Pet sitter at home or boarding: which suits your pet?
Updated By PetymFacts checked against official sources on
Quick answer
A sitter keeps your pet at home, in its own routine and surroundings; boarding moves it to a sitter's home or a facility, often with other animals. Veterinary guidance stresses routine and gradual change, above all for cats, whose stress often shows in their appetite.
Kennel cough spreads fastest where dogs are kept close together, and the Merck Veterinary Manual notes that a sitter or daycare can help dogs with separation anxiety that should not be left alone.
A sitter at home and a stay away, side by side
| Option | Pet sitter at home | Boarding (a sitter's home or a facility) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surroundings | Unchanged: its own home, bed and smells | A new place; bringing bedding that smells of home is Petym's practical advice (for a cat, it helps it feel secure) | Merck Veterinary Manual |
| Routine | Kept by the sitter | Kept by the sitter, write it down for them | Merck Veterinary Manual |
| Other animals | Usually only its own household | Often other guests' pets; kennel cough spreads where dogs are kept close together | Merck Veterinary Manual |
| Cats | No change of place | A room of its own with a litter tray, away from other cats | Merck Veterinary Manual |
| Dogs with separation anxiety | A sitter can help dogs that should not be left alone | Talk to your vet before the stay | Merck Veterinary Manual |
| Vaccines | Your vet's usual schedule | Each sitter or facility sets its own policy (Petym found no national rule) | Not stated |
| Your home | The sitter needs access to it | No one needs to enter it | Not stated |
When a sitter at home makes sense
- Cats: guidance for cats stresses keeping routine and making changes gradually, and in a shelter study cats under high early stress ate less and fell ill more often. Staying put avoids the change of place.
- Dogs with separation anxiety: Merck notes that a dog sitter or daycare can help dogs that should be left alone as rarely as possible.
When a stay away makes sense
When you would rather no one entered your home, or your pet copes with new places and other animals. Studies of dogs moved into kennels found stress hormones rose, by very different amounts in different dogs, and less in dogs already used to a kennel, so how your own pet copes is what counts. A short trial stay is the way to find out (Petym's practical advice, from the graduated-practice principle vets use).
Either way
Keep the same food, pack the vaccination record and any medicines with a written schedule, and leave your vet's number.
Going away soon? Tell us your dates.
A checked local sitter feeds, walks and keeps your pet company at home, follows your care sheet to the letter and sends a photo every day. Petym is opening city by city: send your dates and we will tell you when a sitter can take them.
- Meet your sitter first, free
- PAN-checked, first-aid trained
- A photo every day
- Pay through Petym, never cash
Questions owners ask
Is a pet sitter better than a cattery for cats?
- Veterinary guidance for cats stresses keeping routine and making changes gradually, and stress often shows in a cat's appetite. A sitter avoids the change of place; if a cat does stay away, it should have a room of its own away from other cats.
Can a dog sitter help a dog with separation anxiety?
- The Merck Veterinary Manual says a dog sitter or daycare can help dogs with separation anxiety, which should be left alone as rarely as possible. Talk to your vet too, treatment is vet-led.
Does boarding put my dog at risk of kennel cough?
- Kennel cough spreads wherever dogs are kept close together, including boarding, daycare, kennels and vet hospitals. A vaccine reduces the risk of severe illness but does not stop infection.
Keep reading
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Sources
Each source was opened and read on the date shown. How Petym checks its sources
- International Cat Care: Stress in cats (opens in a new tab)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Behavior problems of cats (opens in a new tab)
- International Cat Care: Choosing a boarding cattery (opens in a new tab)
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (UK): Cat boarding licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities (opens in a new tab)
- RSPCA Australia: How can I find a good boarding facility for my companion animal? (opens in a new tab)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Behavior problems of dogs (opens in a new tab)
Show all 20 sourcesShow fewer
- RSPCA (England and Wales): Separation-related behaviour in dogs (opens in a new tab)
- ASPCA: Treating separation anxiety in dogs (handout, 2020) (opens in a new tab)
- PDSA: Separation anxiety in dogs (opens in a new tab)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Kennel cough (canine infectious tracheobronchitis) (opens in a new tab)
- Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine: The risks of kennel cough (Riney Canine Health Center) (opens in a new tab)
- PDSA: Kennel cough (opens in a new tab)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Planning for travel with pets (opens in a new tab)
- Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2012): Weight loss, stress and upper respiratory tract infection in shelter cats (opens in a new tab)
- Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2011), Ohio State University: Sickness behaviors in response to unusual external events in healthy cats and cats with interstitial cystitis (abstract read) (opens in a new tab)
- Veterinary Medicine International (2025): Tools for the approach of fear, anxiety and stress in the domestic cat: an update (opens in a new tab)
- AAHA/AAFP (Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 2020): 2020 AAHA/AAFP feline vaccination guidelines (opens in a new tab)
- Physiology & Behavior (2014): Physiological, physical and behavioural changes in dogs when kennelled (opens in a new tab)
- Physiology & Behavior (2007), University of Bristol: Behavioural and glucocorticoid responses of dogs to kennelling (abstract read) (opens in a new tab)
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science (2019): Assessing the welfare of kennelled dogs: a review of animal-based measures (abstract read) (opens in a new tab)