Your pet will not be 'Home alone' if Covid-19 strikes

Fri Jul 17, 2020

Tested COVID-19 positive and have pets with no caretaker at home? Fret not, as Bangalore pet-boarding homes will come to your rescue! With the number of positive cases piling up every day, pet care facilities have decided to not turn pets away, providing safe boarding options for furry one's care

COVID-19 has everyone on the edge and pet parents are no exceptions. With number of positive cases on the rise, hitting the headlines and setting up ‘novel’ records every day, those with animals at home are in frenzy.

What happens to my pet if I am tested COVID positive?

Will the pet-boarding facilities accommodate my animals?

How will my pet be carried back and forth?

These are only some of the questions giving blues to every pet parent. The anxiety doubles when it is single begetters in question. While this fidgety lot is taking all precautions under the sun to keep COVID-19 at bay, uncertainties are surely giving them heebie-jeebies.

“One reason I am taking all precautions to stay away from the virus is my pet. I live alone with my dog and I do not have friends who are comfortable with having animals at home. The thought of getting COVID-19 flips me out thinking about what that will mean for my dog, especially with the stigma associated with the disease,” says Swathi R, a 32-year-old single pet parent in Bengaluru.

Amid hospitals closing their doors and neighbors distancing themselves with COVID positive patients, pet-boarding facilities in the city are proving to be the exalted ones. They are not turning their backs on pet parents. All you need to do is, follow some precautions and stick to certain rules.

“If you are a regular at a facility, call and let them know that they are your pet’s emergency place. This will make things easier for your caregiver too, who might not be familiar with the animal and the facility as well. Although we have not received a boarding request from COVID-19 positive family yet, we are open to it. We have placed certain precautionary measures in place that per parents need to follow,” says Anand Vishwanath, founder and pack leader, Anvis inc

According to pet-boarding facility managers, a good preparatory step for a pet parent can be to have all the documents in place and updated. “Pet parents should make sure that vaccines and deworming papers are up-to-date. A scanned copy of vaccination record sent to us on Whatsapp will suffice. However, we are also helping those with due vaccination dates on requests. If the animal is on medication, a note with medication details like dosage etc should be sent to the facility managers. Last thing we ask for, is an emergency phone number and address,” says Subhadra Cherukuri, founder partner, Wag-ville, a facility with many animals from COVID-19 struck families already boarded.

Unlike pre-COVID boarding, COVID-19 boarding is happening without bedding, food bowls, toys, collars and leashes. “We are taking just the animal in. In case of a dog, even leash-collar is removed once it reaches the facility. As soon as the animals enter, we groom and sanitize the animal while having our face masks and gloves on. While we do not have pet transport in place, we provide it through our associates upon special requests,” said Nita Mahurkar, co-founder, Stay, dog boarding facility in Bengaluru.

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The article first appeared in The Heyvan Times, our partner network. You can visit them and read the article on their website here

Garima Prasher, Team Heyvan
The Heyvan Times is a digital news magazine that covers the animal kingdom

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