Starting A Boarding Business

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gizmo.ella

gizmo.ella

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hi, I'm thinking about starting a small animal boarding business. I would take on small animals such as guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, gerbils, mice, hamsters etc I wouldn't charge very much but I would provide the best care possible. I'm 14 by the way but I live with my parents who are happy for me to do it. Do I need a license or anything or can I just create my website and get started?
 
Just off the top of my head I imagine you'd need a licence, insurance and register as self-employed... all of which may be difficult/impossible because of your age. :(
 
To start I imagine you'd need to have a designated area, be able to cater for outdoor and indoor animals, make sure you have enough room for all the animals without them being too close. @Tiny is right about the license and so on, and you'd need to make sure you knew what to do if an animal was taken ill.
Also there's deciding how many animals you can cater for at a time; you'd need a lot of space. If you were ill who could care for the animals? And making sure you have enough hay, food, bedding etc.
I noticed that your parents don't seem happy about you getting your pig a friend, are they definitely okay with you taking on so many animals?
Sorry if I'm putting a dampener on things, and good luck:tu:
 
And presumably at your age you'd be at school all day, so the pets being boarded wouldn't have any supervision during the day. If one was taken ill in the morning, you wouldn't notice it until several hours later.
 
Sue G said:
And presumably at your age you'd be at school all day, so the pets being boarded wouldn't have any supervision during the day. If one was taken ill in the morning, you wouldn't notice it until several hours later.
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School is an excellent point- they'd need feeding morning and night. And depending how long owners were away for, the animals may need a check for lumps, skin problems, etc. Things like gut problems are hard to notice at first, unless you spend time with your animals, which could prove a danger for any pets being boarded.
 
Running a boarding business is costly, very hard work, time consuming and at times can be very difficult, heartbreaking and is certainly not all about cuddling animals. How do I know this? Because I've been running one for 6 years.

Due to the legal implications and requirements, you are currently too young.
 
Why don't you consider volunteering for a local rescue? I did boarding for rabbits and piggies and it was really hard work, lots of cleaning out, not much time for cuddling them, and very stressful when they got poorly. People often aren't very appreciative either and often turned up late etc etc. Don't recommend it at all!
 
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