Home boarding or kennels in Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket?
Eight of the 27 dog boarders, day cares and kennels listed for Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket board dogs in the boarder's own home; fourteen run purpose-built boarding kennels instead. The other five are dedicated day care centres that do not offer an overnight stay at all — see our day care or boarding guide if that is what you need. Which of the two overnight options suits your dog is mostly a question of how it copes with space, routine and other dogs around it.
Home boarding: one household, somebody's actual house
The Dog Hotel Whepstead, We Love Pets Bury St Edmunds and Holidays4Dogs (all in the Bury St Edmunds area), Moulton Pet Sitters (Newmarket), The Dog House Daycare (Sudbury), Doggie Sweetdreamz (Stowmarket), Phoenix House Home Boarding (Diss & Eye) and KCO Pets (Mildenhall & Lakenheath) all board dogs this way. As home boarders, none of the eight publishes a street address here; it is given once you book, in line with how this directory treats every home boarder. Group size tends to be small and set by the individual boarder rather than a fixed licence limit: The Dog Hotel Whepstead takes up to five dogs at a time, and Moulton Pet Sitters takes only one dog, or two from the same household. A home boarder is often a better fit for a dog that finds a busy kennel block stressful, or one used to living in a house rather than a run.
Boarding kennels: purpose-built, more dogs at once
Ixworth Country Kennels, Hanchett Hall, Waterhall, Acorn, Boundary, Goldbrook, Quiet Acres, Wortham, Church Farm, Lindcoly, Pine Farm, Forest Animal Boarding, Camp Tails Doggy Daycare and Winterbrooke Boarding and Day Kennels all run individual kennel runs rather than a shared house, and several of them — Hanchett Hall, Waterhall, Goldbrook, Quiet Acres, Wortham, Church Farm, Lindcoly, Pine Farm and Forest Animal Boarding — also take cats in a separate cattery on the same site. A kennels suits a dog that is happy with its own space and a set routine, and is often easier to get a place at during school holidays than a home boarder with room for only one or two dogs at a time.
What to ask either way
Ask a home boarder how many other dogs, and from how many households, will be there on your dates, since that is the main way a stay in somebody's house differs from one in a kennel block. Ask a kennels what a dog's day actually looks like between exercise times, since “purpose-built” can mean anything from a converted barn to a small run of pens. Thirteen of these 22 businesses hold a five-star council licence rating, six hold three stars, and three have no confirmed rating at all — see our council licences guide for what those stars mean and which listings they cover.