What about your pets?

although i like animals and live in a perfect place to have a pet - a rural island with a park nearby - between travelling and working away from home, i've foregone the pleasure.

Keta, the little guy pictured below, is my neighbor's dog -- an unexpected, unplanned adoption after a visit with a family member whose sweet Akida-Lab had recently been jumped by a blue-eyed Siberian Husky and had a litter 'ready-to-go'. Irresistible, despite their plans to leave for a 6wk vacation to europe in two weeks. No sweat, i was happy to help out, especially as they have been doing me favors for years (watching my house, plants, and mail on my trips). Keta and I are still best buddies; he comes over at 7am every day and sits on the front deck and waits till i'm ready to go for a walk. Lucky me, I have most of the benefits of having a dog, without the expense, or the hassle of what to do when I want to travel.

How about you? any pets? do they affect your travel plans? willing family members to help out? surely you wouldn't put a little guy like this in a kennel for a month or two.

I've got a couple of cats, and one of the reasons I've not been back to India in nearly 14 years is for the lack of someone I know and trust to stay with them and keep an eye on the plants, mail, etc -- since I can't bring myself to go to India for two weeks at a time.

If I'm only going to be away for a short time (up to two weeks), I use a paid petsitter. It's expensive, but my friends are all too busy to come over and deal with the cats, and the neighbors are "dog people."

So, I lucked out this year, and the mother of a friend is sooo happy for the opportunity to spend 3 months in my San Francisco flat -- and that means I get to go back to India!

Gretchen

That is one cute dog, m2.

I don't have any pets for a variety of reasons, I suppose the most important being that my boyfriend is allergic. I love animals and really, really miss having them in my life.

Once growing up my family had 3 cats and we were going to Europe for a month to visit grandma, so my mom hired a cat sitter. When we came back we only had one cat left. To this day what amazes me most is my mother paid the entire catsitting bill for all three cats!

I`d love to have as similar working relation here at home. (real cute dog , m2 )Meanwhile , it works the opposite way for me - I look forward to meeting the dogs hanging out at the National Library in Dharamsala next time around. After the first week I was so used to chatting with first the (owned) dog just above the library and then the dogs at the main entrance that I was reluctant to leave for the day if one of them was missing.

My ex-girlfriend catsitted in an apartment while working in Stockholm one summer - got to use the apartment as long as she took care of the cats. Then she got a tax deduction for the cat food ...

Glad that you have things worked out for this year, Gretchen. So sounds like your friend's mother got a pretty sweet deal with three months in a SF flat -- nice win-win situation.

Cats so easy to look after -- my neighbor has a cat as well and i've kept an eye on her too on their many absences, but this only amounts to checking on the water and food every few days as there is a cat door, and she is happy to have the house to herself. Kind of amazed that your mother would lose 2 out of 3 being looked after with a paid sitter.

I have a few dog friends in Arambol that I see while walking along the beach morning, but my favorite is the one I call Surf Dog -- he's always around the nearby drink shack and when I'm down for a swim in the morning he often joins me for his form of body surfing. He stands near the water watching the waves break for a while, then, seeing his chance, he moves out quickly during a lull, faces the shore, and lets a wave pick him up and swoosh him along to the shore. Arambol dogs are mostly pretty nice and I didn't find out the reason until this past winter. It seems two european lady regulars have taken it upon themselves to catch and have spayed any stray females. This has cut down on numbers, but more importantly, the lack of bitches in heat has mostly eliminated the dog fights, chewed up ears, and festering wounds that was common among the too-many males in the past.

Surprised this thread hasn't unleashed a flood of dog and kitty pictures -- either pet owners don't travel to India much or perhaps don't have scanners.

here is a pic of my easy-to-care-for macaw:

M2, I love the macaw. (Oh, yes, the dog was cute, too). Yes, looking after the cats is easy -- but also, of course, it's for the safety of my home .. this area is better than it was when I moved in, but I wouldn't want anyone to see dark windows for 90 nights!

Good on the ladies who have spayed the dogs of Arambol! India is the only place I've ever thrown a rock at a dog, and I prefer not to do so unless absolutely necessary.

Will I see you in India this fall?

I love my cat and dog to death, however, when planning on going anywhere for more than a day or two they are certainly an obstacle.

You are right about cats, M2, mine would be fine on her own for many days as long as enough food and fresh water were available to her......now the spoiled "Weiner" is another matter all together and I could never put her in a kennel so I had just better hope my parents will always be able to watch her.

Best friends: Vienna and Chalupa

Allrightey then....can't resist this thread. I'm planning to head off to Calcutta/Darjeeling for an oh so brief trip in October....and will have the benefit of roomies to cat sit. As you can see, Puck is a very contented, if slightly overweight, kitty!

Wow! How strange. I haven't been online too much lately and this thread is the first that I've read in awhile on Indiamike- and it just so happens that I'm presently in Baltimore settling our cute dog, Puja. My brother has graciously agreed to watch him for 5 months while we travel in Thailand and India. I definately am going to miss him- he's so loving and cute! I guess I am one of the fortunate ones who does have a relative willing to help out. We are leaving one week from today!

Rossinm....is this the wedding trip? When's the big day?

have a great trip, Rossinm -- and if it's for the wedding, all the best! A five month dog-sit, wow....what a guy!

jjacquemain: I hope Chalupa has a better disposition than the weiner 'house dog' at my GH in Arambol who likes hiding in the bushes and taking mock 'ankle attacks' on prospective guests. He looks slightly PO'd having to pose for a picture. And speaking of pictures, how about reposting a couple of your traffic shots in the gallery this week.

Is Puck as big as she looks, millreef? nice picture. Darjeeling in October should be about perfect.

and Gretchen, you might see me in India this winter, at least if you get to Arambol. No real plans yet, though.

here is a shot of the weiner 'attack' dog Farrah with her owner, outside the guest house.

Well....after years of being defensive about it, covering Puck's ears when people make comments, etc....I've decided that - hey - she's got big bones! She should revel in her bigness, forget about sucking it in....and be the best cat she can be! Having said that, the photo does seem to exaggerate her somewhat battleship lines. She's reduced to a now svelte 14 lbs. BTW M2, which Gulf Island are you on?

she looks just fine

for me, every trip to India begins on this ferry, but I've just edited out the name of the island it serves :

My boy Zebby. Or should I say the late Zebby. I have to hbe onest here and say I loved my dogs but I actually awaited the time when they were both no longer with us as it meant I could up and go as I wished. Hence my recent travels to Thailand and India on Saturday! I could get dog sitters, but not every year!
Luckily Zebby and my other dog at the time Sally both lived long healthy lives. )p.s. not sure if I'm meant to attach image or use IMG tag.