Within all the chaos of traveling over the holidays, it can be easy to overlook our four-legged family members.

Director of PAWS and More Animal Shelter Amber Talbot says there are plenty of options if you plan on leaving your pets home alone, including pet sitting services that will come and walk your pets. Local clinics typically provide boarding options if your pets needs constant attention. However you chose to go about it, Talbot says it’s critical that they’re well taken care of, “We do have the really unfortunate stories where someone goes away for a week or two through the holidays and they think that somebody is caring for their animal that hasn’t been. A week of not having food and adequate water, it’s pretty uncomfortable and miserable for those animals.” If you are taking your dogs or cat with you, make sure they are micro-chipped. Talbot says that every year they see at least one out of state animal who gets to be reunited with their family, because they were micro-chipped.