dog/cat kennels in and around marseille?

[gravy]

So I've finally arrived in marseille, managed to get a bank account open, rent an apartment and now I'm looking for some decent kennels, house sitting, animal taxi, and dog walking services. The unfortunate truth is that I need to travel a little for work. The folks I've been talking to so far haven't exactly been encouraging in their regard of French kennels.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions? (I don't currently have a car and won't for a couple months yet for sure hence the need for a animal taxi service).

Note: I've already been searching under pensions, chatterie's, chenils, and the marseille spca website - wondering if anyone has anything more firsthand to offer.

Thanks!

[frogblogger]

Did you find any kennels in your search? Or have you been advised against all the local kennels for some reason?

There appears to be five listed in the immediate Marseille area, and five more in the vicinity, according to a PagesJaunes : Annuaire des professionnels search for "pensions pour chiens, chats".

[gravy]

I did find some kennels in my search but was advised that many of the french kennels have very poor standards for both dogs and cats. (I was given this advice by the Paris company receiving my dog and cat from Canada.) She went further to suggest finding an expat who was running a kennel as they were generally of a significantly higher quality.

So my thinking was that since I'm a little mobility reduced by not having a car or motorbike yet; if anyone had some first hand knowledge or second hand knowledge that didn't come from google that might help me out as I could go visit those kennels. Most of the kennels I saw are outside of Marseille proper, which is fine, but just takes considerably more effort and money to go and visit especially if I can't narrow down my list.

[Bevdeforges]

Based on my experience, and hearsay up here in the Paris area, I'd be very wary of most kennels. I boarded my cats out to a cat kennel that seemed to be just fine, but nowadays we prefer to ask the neighbors to stop in and check on the cats on those rare occasions we take off for more than a long weekend. Friends of mine (also expats) have reported some not-so-good experiences with kenneling their pets.

If you have found a veterinarian for your beasty or beasties, you might ask their advice. There may not be the same variety of animal taxi or dog walking services as you find back home, but a good vet will know what services are available and should have an opinion on them. The alternative is to befriend your neighbors, especially those with pets of their own, who may be more than happy to check in on your pets while you're away.
Cheers,
Bev