Booking pet care around Mardi Gras and the holidays

Book pet care for Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving and Christmas as soon as your own plans are fixed, and meet the sitter or tour the kennel before the busy week, not during it. A sitter can only make so many visits in a day and a kennel has a set number of rooms, and around these dates many households want the same days. The earlier you ask, the more choice you have over who cares for your pet and how.

Why these weeks are different in Louisiana

Thanksgiving and Christmas are travel holidays everywhere. Louisiana adds Carnival: a season of parades that ends on Mardi Gras Day, on a date that moves from year to year, with the heaviest stretch in the final days. For pet care that brings two complications.

• More people need help at once. Some leave town for the break, and others are out at parades for long days and need someone to let the dog out.
• Getting around is harder. Parade routes close streets for hours, and a sitter who drives between homes has to plan around them. If you live near a route, raise it when you book.

Parades are not a good outing for most pets. The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, writing about another loud holiday, advises leaving pets at home because strange places, crowds and noise can be frightening for them, and setting up a secure, quiet place indoors. The same thinking applies on a parade day: your pet is better off at home with a visit from a sitter than on the route.

How far ahead to book

We could not find a public or university source that gives a lead time for holiday pet care, so this guide does not give a number of weeks. Demand depends on the town, the sitter and the year. What you can do is remove the guesswork:

1. Ask now. Contact the sitter or kennel you would use and ask when they usually fill for Mardi Gras week, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They know their own calendar.
2. Become a customer before the rush. Many sitters meet a new household before the first booking, and a kennel will want vaccination records. Do that in a quiet month, and book a short stay or a single visit as a trial.
3. Book when your dates are firm, and ask about the cancellation policy and any deposit.
4. Have a second option. Pick a backup in case your first choice is full or falls ill.
5. Confirm a week ahead, with dates, times and how you can be reached.

Ask whether holiday dates are priced differently. As of October 2026, pet sitting listed in Louisiana starts from $18 per visit, with a middle starting price of $25 and the highest at $35. A holiday rate, extra pets and overnight stays can all add to that, so ask for the total for your dates.

Sitter or kennel?

Both work; which is better depends on the animal. Dr. Stacy Eckman of Texas A&M's veterinary school says pet sitters are a great option for cats, because a sitter lets a cat stay in familiar surroundings, and that some pets are more comfortable away from a large group of other animals. The same article notes the trade-offs of boarding: the stress of a new place and exposure to other pets, even vaccinated ones.

	Pet sitter at your home	Boarding
Suits	Cats, older or anxious pets, homes with several animals	Sociable dogs; pets that need someone nearby much of the day
How it works	Visits of a set length, or an overnight stay in your home	Your pet stays at the facility
Check first	How many visits a day, and at what times	Texas A&M advises touring the facility before you use it

Most pet sitters we list come to your home and most take cats. Some stay overnight, some give medication, and some care for birds, reptiles or farm animals. Check the listing for what your household needs.

What a first meeting with a sitter should cover

Hold the meeting at your home, with your pets there. Watch how the sitter greets them. Then go through:

• The dates and the schedule. How many visits a day, at roughly what times, and how long each lasts. Sitters sell visits of different lengths, from a short potty break to an hour, as well as overnight care.
• Who is coming. Whether the person you are meeting will make every visit, and who covers if they can't.
• Whether they are bonded and insured. Most sitters we list state that they are both; ask to see it.
• Your pet's routine. Feeding, walks, where the pet sleeps, what it is and isn't allowed to do.
• Health. Medication and how it is given, allergies, anything the sitter should watch for. If your pet needs injections or has a condition that needs monitoring, ask plainly whether the sitter has done this before.
• Behaviour. Fear of storms or fireworks, door-dashing, how the pet is with strangers and other animals.
• The house. Keys or codes, the alarm, which doors stay shut, where supplies are kept.
• Updates. How and how often they will report: a message and a photo after each visit is common.
• Emergencies. What the sitter will do if your pet is ill or gets out, and how much they may spend at a vet before reaching you.
• Parade and holiday logistics. Whether street closures affect the times they can reach you, and what happens if they are delayed.

For a kennel, the meeting is a tour. Texas A&M suggests asking whether the facility is clean, how often pets are fed, whether staff are knowledgeable and caring, whether veterinary services are available, and whether your pet will get enough exercise.

What to leave for them

Put it in writing, in one place, on the kitchen counter:

• your contact details, where you are staying, and a local person who can make decisions if you can't be reached
• your vet's name, number and address, and the nearest emergency clinic
• feeding instructions with amounts, and more food than the trip should need
• medication with written doses and times, and a spare supply
• leash, harness, carrier, waste bags, litter, cleaning supplies
• vaccination records, and your pet's microchip number
• a note of hiding places, escape habits and anything off limits
• house details: keys, codes, bins, thermostat, which lights to leave on

Make sure your pet is wearing a current ID tag. LSU recommends that pets always wear ID tags and highly recommends microchipping, with the registration kept up to date. Holiday visitors, deliveries and open doors are when pets slip out.

Put holiday food and decorations out of reach before you leave. LSU's holiday advice lists chocolate, grapes, raisins and onions as dangerous to pets, warns that table scraps and bones can cause serious trouble, and notes that plants such as poinsettias, mistletoe and holly can upset a pet's stomach. Tell the sitter not to share leftovers, and at Carnival keep king cake and beads away from pets too. LSU's instruction if a pet may have swallowed something harmful is to contact a veterinarian right away, so make sure your sitter knows that is what you want.

Find a sitter

Compare sitters side by side on Pet sitting in Louisiana, or see New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, Mandeville, Baton Rouge and Shreveport.