Cricket didn’t tell the whole story on Wednesday (you can read that post here)! My hubby and I don’t go on a lot of vacations. Neither of us is big on traveling, and we really don’t like leaving the pets and our home very often. Our most recent trip was our second of this year, but that is unusual and only because we had a family vacation back in July, and it was our 25th anniversary this year. As much as we hate leaving, sometimes it is just nice to get away from it all for a bit. When I’m home I feel like I always should be doing something, and when I do actually let myself relax, I feel guilty because there are things to be done.
So taking a break doesn’t seem so bad, and it’s the only way I probably ever do really relax. Even then, I have to work at it! Besides, the pets don’t make it easy to leave; this time they each had their issues in the days before we headed out. Here’s what we dealt with from each dog before leaving:
Cricket: We started vacation from work on Saturday, and then on Sunday we went to the Nascar race in Loudon, which we go to every September. We were gone most of the day, so Monday was our day to get everything ready for leaving on our trip Tuesday morning. Lately Cricket had been scratching a lot and I actually found a flea on her a couple weeks ago. It was only one, and I haven’t seen any since….and I’ve been checking daily. I don’t like to put strong chemicals on the dogs unless I absolutely have to. I had been brushing both her and Sheba through with an apple cider vinegar/water mix which is supposed to help repel fleas. Yet still she scratched. I already had a mile long list of things to do on Monday, but I added to it: give Cricket a bath. That was fine, we found the time to do it, and she was very good about it. Yet she was still scratching Tuesday morning before we left!
Kobi: On Monday morning, Kobi didn’t want to eat his breakfast. Kobi is a beagle, so that is significant….it is not often he refuses a meal. So the worry began. He finally ate late that morning, and he had seemed fine otherwise and ate all his usual treats. By evening I felt OK about that, and on Tuesday morning he got up and ate his breakfast as usual. Then, as we were packing and getting ready to leave, he threw up. Three times. Ugh. I tried to reassure myself that from time to time Kobi does get an upset stomach, and it’s been a while since he has, so I should not worry too much. At least he did eat his usual treats that we gave them when leaving, that made me relax just a bit.
Sheba: Sheba is a paw licker, she always has been. We try to deter her from it, and never before has it caused any kind of issue. Until recently when I discovered a bald pink spot on her right leg which I believe she caused from the licking. We have been keeping an eye on it and I clean it daily and watch to be sure it doesn’t become infected. It finally looked like it was scabbing over. That was until Tuesday morning when I caught her furiously biting at it, until she drew blood! I cleaned it up once again, as I wondered if she was just anxious because she knew we were leaving.
Now before leaving town I had to send my sister, who would be pet sitting, an email telling her everything that was going on. Of course, none of these were serious issues, though worrisome, and we still left as planned. However, I am a professional worrier and of course had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach for the whole three plus hour drive to the cabin we were staying at. I had asked my sister to email me later in the day to let me know how everyone was doing (she was working and wouldn’t be going over until evening). There was no cell phone service where we were, though there is Wi-Fi on the property, which only worked intermittently in our cabin (that was actually better than expected; it wasn’t supposed to work at all in our cabin). E-mail was the easiest way to communicate, though of course in case of emergency, she could reach us through the main office phone.
I was somewhat able to get my mind off things and not worry too much, as we relaxed at our cabin that first evening. However, I was relieved when the email came from my sister. All was good! Kobi had eaten and kept down his dinner, and no one was scratching or biting at anything! My sister checked in from time to time over our next two nights there, and everything stayed good. That made the drive home much more relaxing for me….I didn’t have to anxiously worry about how everyone would be when we got home!
On a lighter note, I want to share one funny thing from my sister’s first email. She wrote: “They are all pooped out right now-‘cept poor old Conrad, he just wanders around and looks mad, huh?? Kinda funny, but not really, I know!” That did make me laugh….our poor old cat Conrad….I reassured my sister that was normal behavior for him; we don’t call him the “cranky old man” for nothing! He surely does wander around and look mad a lot. He’s only mad because he wants to be eating all the time, and we actually make him take breaks from that!
Of course, everyone was great when we got home, and I’m happy to be able to say that I worried for nothing. Even if anything had happened, the dogs were in good hands with my sister. But of course, I still wanted to be there for them. Oh, and I want to thank the two cats for not having any issues before we left!
Do your pets often have issues right as you’re planning to leave on a trip? I wonder if they are just anxious, somehow knowing that we’re leaving, or if it’s just a coincidence that these things happen at a bad time?
Thank you to our blog hop hosts: Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume. Please visit their blogs and others through the links below.
Sure looks pretty where you went. I am glad that you were able to get away and enjoy. I always worry when we have to leave the pups behind. We don’t do it very often either. I remember when we had our elderly Golden and we knew he was sick and we had to leave him with my sis to go visit hubby’s family in another state. I told her that I understood that his days were numbered and if he took a bad turn then she could do whatever she thought was necessary. I did not want her to stress over having to make “the decision”. Luckily she agreed with this arrangement and more lucky that he did just fine and was around a few more months.
It was very pretty where we went, even though the sun never shone! We still got to get out and do some hiking and enjoy the foliage though.
Oh, I’m so glad your dog was ok that time….we actually lost our first dog when we weren’t home. She was in the care of our neighbor, was in the middle of treatment for lymphoma, and took a turn for the worse while we were gone. We were on a family vacation and didn’t want to cancel, and we thought she was ok when we left. I’ll always feel guilty about it. 🙁
I’m glad you managed to get your vacation in 🙂
I always seem to end up going to the vets just before mum and dad have a plan to sneak off on me for a vacation! Tee Hee
This time was no exception, they only got back saturday night, they’re not as nice as you, they left for 10 days! I went to hang with my buddy Cosmo next door, but I still made them feel bad when they got home!
Oh and the paw lick, I did that too just before they left, the vet said there was a little something there to start with and when I was bored I’d just lick it and managed to make it into a callous, which then of course had to be licked! Mum got a spray she put on it whenever I licked it and I soon stopped. She also sent it with me next door just in case, as well as my pain killers in case I started limping again which I’d only just stopped before they left…. 🙂
Wags to all
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Thanks, Snoopy! 10 days, wow, good for them! That’s great that you have a friend you can stay with too. But I know you dogs just like to make us feel guilty anyway! 🙂
Thanks for the info on the paw licking, I’ll have to look for some spray to help with Sheba’s too. I think she’s leaving it alone now, but every time I go to check it, she starts licking it again, so I have to be careful not to look at it TOO often!
Isn’t it always the way? You try to plan a trip and the dogs get sick, or get symptoms right before you go. Just like Kobi, Labs are the same…If Toby missed a meal, I’d be very very concerned.
Glad everyone was okay though, and you were able to get away for a break. It looks like you chose a gorgeous place to kick back!
Thanks, Donna! It was a beautiful place and the foliage was near peak there. Unfortunately, the sun barely came out the whole time we were there! Oh well….at least it wasn’t raining and it was chilly but not too cold.
And certainly the dogs could have had worse symptoms before we left …so we’re counting our blessings there also!
This is so funny – the same thing happens to us – we rarely go away, but when we do, it’s like the dogs know and plot to get sick or cause some issue so we question whether we should go or not!
I wonder if they’re faking it, like we used to do as kids to get out of going to school? LOL
I was really afraid this time that we’d end up having to cancel or delay our trip. The dogs would have been fine in my sister’s care, but I don’t think I would have been!
When we travel, the pets are usually included, so the stress level here is usually ours as we try to get ready around wildly excited dogs! lol I somehow think they do know when we have something different going on, though.
Do you have trouble finding places to stay with four dogs though? We used to camp a lot when we had two dogs, but a lot of campgrounds wouldn’t allow more than that, so that’s why we stopped. Actually, I wanted to take the dogs with us this time (some of the cabins where we stayed allowed dogs), but hubby vetoed the idea. 🙁
Happy Late Anniversary! Hope you had a great trip and glad the dogs are okay!
Thank you! We did have a nice time, but it’s good to be home!
Vacation? What’s a vacation? But seriously, we much pretty much never travel either. I worry WAY too much to leave the dogs. The closest thing we’ve had to a vacation was a couple years ago, we stayed a few days at a lake house a couple hours away… but we took the dogs with! First and only travel hubs and I have done in the twelve years we’ve been together. Terrible, huh? He travels for work sometimes, but that doesn’t count because it’s just him.
We’re thinking about maybe renting an RV soon and taking the dogs with us… easier for us to all travel together and we’re free to go where we want. We can plan a route to sightsee and stay at pet-friendly RV resorts/parks at several destinations along the way. As much as I love my sweet dogs, it would be nice to vacation without them… at least once. But I’m afraid I’d have a stroke from all the worry. RV, here we come, lol!
Your dogs had a few minor issues before you left, but I know how it can be to let the worry spiral out of control. I’m SO that you didn’t let your initial worry ruin a good trip, and that you got to get away and enjoy your time at the cabin. That was an absolutely beautiful view, indeed!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that you don’t travel much either! We know so many people who travel a lot, and I’ve always felt weird that we really don’t. When we take vacation from work everyone always asks where we’re going….and most of the time we’re just staying home.
We used to have an RV years ago, and back then we always took the dogs camping with us. We eventually parked our RV at a campground so we could spend weekends there. We only had two dogs back then, and when we were going to increase to 3 (then 4), the campground wouldn’t allow that, so we ended up selling the camper, and mostly staying home! We just have too many dogs to take them with us now, but that is ideal. So I say go for it….rent an RV!
Happy Anniversary!! Old Conrad is a funny one. And glad everything went on smoothly 🙂 I would worry too if we have to travel, simply because we have to leave Donna with a pet sitter and we haven’t found one that is responsive and that we are comfortable with yet.
Thank you! It makes all the difference in the world to have a pet sitter you know and trust. We almost cancelled our family trip back in July because all we could find was a stranger…and we could not do that! My sister was going with us. In the end, a close friend came through for us so we were able to go.
Us pets can sense that something is going on, that is probably what caused all the issues but then when the sitter arrived, we get all excited and forget why we were worried in the first place…that is my dog take on it.
Oh, I think you are probably right, Emma, thank you!
I don’t travel much either but wouldn’t mind a vacation here and there! Of course the dogs would give you before leaving lol… glad everyone was OK though and you got to spend your vacation mostly worry free 🙂
Thank you, Ann. We don’t go away too often…for obvious reasons! 🙂
Oh, I empathize. I worry CONSTANTLY when I leave them. Heck, even when I leave them in my husband’s capable hands, I’m a ball of worry the whole time. But, as you said, everyone needs to get away now and then. I’m glad you and your husband were able to enjoy a beautiful cabin and all was well!!
Oh, I know, I also worry even when I go away with the girls, and the hubby is home. It was nice to have our alone time though, but we probably won’t do it again for a while!
I found your blog through the blog hop. Your kids are ADORABLE! I hate leaving my kids as well. I have one of my close friends stay at my house with them when I go. I am glad your sister was there to care for your kiddos. It makes it a little easier to leave knowing they are in good hands. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Thank you, Laura, and I’m so glad you came by! I think I have been by your site at least once or twice, but I probably never left a comment. I’ll be by again!
I don’t think we could leave if we didn’t have family/friends to take care of the animals.
I’m also a professional worrier – and also leave my pets w/ my sis when I go away. It helps with keeping the worries at bay, but still…. And a beagle not eating is definitely a bad sign! Glad to hear they mostly did well while you were gone – except poor angry Conrad. I feel the same way, Conrad! I just want to eat all the time!
Once our beagle was SUPER sick right before I had to leave for a business trip. She wouldn’t eat and was throwing up like crazy. I had to leave my poor hubs to deal with it all. She ended up having to go to the hospital. It was super stressful for all of us. I couldn’t stop crying on my biz trip cuz I was sure she would pass away while I was gone – but all my worrying was for nothing. *Eventually* she got better and all was well – but that was the worst trip I ever took!
Ha ha, yes, Conrad is really just speaking for all of us! He’s old so he can get away with it!
Oh no, I’d hate being away when one of the dogs was really seriously sick. I’m glad that turned out OK for you that time too, and I certainly can imagine how stressful that must have been.
Well, glad you had a nice time anyway! At least it wasn’t pouring the rain the entire time (that would happen to me). lol. I’m glad I was able to take care of your babies on the family vacation at the beginning of the summer. Forgot to mention that Conrad gave me that look many times as well. He is something else! Love them all. Happy weekend!
Hope you are having a happy weekend too, Sheryl! We’ve been on plenty of rainy vacations, so this was at least one step up from that! 🙂
Leave it to the dogs to all have issues before you left! 😉 Glad that they’re all doing OK though. I knew they’d be fine with their Auntie Lynn. Hope that you and Tom had a nice time! 🙂
They certainly didn’t make it easy to leave! Of course, if it weren’t for you and Lynn we really would never leave!
We had a very nice time, but it was cloudy the whole time we were there. At least it wasn’t raining (though it did mist a bit when we were out hiking). The foliage was pretty up there but would have been stunning if the sun had been shining!