Finding kennels and house sitters in Costa Del Sol, Spain

After experiencing the issues homeowners face with leaving pets in kennels while house sitting in Galicia, Spain in 2009, I started TrustedHousesitters. Even the local Spanish vet had told me how appalled he was by the state of many of the local kennelling facilities, and when I arrived, we all saw how traumatised the dogs looked when they returned from an unavoidable stint at the 'best option' for kennels nearby. Dogs do get traumatised by hearing other dogs constantly barking and cats can find reluctantly being in close proximity to other cats stressful.

Recently, Rachel and I visited the Costa Del Sol to meet many people working in the pet care industry, to discuss house sitting and Trustedhousesitters. We also met a number of expat pet owners with the same concerns about putting pets into kennels, and while I am sure that there must be some good facilities in the area, these were apparently hard to find, and nobody relished the idea of putting pets into kennels.

Pet transportation businesses seem to have their own shoddy operators too and sadly as usual, the animals suffer as a result of this. While visiting Benahavis, north of Marbella, we found these poor dogs cramped into a pet transporter's trailer while the operator seemed to have vanished for a siesta (btw - the licence plate is 8255GCR if anyone wants to avoid these rogues (or knows if there is any remote chance of reporting them).

Fortunately, many homeowners have found an alternative to having to putting pets into kennels, they find a house/pet sitter in Spain via TrustedHousesitters when they go away. Gillian from Malaga wrote to us this week after finding a lovely couple to look after her home and pets while away,  a retired policeman with a degree in animal welfare, and his wife, a retired animal care volunteer. She also found a lady from Scotland to look after her dog Lulu on another occasion. The ladies have now become good friends, and Gillian now has a keen pet sitter for other occasions.

This Christmas, pet owners in Marbella, Grenada, Benahavis, and many other locations in the Costa Del Sol, as well as Barcelona and other parts of Spain have been able to find pet sitters with TrustedHousesitters.

Back to our Costa Del Sol visit! While there, we met and were really impressed by so many wonderful veterinary experts that care for pets across the region,  in particular Elite Vets a near Marbella. We met David, a very helpful vet from Ireland with many years experience who has been helping pet owners and in equine centres locally for many years. Anna from Pet Vet, Kamu in Fuengirola, this really friendly establishment will help any pet owner with their animal's needs, and particularly attracts Scandinavian pet owners from all along the coast as the business is managed by two lovely ladies from Norway and Sweden.

Dr Nazil Kreft from Pointer vets in Estepona, what a lovely lady! I drove an hour to meet her on a sweltering Saturday and she made me feel so welcome. We had a great chat, and she really embraced what Trustedhousesitters can offer pet owners. She has recently moved close to Estepona, just off the N19 with a fully equipped equine centre and restaurant on site too a fabulous premises.

We also visited Triple A Animal Rescue in Marbella who have done remarkable work re-homing dogs locally, and attended their charity dog show to mark their 20th anniversary too. All of the vets and pet owners were pleased to hear about the services that Trustedhousesitters offer, and were very enthusiastic about passing on the words to their clients (and thank-you!)

If you would need to house/pet sitter in Spain to look after your home and your pets while you are away visit www.trustedhousesitters.com.

Andy Peck, Director, Trustedhousesitters