How to choose dog boarding or day care in Ipswich

Eighteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Ipswich, spread across four licensing authorities: Ipswich Borough Council, East Suffolk Council, Mid Suffolk District Council and Babergh District Council. Ten are home boarders, seven hold a day care licence and four hold a kennels or cat boarding licence, with some businesses covering more than one. What matters most when choosing depends on which of the three you need, and where in the town's seven areas you are looking.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Ten businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than a kennel block or arrange a stay with one: Walking Paws Ipswich, Suffolk Fairydogmother and Petstay Suffolk (an arranging service) in the Ipswich area; Foxhall Furballs and Walk and Play Sit and Stay in Kesgrave; We Love Pets Kesgrave and Woodbridge, based in Kesgrave but covering Woodbridge too; Dogs Holiday Home near Woodbridge; Happytails Suffolk and Rossi's Doggy Day Care and Boarding in Felixstowe; and Barking Mad – Ipswich and Colchester, which arranges a stay with an approved host family rather than boarding at one address. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennels, so ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates. Dogs Squad, Suffolk Dog Town, Happi Days Dog Day Care & Kennels and Needham Canine Adventures run day care from a dedicated site. Bourne Hill Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Happi Days Holiday Stays, Primrose Hill Farm Boarding Kennels & Catteries and Harvest Kennels run boarding kennels for overnight stays; Bourne Hill also runs a cattery alongside its dog kennels.

Ipswich, Kesgrave and Woodbridge are the strongest areas; Martlesham and Hadleigh are thin

Ipswich itself has seven of the eighteen listings, Kesgrave has three, Woodbridge and Felixstowe have two each and Needham Market has two. Martlesham and Hadleigh each have only one confirmed business — Happi Days Dog Day Care & Kennels in Martlesham Heath and Harvest Kennels in Hadleigh — reflecting that both are smaller areas with genuinely few licensed operators once businesses outside the postcode districts and register entries with no confirmable phone or trading name are set aside. If you are in either area, it is worth calling the relevant council directly and asking for its current list of licensed boarders, since a genuinely new or small operator can take time to appear in research like this.

What the council licence means, and why Ipswich's own register needs care

Every business listed holds, or has held, a licence from one of four councils. East Suffolk Council's registers (covering Kesgrave, Martlesham, Woodbridge and Felixstowe) are three separate PDFs dated 1 September 2026, and Mid Suffolk District Council and Babergh District Council (covering Needham Market and Hadleigh) both publish live web registers — all four are current and their star ratings and expiry dates are shown as published. Ipswich Borough Council's own register is different: it is a single PDF dated December 2024, and much of it has since lapsed. Two Ipswich-based home boarders here, Walking Paws Ipswich and Suffolk Fairydogmother, each state a 5-star Ipswich licence on their own website, but the council's own register shows that specific licence number lapsed in March 2025, so no licence block is shown for either and renewal could not be independently confirmed — ask them directly about current licensing before booking. Where a star rating is shown elsewhere on this site, it runs from 1 to 5 and is the council's own inspection score, not a customer review, so treat it the way you would a food hygiene rating rather than a Google star.

Questions worth asking about vaccinations, breed rules and insurance

None of these are things this directory can answer on a business's behalf; they are worth putting to the business directly before you book.

• What vaccinations do you require, and how long before the stay do you need to see proof of them?
• Do you have a policy on kennel cough, and what is it?
• Do you have any breed restrictions or conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate?
• Are you insured, and can you show evidence of current cover?
• How is medication given during a stay, and is there an extra charge for it?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care, and who decides and pays?

None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what appears on their own licence or website, so ask rather than assume an answer either way.

Prices and extras

Five of the eighteen businesses listed publish a price; see our Ipswich prices guide for the published figures and what they cover. Whichever type of boarding or day care you choose, ask what a second dog from the same household costs, whether bank holidays are charged at a higher rate, and whether collection is included or priced separately.