I'm writing this because I really don't…
I'm writing this because I really don't want anyone else to suffer the same as my dog has. I found myself in a position where, due to a work commitment, I had to leave my dog in a kennel for two and a half weeks. I looked around at several, visited them and decided that this kennel seemed to be fine. It had a large paddock for exercising and the kennel block I was shown at least seemed clean. I was promised photos of him while I was away but despite emailing, all I got was "he's fine" and no photographs. I rang before I was due to collect him and asked if he could be shampooed as we had a long car journey and he is a long haired dog. When I arrived to collect him I was asked to settle my bill before I could see him but I didn't worry because I wasn't expecting anything to be wrong. When I saw him he was subdued, very unlike him, and the hair on his tail had been cut right back. One of the girls said, "he's got an abscess you might need to get that looked at". He certainly did! He had a huge abscess on his anal gland the size of a ping pong ball and what can only be described as burns to his undercarriage. I'm guessing because he had been left to sit in a concrete kennel that hadn't been cleaned out. I drove straight to the nearest vet and was given antibiotics and a flea treatment. He spent most of the time in the back of the car with his nose pressed into the corner of his blanket. This was October 2017 and he has just had surgery to put an end to the recurrent infection and abscesses in December 2018. It took that long to control the infection enough for surgery to be possible. He was a clean, happy, healthy dog when I left him with no history of this sort of problem. I assume his tail hair was cut off because it was filthy and matted. I left details of his pet insurance with the kennel but they clearly either decided not to bother or they were unaware of the problem because he hadn't left his kennel for two and a half weeks. I suspect the latter. His bedding and comforter were "lost" and he was a very sick dog indeed when I collected him. Apart from the long term pain involved, it has cost thousands of pounds in drugs and surgery to put him right and he now, quite understandably, suffers severe separation anxiety. I'm not sure that will ever change. I believe that if you entrust your dog to a boarding kennel they have a duty of care. This was very clearly not the case. What has happened to my dog has happened and I know never to go near this kennel again. I sincerely hope I can prevent the same or similar happening to someone else.
January 5, 2019
Unprompted review