Fur Kids - What Are Your Plans?

LauraPCOS

What are your plans for your fur kids when you head to the hospital?  

I'm not concerned about our cats (we'll put out extra food and water and make sure their box is clean and they should be good for the few days), but we have a dog as well.  We've asked our FIL, who lives about an hour away, to come get her since she is a German Shepherd mix, I'm not sure she would let anyone else in the house besides him so hiring a dog walker for the few days is out of the question.  Just wondering what you ladies have planned.

ashleymn-2

I'm not concerned about our doggo. We can leave enough food and water in her bowls and she'll only eat/drink it when she needs it and we have people who will let her out and check on her. I am worried about her being too excited and trying to jump on me with the baby when we come home. My dog is also very territorial so were trying to prepare her for baby but in that sense I am worried about her.

LGW2015

We're going to call MIL and FIL who are 2 hours away when we head to the hospital. They'll come and take care of the dog for us. Our neighbor also offered to let him out, etc. if we need to. If it's at a time when someone can't get to him within a few hours we also have a doggy daycare that we bring him to about once a week so we can drop him off there if need be (they're super cheap at $2.50/hour and open 7am-9pm).

I'm trying to convince MIL to stay at our house until the baby is born so they can take care of the dog and not have to wait at the hospital forever unnecessarily, but MIL isn't on board so far, she wants to be at the hospital.

strickland8052

She will stay at home alone until my parents get here. They live about two hours away, so once they arrive, they will camp out at our house/watch the fur child until time for us to come home. She stays by herself while we are at work, so it probably won't be any different than that.

lilbabybrown

My pup will stay with my mom since I'll be in the hospital for 4 days.  He stayed with her during my last hospital stay too and she got so attached to him that she didn't want to give him back!!

krzyriver

Oh man, I hadn't even thought about this. My MIL lives right down the street so I could potentially ask her. But my cats have a weird feeding schedule now because of the one's urinary/stress problems from a month or so ago. So might have to ask my mom to help out too.

SpaceBurger

I've totally been thinking about this. I'm hoping I don't have to stay longer than a day, but since the hospital is so far from our house, I'm going to ask my mom to stop by. If we are staying long, I'm going to have her drop him off at the dog sitter's house until we can pick him up on our way home. 

LGW2015

@SpaceBurger not sure about what your hospital does but mine said a typical stay is 2 days from when you deliver for vaginal and 3-4 days for c-section.

queen_frostine

I've been lax about this. The cat will be fine. The guinea pig will be fine, really, although we usually feed her fresh food several times throughout the day. My husband thinks he is going to run home and feed them (the hospital is like five minutes away) but he's not leaving me while I'm in labor! My parents live 30 minutes away and my brother lives in town, though, so we can easily get them to stop by if necessary. My parents may even end up hanging out at our house waiting (I don't want people waiting at the hospital either, @lgw2015) and it's *possible* our in-laws will (they live in the same town as my parents). My mom is the only one that our cat actually knows and trusts, though. 

samkins

I'm totally stressing about this. I really want my dad to come over and stay with them, I told him I'd call when we are close and he can head to the hospital so he can see her when she's born. I think he wants to be in the room and I really just want mom in there.... 

waterfall213

We have 2 cats and they'll be fine. We'll leave plenty of food and water for them and they have 2 litter boxes. If I have to stay at the hospital more than a day or 2 DH can run home or my mom can stop by (DD will be with my parents anyway.)

missmaehurt

This is another thing I'm freaking out about. I asked my dad to come let them out, but he's insisting on being at the hospital (ugh) so we don't really have any options. My dogs won't let anyone let them out and they don't do well in boarding. 

LauraPCOS

My hospital is saying I'll be staying 24-30 hours after baby is born if I'm able to do it vaginally, 72 hours if it's c-section.  I thought hubby can go home and let the dog out, but it's 20 minutes one way, and my mom is saying I'm not going to want him leaving while in labour, or even after the baby is born.  TBH I'm afraid my FIL will forget

blaf322

Our trainers are taking the big dog with issues and keeping him at the training facility. They'll also drop him off when we're back home and help us with introducing baby to dog. One of our friends is keeping the little pup 

@LauraPCOS- we have doggy daycares all over the place here. You should check those out. Our dogs always LOVED going to those 

westcoastfoodie

We live pretty close to the hospital and DH gets stir crazy so he'll probs just run home to feed them and give them attention. We've also got a lot of friends and family in the area so I'm not too concerned. They'll be taken care of one way or another! 

My real concern is how they'll be with the baby.

sjo_thetwins

We are going to board our pups for the time frame of having the babies/being in the hospital until things calm down at the house. So they will be coming back into the house with baby/babies instead of us walking in with newborns. 

purelex

We have roommates that can take care of the dogs and cat, if necessary.  The hospital is only like a 15 minute drive but I probably won't want DH to leave once I go into labor...if it's quick enough, he will probably just go home and take care of the animals himself.  We will probably play it by ear a bit.

ibabyloveb87

I don't want to disrupt the princess' life more than is already going to happen, so I am asking my brother-in-law if he will stay here with her while we are in the hospital. I think that will be better than sending her off to the kennel (and cheaper). And my father-in-law will be glad to help out as well because there's no way he's going to sit around at the hospital and wait. He can't sit more than 5 minutes. I am going to send DH home with a hospital baby blanket for her to sit on/sniff/play with/whatever the day before we are supposed to go home so she's ready for a new scent. 

LauraPCOS

@bnsmith85 I haven't looked into a doggy daycare recently but I have in the past, just to give Indies some socialization and friends, but she isn't fixed (an on going fight with hubby but at the end of the day he came into the relationship with the dog so he gets final word...even if it a stupid one), so many daycares won't take her.  She has never been kennelled and she is terrified of strangers so ya she's a challenge when it comes to who takes care of her.  Before DH and I got together, DH and his dad lived together so Indiana knows my FIL very well and gets excited to see him.  As much as I don't want to go late, things would be a bit easier if I had an induce date.

At least FIL has been to our place already so he knows how to get here.  And he loves this dog so I don't think he minds taking care of her, just afraid he'll forget even if we call to remind him.

von1976

Cats will be fine. Dog goes in her crate. I'm encouraging hubby to go home for the night, so he'll walk and feed the dog. I don't need him there at the hospital and the sleep chairs are miserably uncomfortable.  If for some reason he can't get home, a friend will stop by to walk and feed her. 

emt87

Our plan is to have some combination of my parents, in-laws, and doggy daycare, depending on what time of day I go into labor. My parents will probably hang out at the house with her while I am in labor and then drop her off to board at her doggy daycare for a few days. I do know we are planning to have her bag packed and ready to go so that whoever drops her off at daycare will have one less thing to worry about.

mrsman2018

We have two cats and I can't leave food out for them because they will just eat it all right away. So we will feed them before we go and arrange for in-laws who live close to feed them once or twice. Depends how long I am in the hospital. We live eight minutes away, so I guess it would not be a huge deal for my husband to run and feed them. 

LauraPCOS

@littlewillie2016 if worse comes to worst and those options don't work, you can buy one of those automatic feeders that has a timer on it.

gatorMom2014

So with my first baby we were actually giving the dog a bath when my water broke.  So we had to leave the poor thing at home wet.  A family member ended up rescuing her and keeping her while we were in the hospital.  This time whoever watches kid 1 will also watch the dog.

nlane0723

DH will go home every day and let ours out/feed them. Cats are self-sufficient.

sportiegrl1213

Luckily we have a 26 year old niece that lives with us, who will be home to take care of our boy, along with my mom who is coming home to stay with us for a while. 

NicholeL16

I should be released a few hours after delivery so hopefully we won't be gone longer than a normal work day. If we need them too my in laws will try to let her out. She only goes out for me though. She also won't eat/drink or take treats if I'm not home. 

LauraPCOS

sportiegrl1213 said:

Luckily we have a 26 year old niece that lives with us, who will be home to take care of our boy, along with my mom who is coming home to stay with us for a while. 

You have the ideal situation lol

emmaaa

Our friend who house sits for us when we go on vacation is on call for dog duty. We have 5 dogs and a cat. Four of our five are outside so really he just has to go feed them at night and walk the dog that is inside morning and night. And if for some reason he can't, DH's sister and BIL have said they can come by. 

breweber2010

Parents and in-laws will likely stay at our house when the baby is born.  We'll also finally have our backyard fenced in so it won't be as much of a worry for them to let our dogs out.  One of them is definitely a runner and other people trying to put her outside worries me, although none of the parents have ever had an issue...lol

sportiegrl1213

LOL we really do @LauraPCOS ... she's a HUGE help with everything! We enjoy having her with us. Plus she will be watching our son on Friday's. Which she offered, so one day a week he won't have to be traveling a half hour to my MIL. 

mrsman2018

LauraPCOS  I didn't even think of that. We totally need one for when we go away for the night/weekend.

LauraPCOS

@breweber2010 Ours is a runner as well, and our backyard isn't fenced so she has to go on a 50' leash. She's pretty good at waiting, but I'm sure she has collie somewhere in her linage so when she sees a cat or a rabbit (and since we're kinda countryish it's not uncommon) she's on the run.  We keep her leash inside, but one of our cats gets upset when her dog is outside and tries to get out to go with her, but our cats are indoor cats.  I definitely get your concern for having someone let them out.

jbal918

We have 3 cats that can be self-sufficient but I've asked my Mom to come and check on them because they get a little anxious when no one is home for a few days. When we went on our honeymoon, 12 days, my Mom would stop here for a few hours... My one cat can be spiteful and poop on the floor so as long as someone comes here for a little while, she's usually ok. 

Schell2013

With our fur baby with baby #1 we actually dropped her off at a kennel and boarded her. They were amazing accommodating, there was just nobody that could take her for us due to allergies. They just told us they would find somewhere for her when we needed them. Granted she was only a 5lb chihuahua so it wouldn't be hard. We tipped them well.

NoraAurora

In laws are going to come watch DS while we are in the hospital, so they will be watching the pup & cat as well. 

With DS we had an unexpected 5 day hospital stay and we had to do a last minute combo of friends dropping by to feed & let the dogs out, plus H going home about once/twice daily. Princess pup lost her mind. The cat was more or less on his own (fortunately our neighborhood has half a dozen indoor/outdoor cats and we all leave food outside). Not ideal.