The December Shutdown: Planning Your Pet’s Holiday Season in October

Everything books out early

Good boarding kennels, catteries and house-sitters for the mid-December to early-January stretch are typically fully booked by October — sometimes September for the best ones. If you are travelling, book care the same week you book the holiday.

Kennels require proof of vaccination including kennel cough, and that vaccine needs time before boarding to protect properly. Check the card in October, not at drop-off.

Vets close too

Many practices run skeleton hours or close entirely between Christmas and New Year, with after-hours cover handed to emergency clinics that charge emergency rates. If your pet is on chronic medication — heart pills, arthritis treatment, insulin, thyroid tablets — count the tablets in November and collect a December refill early.

Save your area’s after-hours emergency number into your phone now, and if your pet is elderly or unwell, ask your vet in early December what the plan is if things worsen over the shutdown. Ten minutes of that conversation prevents the worst version of a Boxing Day crisis.

If the family is travelling with the pet

December road trips mean heat: travel in the early morning, never leave animals in a parked car even briefly, and confirm in writing that the accommodation genuinely allows pets. Pack their food — sudden diet changes plus holiday scraps produce the classic December vet visit.