Boarding Your Pet

1. Is Boarding the Right Choice for Your Pet?

Many healthy, social dogs and cats tolerate boarding well. Others may be much more comfortable with an in-home pet sitter, a trusted friend or family member, or—in selected cases—veterinary boarding.

Consider your pet's temperament, previous boarding experience, age, medical problems, mobility, sensory impairment, medication needs, separation anxiety, fear of unfamiliar people or animals, and ability to eat normally in a new environment.

Pets with significant chronic disease, recent surgery, seizure disorders, diabetes, advanced kidney or heart disease, or complex medication schedules may be safer in a facility with veterinary supervision or with an experienced medical pet sitter. Discuss the plan with your veterinarian before travel.

2. Choosing a Boarding Facility

A reputable facility should be willing to explain its policies and, when appropriate, allow you to see the areas in which animals are housed. Some facilities limit tours during busy periods or for infection-control reasons, so inability to walk through every room is not by itself evidence of poor care.

Questions to ask

• How often are animals observed, exercised, fed, and provided fresh water?
• Are dogs housed individually, in compatible groups, or both? How are play groups selected and supervised?
• Are cats housed away from barking dogs and given hiding/resting areas?
• How are enclosures, bowls, bedding, toys, and common areas cleaned and disinfected?
• How are coughing, vomiting, diarrhea, skin disease, or other potentially contagious problems handled?
• Is there an isolation area for sick animals?
• What training do attendants have in animal handling, behavior, first aid, and recognizing illness?
• Is staff present overnight, or how frequently are animals checked outside normal business hours?
• Which veterinarian or emergency hospital is used if your pet becomes ill?
• Can the facility administer your pet's medications correctly and on schedule?
• What happens if your return is delayed or you cannot be reached?

What to observe

Housing should be clean, dry, secure, appropriately ventilated, and protected from temperature extremes. Animals should have access to clean water and suitable resting areas. Strong odor, persistent accumulated waste, unsafe fencing, poorly supervised animal interactions, or rough handling are reasons for concern.

3. Vaccines and Infectious-Disease Prevention

Dogs

Dogs should be current on core vaccination appropriate to their age and history, including rabies as required by applicable law and vaccination against canine distemper, adenovirus, and parvovirus. Current AAHA guidance also designates leptospirosis vaccination as core for dogs in North America because exposure can occur in urban, suburban, and rural environments.

Dogs that are boarded or otherwise mingle closely with other dogs have increased risk for canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC, often called “kennel cough”). Vaccination against Bordetella bronchiseptica and canine parainfluenza is commonly required or recommended for boarding dogs. AAHA generally recommends subsequent boosters annually for dogs at ongoing risk, although the exact product, timing, facility requirement, and individual risk should be discussed with the veterinarian.

Canine influenza vaccination is not considered routine for every dog, but boarding, daycare, dog shows, travel, and other close dog-to-dog contact can increase risk. Whether it is appropriate depends partly on local virus circulation and the individual dog's exposure.

Canine enteric coronavirus vaccination is not recommended as a routine boarding vaccine. It is not included in current AAHA recommendations for routine canine vaccination.

Revaccination intervals for distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus, and other vaccine antigens depend on the product, age, previous vaccination history, and current guidelines. After the appropriate initial series and booster, several core viral vaccines are commonly given at intervals longer than one year.

Cats

Cats should be current on core vaccines appropriate for their age, lifestyle, and local requirements. These generally include feline panleukopenia virus, feline herpesvirus-1, feline calicivirus, and rabies according to applicable law and veterinary recommendations. Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) vaccination is recommended according to age and exposure risk; it is especially important for young cats and cats that may have contact with other cats of unknown status.

Vaccines reduce risk but do not eliminate it

No boarding facility can eliminate all infectious-disease risk. Respiratory pathogens can spread before signs are obvious, and vaccination does not prevent every infection. Ask the facility how it monitors for coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, vomiting, diarrhea, or other signs of contagious disease.

A pet showing active coughing, sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, unexplained skin lesions, or another potentially infectious condition generally should not enter routine boarding until a veterinarian has determined that boarding is appropriate.

4. Parasite Prevention

Boarding is a good opportunity to confirm that parasite prevention is current and appropriate for the pet's lifestyle and geographic exposure.

Dogs should generally receive year-round heartworm prevention, regardless of lifestyle. Year-round flea, tick, and intestinal-parasite control is also recommended for most dogs and cats, with the specific products chosen according to species, geography, lifestyle, and medical history.

Never use a canine flea or tick product on a cat unless the product is specifically labeled for cats. Some dog products, particularly those containing concentrated permethrin, can be dangerously toxic to cats.

Ask the boarding facility whether it requires a recent fecal test, flea control, or other parasite screening. Notify the facility before arrival if you discover fleas, ticks, diarrhea, or visible intestinal parasites.

5. Medications and Special Medical Needs

Provide all medications in their original labeled containers whenever possible. Give written instructions that specify the medication name, dose, route, timing, whether it must be given with food, and what to do if a dose is missed or the pet refuses it.

• Bring enough medication for the entire stay plus a small extra supply in case your return is delayed.
• Do not pre-sort unidentified pills into bags unless the facility specifically requests that system.
• Provide insulin, syringes, prescription diets, seizure medication, eye drops, or other supplies exactly as the facility instructs.
• Tell staff about allergies, previous medication reactions, chronic illnesses, mobility problems, hearing or vision loss, and known triggers for fear or aggression.
• Make sure the facility knows which signs should prompt an immediate call to you or your veterinarian.

If your pet requires strict medication timing or close monitoring, confirm that the facility can reliably provide that level of care before booking.

6. Food, Bedding, Toys, and Daily Routine

Sudden diet changes can cause gastrointestinal upset, so bringing the pet's usual food is often helpful when the facility permits it. Package and label meals according to the facility's instructions, and provide enough food for the entire stay.

Ask whether familiar bedding, toys, or an item carrying the owner's scent is allowed. Facilities may restrict personal items because they can be lost, damaged, ingested, become contaminated, or create conflict in group housing.

Give the facility an accurate feeding schedule and describe any important routines, but recognize that boarding schedules will not exactly reproduce home life.

Do not send bones, rawhides, fragile toys, or other chew items that the facility considers unsafe or cannot supervise.

7. Identification, Records, and Emergency Authorization

Before boarding, make sure your pet has reliable identification. A microchip provides permanent identification, but the registry information must contain your current telephone number and other contact details. A secure collar and identification tag may provide an additional rapid way to contact you when appropriate for the pet and facility.

Leave the boarding facility with:

• your travel itinerary and current contact information;
• the name and contact information of a local person authorized to make decisions if you cannot be reached;
• your regular veterinarian's contact information;
• a copy or accessible record of vaccination and relevant medical history;
• clear instructions about emergency veterinary care and financial authorization.

AVMA recommends leaving current medical information, vaccination history, proof of rabies vaccination when applicable, and instructions for the person responsible for an animal while the owner is away.

8. Stress, Fear, and Behavior

Some pets eat less, vocalize, hide, develop mild gastrointestinal upset, or sleep differently in a new environment. These changes can reflect stress, but staff should still distinguish expected adjustment from illness.

A short trial stay or daycare visit can be useful for some dogs before a long boarding period. Cats and highly fearful dogs may benefit more from quiet housing, familiar bedding, predictable handling, and minimal unnecessary interaction.

If your pet has severe separation anxiety, panic, fear aggression, or a history of refusing food during boarding, discuss the problem with your veterinarian well before the trip. Behavior modification, a different boarding arrangement, or appropriately prescribed medication may be safer than waiting until departure day.

Do not give sedatives, tranquilizers, antihistamines, supplements, or other medications solely for boarding unless they have been specifically recommended for that pet by a veterinarian.

9. After Boarding

Ask whether your pet ate and drank normally, took all medications, had normal bowel movements, participated in activity, and showed any coughing, sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea, injuries, or behavioral changes.

Mild fatigue or excitement after returning home may be temporary. Contact your veterinarian if your pet has persistent poor appetite, repeated vomiting or diarrhea, coughing, difficulty breathing, marked lethargy, pain, limping, wounds, excessive thirst or urination, or any other concerning change.

10. Boarding Checklist

• Choose the boarding arrangement that fits your pet's temperament and medical needs.
• Tour or evaluate the facility and understand its supervision, cleaning, isolation, and emergency policies.
• Check vaccine requirements several weeks in advance and review your pet's individual vaccine plan with your veterinarian.
• Maintain appropriate year-round parasite prevention.
• Provide labeled medications and written medical instructions.
• Bring the normal diet when permitted and avoid abrupt food changes.
• Update microchip and identification information.
• Leave veterinarian, emergency-contact, and treatment-authorization information.
• Tell staff about behavioral issues, medical problems, allergies, and special handling needs.
• After pickup, ask how the stay went and monitor for illness or injury.