The Ones Left Behind : Finding Pet Care Can Make, Break Vacation

As vacation plans are made, the inevitable question comes up--who will look after the family pet or pets that are left behind. That question has changed many a caring pet person’s anticipation to anxiety.

As one Encinitas woman puts it: “If I had my way, I’d never leave my dogs and cats, but I can’t very well tell my husband I won’t go on a cruise because of the pets.”

Actually, North County residents have a surprising number of options for their pets, ranging from traditional and not-so-traditional boarding kennels to 24-hour, in-home care.

Trends in the boarding kennel business in North County mirror changes occurring across the country. The public has become much more sophisticated in its demands, according to Jim Krack, executive director of the American Boarding Kennels Assn.

“Historically, the kennel business has been a sort of accidental business,” says Krack. “Now, with financing and other problems, this has become a business which takes a full-time commitment and total dedication.”

For two reasons, noise abatement and the ability to control indoor climate, one trend is toward completely enclosed boarding facilities. Krack says he knows of no new kennels being built on the traditional model of indoor-outdoor or outdoor runs.

The traditional kennel boards dogs and maybe a few cats in cages, while the newer facilities will care for just about anything from exotic birds to tiny hamsters. Some have also experimented with building materials other than the standard chain-link and cement.

Because North County retains pockets of rural life amid booming development, pet owners have a choice between the more traditional and trend-setting facilities.

At Buckwood Boarding Kennel, on 14-plus acres in Ramona, indoor-outdoor kennels are available for cats and dogs. Owner Susan Buck says that occasionally she also cares for horses and other livestock.

Elenbusch Kennels in Vista has been in operation for 20 years and boards dogs in runs that are half covered. During the morning feeding and cleaning time, each dog has a chance to get out of its kennel and run around, says owner Mary Karat.

Sharon Campbell is starting her 21st year in business at the Ce Ce Belle Pet Hotel in Vista. Campbell breeds and shows poodles and originally built the kennels for her own dogs.

At Ce Ce Belle, there are two buildings for dogs, which are allowed to run freely in a fenced area while their kennel is cleaned. Feline boarders reside in a small cattery, away from the dogs.

Also in Vista is Margale Kennels, owned by Ida Williams. The dog kennels are indoor-outdoor enclosures with 10-foot runs. Cats are housed at the end of the building.

Pennie Zawacki’s Royal Serchek Kennels in Poway boards dogs and cats and also prepares animals for shipment. Each cat has a shelf in its cage, and dogs can be walked for an extra $2 charge.

Another trend in the kennel business is to provide services other than boarding. Both the San Marcos Training and Boarding Kennel and the Oceanside Pet Hotel and Training Kennels offer training programs.

“We will board just about anything, including birds, rats, hamsters, turtles and guinea pigs, and we have cages for most,” says Chris Applegate in San Marcos. “We also offer basic obedience training for family dogs, either while they’re boarded or in group classes at a nearby park.”

Oceanside has a full-range dog-training program from “puppy preschool” to police work, and licensed trainers also give advice on behavior problems.

“All dogs, from Chihuahuas to great Danes, have inside-outside runs,” says Oceanside manager Manuel Villanueva. “We bring the dogs inside at night, and we also make that decision for them if it’s cold or rainy during the day.”

Besides obedience classes, The Animal Keeper, in both Encinitas and Oceanside, provides pet supplies, such as food and flea products, and grooming services.

The move toward enclosed facilities, says Liz Palika, training director for Animal Keeper in Oceanside, is in part because it is easier to control fleas and flies, temperature and humidity, and the spread of disease.

The Encinitas Animal Keeper was built 11 years ago. The newer Oceanside facility is larger and features a number of improvements. Each has concrete yards, where dogs can play while their kennels are cleaned, as well as grassy, fenced-in exercise areas. Each boards other domestic pets as well as canines and felines.

At the Animal Keeper’s cattery in Encinitas, high windows allow light into the room. In Oceanside, the design was changed: two walls were built entirely of glass block, and a few larger suites were added.

Some kennels, like the Animal Care Center in San Diego and Escondido, provide veterinary services. Both facilities cater to animals with special needs, such as convalescing pets, and have separate areas for geriatric animals, puppies and noisy and quiet dogs.

“It’s best to start boarding animals when they’re young,” advises Carol Chaney, manager of the Escondido Animal Care Center. “It’s harder to start when they’re older. If a bath or pedicure would upset an older dog, we skip it. We want the experience to be as positive as possible.”

Jim Lockwood, owner of Alcala Pet Care in Encinitas and Falconmoor Animal Inn in San Marcos, has discovered that being in the boarding business means constant renovation and upgrading. For instance, heated floors make geriatric dogs more comfortable.

At Alcala, the cats have their own 3,000-square-foot house, complete with a reception area that looks like a living room and piped-in classical music.

“The reception area puts peoples’ minds at ease,” says Lockwood, who lives on site. “It’s important that people not be stressed, especially since animals pick up on that.”

Jennifer and Kelly Perkins, owners of Holiday Pet Hotel and the Cats Pajamas in Encinitas, also live on the property. After spending many a night sleeping in the kennels with a dog he was worried about, Kelly Perkins installed a monitoring system in his house.

The Perkins also designed and built the expandable cat condos in the upstairs Cats Pajamas space. The older cats are given heating pads to lie on and the shy cats get hutches to hide in. The luckiest felines hang out in four, especially decorated suites, with African, French, Mexican and English themes, window seats and colorful pillows.

Most dogs stay in indoor-outdoor kennels, but older pets, puppies and first-time boarders are placed in a smaller, special-care ward. Birds and other exotics should come with their own cages and food.

One of the newest facilities in North County, Club Pet is actually a part of the nonprofit Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe. No chain-link here. The spacious dog kennels are grouped on one side of an indoor, sunken play area. Dogs can also be exercised in the surrounding grassy yard.

Cats are housed in a separate section and rotated into a large play room with carpeted floor and high shelves along the walls. The feline guests seem to enjoy sitting at a window that overlooks the play area and an aviary filled with resident birds.

An alternative to boarding is to leave the animal at home and have a caretaker visit one or two times a day, or even stay overnight. One of the first pet caretakers in North County was Deborah Loving, who founded Critter Sitter six years ago.

“I’ll take care of anything that crawls or squirms, has fins, fur or feathers,” says Loving, who specializes in farms and ranches and covers the Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar and Carlsbad areas.

When farm- or ranch-sitting, Loving lives on the premises. For other animals, she visits one or two times a day and guarantees a minimum of 30 minutes per visit during busy holiday times. In her business, flexibility is the watchword says Loving, since every animal and every owner is different.

Marcia Paxton of Cat’s Cradle has been caring for felines for four years in Rancho Bernardo, Poway and Rancho Penasquitos. Like other pet sitters, Paxton waters plants, brings in the mail and takes out the trash, as well as feeding and cleaning up after her animal charges. As an animal health technician, she’s trained to care for cats with chronic conditions like diabetes.

Chama Salas of All Creatures In-Home Pet Care is also an animal health technician, and her father, Ralph Hasson, a security guard, works with her. Together they take care of a variety of creatures, including the toucan, great-billed parrot and lory who occupy a model home in a new subdivision in Vista.

“Most of my clients are working professionals who are very busy,” says Salas, “so we also provide and plan on expanding other services, such as bathing and transporting pets to the vet and the groomer.”

A tarantula is probably the most unusual creature Terri Mander, owner of A Moment’s Notice Pet Care Service, has looked after. She is a certified small-animal nutritionist and veterinary assistant, and her employees have similar credentials. Besides in-home care, A Moment’s Notice also exercises dogs for people with busy schedules.

“Many of our clients work in Orange County, and they leave home at 5 a.m. and return at 8 p.m.,” says Mander. “For an $8 charge, we’ll exercise a dog for a minimum of 20 to 25 minutes. This breaks up the day for the dog and keeps it from developing destructive behavior.”

Cory Hoeppner, who describes herself as both the CEO and peon for Cory’s Pet Sitting, cares for all domestic pets except reptiles and rodents in Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos and in the portion of Poway north of Poway Road.

“I don’t go in and say ‘Hi dog, bye dog,’ ” says Hoeppner. “I spend at least 45 minutes to an hour with each dog. In this business you have to have a heart for animals, because they depend on you for everything.”

Kathi Beals, manager of Cathy’s Canine Salon and Boutique in Escondido, calls her pet-sitting visits her “way of winding down.”

“I always insist on an initial in-home visit before a client leaves on vacation,” says Beals. “I want to know who I’m watching and I want them to know me.”

In-home pet care is just one of the services provided by Home Sitting Services, which hires retired seniors exclusively. The agency provides live-in sitting for cats, dogs, rabbits, parrots, tortoises--you name it, says director Pat Richardson.

The employees also benefit, says Richardson, as they remain active and interested in life. Many clients ask for the same sitter over and over.

Employees of No Vacancy Agency will either visit pets once or twice or stay with them on a 24-hour basis in the Tri-City area.

“We feed, water, clean up accidents, exercise, cuddle and give human companionship,” says director Pat McLaughlin. “When the house is empty, the pets are so happy to see someone.”

MORE ABOUT PET CARE

Kennels: To help select a boarding kennel, contact the ABKA, 4575 Galley Road, Suite 400A, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80915, (719) 591-1113.

In home: For advice on in-home pet care, contact the National Assn. of Pet Sitters, 632 Holly Ave., Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101, (919) 723-7387.