Boarding kennels and catteries create significant stress for many companion animals separated from their home environments. Understanding how to minimize boarding stress improves welfare during necessary separations.
Boarding welfare reflects the fundamental attachment that companion animals form to their home territories and human companions, and the stress that separation from both creates. For cats, whose social and territorial organization differs fundamentally from dogs, boarding creates a double stress: separation from familiar territory and exposure to unfamiliar smells, sounds, and conspecifics in a confined space. Studies measuring cortisol in boarded cats show significant elevations that may not normalize for the first week of a stay. For dogs, the response is more variable but typically involves an initial acute stress period followed by some adjustment, with the quality of the facility and amount of human interaction being the primary modifiers. The most welfare-positive option for most companion animals is high-quality pet sitting in the home environment, which maintains territorial familiarity while providing care. Where boarding is necessary, facility selection should prioritize individual housing for cats (preventing visual and olfactory contact with other cats), adequate exercise and social time for dogs, and provision of familiar items from home. Behavioral preparation including familiarization visits reduces the novelty component of boarding stress.