LANCASTER, Pa. — A central Pennsylvania animal shelter is now offering affordable pet boarding services.
Spike & Tilly’s Pet Resort is making animal care more accessible. Aida May, the adoption programs manager for Humane Pennsylvania, says they’ve created a home away from home for animals.
“Working in a shelter, we know the detriment of an animal living in a shelter. It’s not always the best situation for dogs, so we try to make it the best possible for them,” said May.
Spike & Tilly’s Pet Resort is Pennsylvania’s first and only charitable boarding facility; providing cats, dogs and exotic pets with a place to stay, with pampering and fun activities, when their owners are away.
“A lot of the other local boarding agencies tend to book out months in advance, so we wanted to be an option for emergency situations or for a dog or cat that needs a different type of boarding,” said May.
May also says most local boarding agencies don’t offer care for animals with special needs and have high costs.
She says with prices as low as $8 a night for critter overnight boarding, they give owners a reason to keep their pets instead of giving them away to a shelter.
“We’ve had instances in the past, where families had to make the tough decision to surrender a pet because they were unable to watch it but could be back on their feet within a reasonable amount of time; and they weren’t able to find appropriate boarding. We are able to offer an alternative to them,” said May.
She adds that one of her favorite parts of the job is interacting with cute animals, but their main goal is to make sure the community has resources so that animals can go back home to their owners.
“I can guarantee you the staff like to take them out more than two times a day. It’s just a lot of fun to be able to play with the dogs in the play yard, allow the cats out on the cat tree,” said May. “But the end goal is for them to go back home with their family.”