While Sidelick connects you to certified pet sitters around you, more traditional pet care alternatives exist in Beirut, Lebanon. Read to find out the truth about dog hotels and the like. You’ve probably considered placing your pets in kennels, pet hotels, or boarding facilities while you’re away. We encourage you to thoroughly assess the risks regarding this idea and consider pet sitters as well. Here are key points to keep in mind when evaluating traditional options:
Caged Environment
Sadly, most dog hotels and kennels use caged or enclosed facilities. This alone, can be a traumatizing experience for your pets; it is a drastic change of environment: from a loving home, to a cage.
Health Risks
Pets at dog hotels and kennels have a high chance of exposure to infections and viruses, such as kennel cough, canine distemper, and other parasites…
Questionable Staff
The staff at dog hotels and kennels is not always knowledgeable when it comes to pet behavior. This means they might not properly read body language that indicates stress/anxiety. Hence, they may not be able to immediately notice signs of emergency in your pet, especially due to the large quantity of pets around.
To top it off, the staff is almost non-existent at night!
Pet Depression
The truth about most dog hotels and kennels is that they often leave pets alone in highly stressful environments, and for extended periods of time.
Offline Process
In addition to the above alarming factors, the whole experience is offline. You should know that most boarding facilities don’t provide live camera feed. This makes it difficult to get news of your pet whenever you feel like it.
Old School
Many kennels are obsolete and in need of major upgrades. Most of them still adopt the same procedures adopted by shelters 20 years ago!
Overcrowded Environment
With too many pets at hand, dog hotels can’t but provide an impersonal experience for your pets. Personalized care is most crucial when it comes to caring for kittens and puppies, who will need a consistent bathroom and feeding regimen.
A busy kennel is really hectic for your fur ball. The loud environment there easily contributes to heightened stress levels, which may lower your pet’s appetite.
So Dog Hotel, You Say?
The purpose of this article is not to state that all dog hotels are bad. While we believe in personalized care through pet sitters, we absolutely acknowledge the existence of good pet hotels, where the experience for your pet can be lovely. A good example would be our friends at Bright Animals in Lebanon, which hold a very high standard for pet comfort. Know more about pet sitting by checking out our blog post: Why Hire a Pet Sitter? and find the sitter of your choice in Beirut, Lebanon by browsing Sidelick.com.
Finally, we are simply highlighting that you, as a pet owner, are responsible for checking for red flags before trusting your pet with anyone, whether dog hotels, pet sitters, or even friends and relatives.
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