Boarding Kennels and Pet Sitters in India: Vaccination Proof and the Right Questions to Ask

A kennel that does not ask for your dog's vaccination records before accepting the booking is telling you something important about how it runs everything else. Canine parvovirus can survive in soil and on surfaces for up to a year, and an infected dog sheds the virus in its feces for weeks after recovery, meaning a single unvaccinated animal in a shared space can expose every other dog in the facility. The core vaccines for dogs in India, distemper, parvovirus, hepatitis, leptospirosis, and rabies, are grouped under what most vets call the 5-in-1 or 7-in-1 combo shot, plus the annual rabies booster. For cats, the FVRCP vaccine (covering feline viral rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, and panleukopenia) is the minimum a responsible boarding facility should require.

When you call a kennel or pet sitter, ask specifically which vaccines they require and whether they check the physical vaccination card or just take your word for it. If the answer is the latter, keep looking.

Ask to visit before you book. Any facility that refuses an unannounced or short-notice visit should be ruled out immediately. When you do visit, the questions that matter are:

1. How are dogs separated by size? A 5-kg Spitz sharing a run with a 35-kg Labrador is a safety problem, not a quirk of the setup.

2. What is the cleaning protocol, and which disinfectants are used? Bleach solution at the right concentration kills parvovirus. Many cheaper alternatives do not.

3. Is there a separate quarantine space for a dog that falls ill during the stay? A good facility has one and uses it.

4. What is the ventilation like? Kennels in Indian cities run hot for much of the year. Concrete enclosures with no airflow are a heat stress risk for brachycephalic breeds like Pugs and French Bulldogs.

5. How many animals does the facility take at one time? Overcrowding is the single fastest way for kennel cough to move through a population.

The physical space tells you what the facility can do. The answers to these questions tell you whether the people running it are paying attention.

Ask how many times a day dogs are fed and walked. Ask whether the staff will follow your pet's existing feeding schedule or switch to whatever is convenient. A sudden diet change combined with the stress of a new environment is a reliable recipe for gastrointestinal upset.

Ask what happens if your pet stops eating. Ask what the emergency vet protocol is, specifically, which clinic they use, whether they have a standing arrangement, and who pays the initial bill if you are unreachable. A facility that has never thought through this question will give you a vague answer. A good one will name the clinic and show you the number saved in their phone.

For pet sitters who come to your home rather than taking your animal to a facility, ask how many other pets they are sitting simultaneously. A sitter managing five dogs across three different homes cannot give any of them the attention a boarding situation requires.

Some answers close the door regardless of how clean the facility looks or how friendly the owner seems.

Any kennel that cannot produce its own vaccination records for the resident animals, if they keep any, is not a place you should trust with yours. A facility that boards dogs and cats together in shared spaces without proper separation is not managing disease risk seriously. A pet sitter who cannot name a vet they would contact in an emergency has not thought past the booking fee.

Price is not a red flag by itself. Cheap kennels can be well-run; expensive ones can be negligent. The questions are the filter, not the rate.

The right kennel or sitter will answer every question without hesitation, offer the vet reference unprompted, and hand you back a pet that looks and behaves the way it did when you left. The questions exist to find that place before you find out the hard way that you chose the wrong one.