Vaccinations, licences and what to ask in Maidstone

Twelve dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Maidstone. Eleven of them hold a current licence from Maidstone Borough Council, the only authority covering the town's postcode districts; the twelfth, Kent Dog Grooming Academy, could not be found on the council's register at the time of writing, so its day-care licensing status is unconfirmed. A licence is a legal requirement in England for boarding kennels, home boarding and day care alike, so it is worth checking before you book with any business, listed here or not.

What the licence actually shows

Maidstone Borough Council does not publish its own searchable register; every licence fact on this site comes from animal-licensing.uk, a third-party mirror of the council's records, and each listing links to it as "register entry (third-party mirror of the council register)". The mirror gives a licence number and an expiry date for each business, but no street address, and, because it is a mirror rather than the council's own register, no star rating is shown on any Maidstone listing here. Ask to see the licence certificate itself when you visit or call, and check the expiry date against what is shown on the listing, since a lapsed licence is removed from this site the day it expires.

Vaccinations and health

Every business asks about vaccinations in its own way, and practice genuinely varies between them, so this site does not state a schedule or a waiting period for any of the twelve. Ask the business what vaccinations it requires and how long before your dog's stay it needs to see proof of them. The same goes for kennel cough: several boarders and kennels will have their own policy on it, but none publishes the detail on its own site, so ask directly rather than assume either way.

Breed policies and insurance

A boarding or day-care business is entitled to ask about breed restrictions or set its own conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate, and none of the twelve listed here states its policy publicly, so this is worth raising when you call. None of them publishes an insurance statement on its own site either; ask to see evidence of current cover rather than assume it holds any.

Questions worth asking

• Can I see your current licence certificate, and does it cover the number of dogs I'm asking about?
• What vaccinations do you require, and how long before the stay do you need to see proof?
• Do you have a policy on kennel cough, and what is it?
• Do you have breed restrictions or conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate?
• Can you show evidence of current insurance cover?
• How many other dogs, and from how many households, will be there during my dates?

None of this is something the directory can confirm on a business's behalf; it is here to help you ask the right questions once you call.