In a Jam: Moving, what do we do with our three pets?!?!?!

[ramama]

So, our landlord is selling our rental.  We need to be out by 9/5.  My parents are buying a second home here (we live in a different state from them) and we have an offer in and are waiting for a response.  Chances are, closing would be on 9/30.  Which leaves us a little more than 3 weeks with no place to live :(

We have only lived in this state for a year, so we don't know anyone well enough to ask if they can take our pets.  The cat, well, she's easy, perhaps we can find someone to take her for the three weeks.  If we wind up in a hotel, we can probably take our dachshund and crate her when we're not in the room, or make sure that someone is in the room with her, or take her with us.  I think that's doable.  However...we have a 15 week 40lb lab/shepherd puppy.  We have no idea what to do with him.  No way would the hotel let us keep him in the room.  And he's still a puppy, I would feel bad asking someone to take him only to have him eat their house up.  He's a MAJOR chewer.  I have thought about asking the woman we got him from to watch him...but they already have three dogs (Faulkner's mother and father, as well as a sibling) and who knows how that would work out.  Also, they are 2.5 hours away, which means we wouldn't see our pup for three weeks.  I was hoping to at least be able to visit him so that he's not away from us for three weeks solid.  You know, he's still a little guy (ha ha, okay, so not little, but you know what I mean).  Boarding is out of the question, we just couldn't afford it on top of paying for a hotel.  Plus, being in a kennel for three weeks just seems really horrible and intense.  

Geez, it seriously seems like there are no options at all!  Please tell me that someone has an idea, or something I haven't thought of!

ETA:  If our offer is accepted on this house, it is 1/2 mile from where we live now LOL  Who would have thought that moving 1/2 mile would be so troublesome!

[azdesertrn]

Can you find someone who does boarding/pet sitting in their own house locally?  It is usually cheaper than a kennel, I've sometimes done it for a few extra bucks.  Just make sure the person knows in advance this is a puppy who is still a chewer so will need supervision and you can't afford to be financially responsible if he chews something  due to lack of supervision.  If we weren't at opposite ends of the country I'd do it for you.  My older child would love to help train a puppy.

[insidevoice]

I think I'd be inclined to camp for the couple weeks in between.  Most of the tourists are leaving at that time of year- it may also be possible to get a rental at a cottage/cabin for a couple weeks.  

I know that when I was little- my parents were moving from one school to another (they taught at private schools) and we found ourselves 'in between for several weeks one year.  The expense of boarding pets plus temporary housing was staggering- so they decided to make a great summer adventure and camp for that time.  It was amazing, and a really positive experience for the whole family.  Also, it was cheap. :P

Get a crate for each of the dogs and keep them with you.  Depending on what part of the state you are in, there are a ton of cheap/free places to camp that time of year, and a lot of the cottages on the coast will be vacant so you could look into a rental there for less than a hotel.  When broke and living in ME- I had great luck getting off-season rental rates in exchange for winterizing etc. 

[foreverinbluejeans]

When we bought a house it took much, much longer to close than we thought. We ended up having to board one of our dogs and our 3 cats. It was horrible and expensive. They were at a very nice place and we went to see them every day. Our male cat was mad at us for about a month after but got over it.

I was frustrated because I have fostered many cats and dogs for several organizations and no one would help us when we need help. We spent money on a place for the animals instead of a hotel. I founds a place to sleep but my 21 year old son had to sleep in the car. It was awful. I hope you can find help. You might try a rescue organization for a temp foster home for your puppy.

[babygirlie]

i take my cat to hotels all the time and it's never a problem. Just be sure to take all litter out and clean before you check out. You can easily buy a pop up tent at walmart for $20 that will fit a cat bed a litter box and extra room.

I'm trying to think how much it cost to kennel my large dog. It was at least $100 but I'm thinking that was per week! It was expensive but he had a dog run and they walked him. You can do the craiglist ad thing. I've even heard of some vets who kennel cats for $25 a day/night. My aunt kennels her dog at the vet when she goes on day trips and he charges $10 for a few hours.

oh also put the do not disturb sign on your hotel so the maids don't let the animals out or complain.