***ATTN Pet Owners, BEWARE!***
We started kenneling our dog here in 2015 after a diligent search for a kennel that would take proper care of him. I was wary about boarding him after a bad experience at a different kennel where I picked him up and he was shaking and his tail was between his legs, but when I found PawHootz, previously called Animal America, I voiced my concerns. The mgr, who is no longer there, talked with me through it and offered to take him for a day to see how he would do. I was a nervous wreck that entire day, but when I picked him up and he was happy and his tail was wagging? I was satisfied.
Then Covid hit, and the last time we traveled was in Sept 2019. This past week, I had a biz trip to take, so we had to board him. They had a new requirement, doggy influenza vaccine, so Wed before the trip we took him to the vet and they weighed him, and he was 14.4 lbs. This was on Wed before we left. We dropped him off Sat, 5/6/23, so 3 days later. He has pancreatitis, so he's on 3 medications, one of which he has to have 2x a day, and he's on a prescription lowfat diet, hes a senior dog, and he's a chiweenie, so we have to keep his weight low, not only for his pancreatitis but also to prevent strain on his back. When we dropped him off, there were 2 people there who wrote down the directions given to feed and give his meds. He gets 3/4 of a cup of food in the morning, and 3/4 of a cup in the evening with just a tiny bit extra, literally just enough food to coat the bottom of the scoop. 16 servings is what was needed, but I gave 20 large servings, I overflowed the scoop when I was filling the bag as a just in case the flight was delayed, but there should have been leftover food. He gets his meds with peanut butter, 1/2 of 1 pill in the morning, and 3 pills in the evening. He gets 1 slice of frozen banana as a treat. We told all of this in detail when we dropped him off, and both of them wrote down all of this.
But, on Sat the 13th, the day before we were picking him up, someone called saying they were out of food, and asked if they could give him resort food.I said how could be out of food, I gave extra food, how much have you been feeding him? She said they had been giving him 3/4 of a cup of food, I said ok you're not following my instructions because he gets 3/4 in the morning, and a little extra in the evening. She then asked if she could give him resort food, I said absolutely not, he's on a prescription diet, I'll call the vet and have them bring some food over. Thankfully his vet is right next door and they were open and able to take a bag over, but this had me very concerned. Yesterday, 5/14/23, we picked him up and he looked chunky. We brought him home and let him out. When he came back inside, we went to give him a banana out of the bag the kennel gave back to us, and it was a block of ice in the bag! So, the bag had been thawed, and refrozen and noone said a word! So was he given his treats at any point? How many days did he go without his bananas? How could noone say anything to us? This, however, was minor in comparison to the next part. We decided to weigh him, and he weighed 15.4lbs. He gained an entire pound in a week! And this is not some 150lb dog where a pound doesn't really matter, this is a 14lb dog, a pound for him is a LOT! So they were CLEARLY overfeeding him, but what? I don't know because his food is prescription low fat, I find it hard to believe he would have gained an entire pound in a week from eating that. I immediately called the kennel and I was told that a mgr would be contacting me YESTERDAY with an explanation on what happened. It's now 12:09am Tues morning and I've had NO communication. At this point, I don't want an apology, because honestly no apology or money is going to make up for the fact that they jeopardized the health of a dog that I've had for 14 years. All I can say is I will never be bringing him back there again. And, I've contacted all the people I recommended PawHootz to and made them aware as well. read more