What are the minimum vaccination requirements for dogs?
What is canine cough?
What vaccination does my cat need?
What does the Pet Resort feed the pets?
Why does my pet always lose weight at kennels?
What happens if the pet is not eating?
What bedding is provided?
What is the daily routine?
What if my pet is really stressed?
What if my pet dies?

What are the minimum vaccination requirements for dogs?
We require your dog to have a C5 vaccination.
The vaccination must not have been given to the dog within the 2 weeks prior to the dog arriving at the Pet Resort

A C4 covers one strain of canine flu called canine Para influenza and a C5 covers a bacterial strain called Bordetella. There are many other types of doggy coughs and colds that are unfairly named canine cough because the symptoms surface in kennels (particularly if the animal is stressed).

The problem with canine cough is that it is highly contagious. See next question on Canine Cough.

What is canine cough?
Canine cough causes bouts of high pitched, honk-like coughing that keeps both you and your pet awake at night for up to 2 weeks. Onset of this bacterial disease occurs abruptly after contact with infected dogs. Some owners also note vomiting in their dogs, but usually their pets are just expelling phlegm.
During an infection, dogs generally keep up their normal activity level and don't feel too sick. There is no cure for canine cough except time. Thus, prevention is the best way to contend with this disease. "However, canine cough is self-limiting and will generally clear up in a couple of weeks even without any medication."

Owners should be aware of possible secondary infections, which may lead to pneumonia. If pneumonia sets in, antibiotics may be necessary to help clear the infection. At this stage, getting phlegm out of the dog’s system is key for recovery, which is why cough suppressant medication is not appropriate. Intense coughing can be painful for your pet, so limit activity; the more they move around, the more they will cough.

If you have other dogs in the house, they could get canine cough too, but you can take some precautionary measures. Keep them apart (quarantined) and wash your hands after contact with each dog. Use bleach to clean areas where your sick dog has been.

If your pet is coughing for more than 2 or 3 days without signs of improvement, take your dog to your veterinarian. Your canine's cough may not be canine cough.

If you see any secondary signs, such as depression, lack of appetite, fever, blood in phlegm, or difficulty breathing, take your pet into your local veterinarian for assessment and treatment.

Most importantly, if your dog does have canine cough, don't take him into a situation where he will put other dogs at risk of infection.  Don't take him or her to the races or the trial tracks as it will infect other people’s dogs also.

What vaccination does my cat need?
Our minimum entry requirement is an F3. If it is a kitten, then their vaccinations must be fully complete at least two weeks prior to entry to the cattery. If it’s a booster there is no waiting period.

What does the Pet Resort feed the pets?
Our wet food is provided by TLC Pet Foods.  It is a ‘bucket’ product that contains beef/chicken, pasta, rice and vegetables, mixed together in a meatloaf texture.

Our dry food is a high quality product called “Nutrience”. This dry is a specifically formulated for dogs and is based on years of research. If your dog normally loses weight at kennels then we do have a formulate for active dogs.

Our cat guests are fed a combination of the Nutirence dry food and Whisakers wet food.

You are more than welcome to bring along your own food.

Why does my pet always lose weight at kennels?
It is worth noting here that weight loss is a very common issue with boarding kennels and Pet Resorts for several valid reasons.
Firstly, boarding, no matter how wonderful the facility is, is stressful. The pet will always want to be with its owners. Even if your friend looks after the pet in their own home, they will almost always lose weight.

Secondly, it is very busy and active at the Pet Resort. Dogs are barking, jumping around and generally burning off calories. We have our staff, busy at the Pet Resort; from 6am to 6pm. It’s not like at home, where they sleep when you’re away. Not a lot of sleeping happens at the Pet Resort!

There are a few solutions we can try. If you think your pet may be prone to dropping weight then please request twice daily feeds. However, this sometimes has the opposite effect and actually gives the pet runny bowel movements.

Alternatively, if they do lose weight, don’t fret, and simply feed them twice a day, when they return home. This will normally return them to their ideal weight within 2 weeks. If you are worried then please talk to your Vet.
We do have a service where we can weigh the pet every couple of days.

Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t notice that the pet has lost weight, until
it’s too late (ie they’ve already lost the weight).

Dr Harry has stated that the average weight loss is around 2kgs.

Please also remember that your dog could put weight on!

What happens if the pet is not eating?

A pet ‘not eating’ is a fairly regular occurrence.
We usually don’t worry until around day 4 of not eating. Then, we offer food such as fresh chicken mince. We have encouraged the really fussy pets to eat by offering them hot barbeque chicken - that almost always gets them eating again!

If the pet gets to day 4 without food, we would normally ring the vet or ring the owner.

We have never had a pet starve to death at the Pet Resort.

What bedding is provided?
At the Pet Resort we provide beds for our dogs. They are standard, off the ground; beds with nice shade cover fabric. We prefer that you don’t bring your own bedding or possessions, as they can get lost, soiled and damaged. If you, however, really want to bring your dog’s own bedding/toy, you can do so, as long as you are prepared for them to be damaged or destroyed - please only bring things you are not attached to.

Some dogs will need ‘jackets’ in winter as they are not used to the colder nights.

For cats you need to provide bedding. If you forget we do have spares.

What is the daily routine?
Our daily routine is that we feed our pets first thing in the morning. The pets are fed in their pens and the feed is supervised. We will indicate on the pet’s Resort Report if they have eaten or not. If you normally feed your pet at night, please be aware that when they come home again they will ‘round you up’ in the morning for a feed! You can ignore them and put them back to their normal routine. If you really want to keep up the PM feed, then we are happy to accommodate this but please be aware that our other guests will be fed in the morning, so they may feel left out.

After the feed we clean. While your pet’s pen is being cleaned, we let them out into the exercise yard for a complementary PlayTime. They will have the opportunity to sniff around and do some toileting etc. If you would like extra yard time, then this can be arranged as part of our exercise program. Please see Fun Services in Accommodation.

Most medications are also done in the morning, with special PM ones, being done in the afternoon.

During the middle of the day we hydro-bath dogs and organise Playtime and Walks. This normally takes up most of the afternoon. We will also be offering a swimming program when our Pool is completed.

We have Resort Reports that we fill in daily to indicate how the pet is ‘travelling’ - whether they are eating, toileting etc. This is the customer’s to keep when the pet checks-out.

What if my pet is really stressed?
Very occasionally a pet hasn't coped with being at the Resort. In this situation we might, for example, keep it in the Reception building. In all our years (since 1998) we have never called an owner home from their holiday, because their pet is stressed.

We are all pet experts here and we all love animals. Our charter is to provide high levels of pet care. If your pet is that unhappy, we’ll carry it around with us, if we absolutely have to (and yes we have done that before!).
We have a dog, a border collie, who spends his holiday sitting under our Office Staff’s desk, AT HER FEET. He was really happy, and even sleeps the night in our Reception.

We guarantee that we will not let our guests suffer. Our Number One Goal is to provide a Well-being Guarantee to all who holiday with us.

What if my pet dies?
If your pet dies during its stay we will do our best to contact you to discuss what your needs are. If you have an aging pet you may want to discuss this before you leave. In the unfortunate event that a pet dies, and the Pet Resort cannot contact the customer, then we will keep the pet (with dignity) for you to bury when you return. We also have an arrangement with a pet cremation service.