owner is provided with a transfer and acceptance certificate as confirmation. Based on these documents, it will be possible to hold the hotel liable if something happens to the pet.

Did you know? Cats sleep on average 18 hours a day.

The hotel always first finds out what menu the cat prefers, how often it is necessary to play with it, and other features of the life of a pet entering foster care.
If during an overexposure there is a need to extend it, most often hotels will accommodate. Payment for additional time in this case is made upon the owner’s return. Of course, this option also has certain disadvantages that affect the choice:

Price. This is the most important factor, since the hotel clearly regulates the cost of food or food for the future guest, its own price for swimming and walking, etc. Depending on the length of the owner’s absence, sometimes staying in a hotel for animals can cost a pretty penny.

For purebred cats, it is recommended to use premium food: Almo Nature, Brit, Premium Van, super-premium food - Fest Choice, Monge, and holistic foods: Orijen, Bosch Sanabel, Go "

Need to book in advance. As in the case of human apartments, in such hotels there may not always be free space for a pet if its owner needs to leave suddenly and urgently. If we are talking about the summer period or holidays, when the demand for such services is increased, then you should take care of a place in the hotel a month or two before departure. Important! To make it easier for your pet to adapt to new temporary living conditions, bring your favorite toys, rug, dishes, and, if you have one, a box for transportation. Familiar things and smells will ease the animal’s stress from a change of environment and help it not to become sad while waiting for its owner to return.

However, many animal owners think that staying in small enclosures will have a detrimental effect on their pet. They prefer to leave their pets in conditions as close as possible to home ones.

Cat care at home

Not all cities have hotels for animals, so services for keeping animals at home are quite popular. This option is quite simple.

They are, of course, cheaper, but their quality does not always match . However, most people who do this still take a responsible approach to providing this service and provide all the necessary conditions for the animals. They guarantee complete safety of cats, good care for them, timely feeding, as well as possible walking for animals that love walks. The disadvantage of this service is that the owner must provide food for the animal, a bowl and a tray , while in pet hotels this is all available. However, some keepers simply charge extra for food and litter.

There are entire companies that provide home foster care services. They monitor the quality of the services provided, so the staff consists exclusively of qualified employees who have extensive experience in caring for pets. There the cats are not kept in cages, they have complete freedom of movement around the apartment . The management of such companies, as a rule, carefully monitors the observance of sanitary conditions in the premises.

It is also possible to sit the animal around the clock at the customer’s home , or you can hire a person who will come every day, feed the pet and care for it.
This option is convenient for the owner because, firstly, it does not require transportation of the animal (not all cats tolerate it well), and, secondly, he can be sure of safe living conditions for his animal.