Do you have a fur baby, or maybe even a few fur babies? Are you hoping to bring them along on your next or upcoming travel contract? If so, this article is dedicated to you! Now, trust us when we say, we understand how important your dog, cat or animal of choice is to you. There are a handful of us on the team here at Travel Nurse Canada that are huge animal lovers and parents to our very own fur babies. So we thought we’d share some tips and tricks with you while traveling on contract with your animals.
Our animals can provide an immense amount of companionship while on contract in a new location, city or province. They can help curb the feeling of loneliness and assist you on those days where you begin to feel homesick. If you are a dog owner, your pups will also ensure you are exploring the outdoors of your surrounding area and will help you get a lay of the land. While not every location and travel opportunity affords the ability to bring a pet with you, many do, and we are always happy to try and work with you to allow your pet to join you based on the housing options available. If accepting a contract is dependent on bringing your pet, don’t forget to tell your Recruiter at the time you start working together so they are aware to watch for those opportunities for you. As a team, we will always let you know about your options for housing on each contract and if the housing is pet friendly.
Important things to note:
- Any additional costs for your pet will be your expense (ie: flight and hotel fees
or a possible pet deposit on housing that is secured). We are happy to assist you
during the time of booking with these formalities, but do please remember that these will be your own costs. - If Travel Nurse Canada is providing the housing for your contract, you can speak to our travel team about the option of receiving a housing stipend if
you wish to secure your own housing for you and your pet. It is all about choices and
working together! - Care for your pets such as walking, bathroom breaks, and grooming will also be your own responsibility. Since you may be working long hours while on contract, if you are a dog owner, you may want to seek out a local doggy day care or local dog walker to assist you while at work. Speaking from experience, they are a great resource to utilize. Many times, outsourcing the help while on contract as needed helps our fur babies stay socialized and less bored staying at home alone all day or night, especially in an unfamiliar place. This will help the feeling of guilt you can get from working a long shift and not being able to be there for your pet.
- Once you get settled into a contract, you may even find local staff who have pets as well and you can head out and explore the area together. What a better way to see the sights and meet new people!
- Before leaving for your travel assignment, do ensure that your animal has all its necessary shots and vaccines. You may be taking your pet to a new location within Canada that is completely new territory to them. They may want to explore the area or get into a little too much fun, and this can possibly prevent any infections. The safer you can keep them while away from home, the better.
- Once your contract is coming to an end, it is important to ensure that you take the extra time to clean the housing you were staying in. You want to leave it in the condition as you arrived at. Cleaning up after our animals can mean a little extra elbow grease but, in the end, they are worth it as they are our ͞best friends͟, right? Leaving your housing unit clean also helps ensure that future travelers and their pets can utilize the same housing as well.
- Many of us treat our fur-babies like they are our children, so we really hope we can make you feel at home while on contract. They love the adventure just as much as you
do. We would love to hear from you, if you have any additional insight or ideas you would like to share, please comment below. We appreciate any feedback our Travel Nurses & Healthcare Professionals have.
Take care #workationwarriors and give your fur babes an extra pat from us all at Travel Nurse
Canada!
