Flowers are blooming and Kip is recovering from Giardia. Last Saturday we took a trip to the vet and confirmed that Kip is now Giardia free. I was so relieved to hear that Kip’s tummy was no longer infested by parasites and that he would no longer have to stay on the antibiotic. My biggest lesson learned from that this experience is to be bold enough to ask what side effects are involved with the medicine prescribed. The fact that I wasn’t informed that Metronidazole is associated with brain damage was upsetting. The vet should have informed me what the side effects were, even if the chances were very low.
It’s been a hectic week for me. I’m currently traveling for 2 weeks for personal reasons so I had to make a short-notice reservation for Kip’s boarding.
The first place I found claimed that they used holistic methods and did not require most things that other boarding facilities required. This included frequent vaccines, flea treatment, and fecal exams. I visited the place on Saturday and it was up in a mountain with rocky narrow roads and an hour and half drive from home. I found out that their “suites” were just kennels made out of wooden structure but with a cage door. The play areas were rather small and more than half the area was rocky. There was one dog that wasn’t particularly friendly in the play area alone. The rest of the dogs were all in the kennels. The guide told me that different temperament groups were taken out to play at a time. I did not want to leave Kip there for two weeks. I wanted him to be at a completely kennel free facility.
The second place I found said I wouldn’t be able to tour until the morning but they were a completely kennel free facility and the photos on their website looked nice. While the owner did take the time to answer the numerous questions that I had, she told me I was being ‘picky’ about Kip’s food when I asked her what brand treats/food they had and inquired about the ingredients in home-made food. I thought it was the responsible and right thing to be aware of what goes into my dog’s mouth but apparently it’s considered being picky.
She also said that they would not put a seat belt on dogs they took in the car if they made a trip to the vet and said it should be fine since the vet is only 10 mins away. Personally I thought that it doesn’t matter whether you’re in a car short or long, you should always have a seatbelt on. Being short on time and options and because there weren’t very many other kennel free facilities that followed a good schedule, I decided that it would be fine and made the reservation for Kip there. Lucky for me they had a $5 calendar that had a coupon for 2 free days and an assistant manager that was more of a friendly “people-person.”
In the end, I felt like I made the right choice boarding Kip where I did. It’s kind of like the prestigious private schools that will take your kid and give them a good education if you make the payments and go by all their rules, regardless of whether you entirely agree or disagree.
