How to choose dog boarding or day care in Margate, Thanet and Swale

Eighteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed across the nine areas of Margate, Thanet and Swale, split between Thanet District Council (eight businesses), Swale Borough Council (nine) and, for one business near Sandwich, Dover District Council. Nine are home boarders and nine run from a premises — kennels, a day-care site, or both. Coverage is uneven: margate-cliftonville has five listings and Sittingbourne has six, while Ramsgate, Birchington & Westgate-on-Sea, Minster & Manston, Sandwich and Faversham each have exactly one, and Broadstairs currently has none published at all (one home boarder was found on the register there, but no verified phone number for it, so it is not listed).

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Nine businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than on a dedicated site: Amble Dogs and MrDogStar in margate-cliftonville; Auntie Kirsty's Canine Care in Ramsgate; CallyWags, Milton Paws, Nic's Dog Retreat and Pals With Tails in Sittingbourne; and Paws 'n' Play and Sandy Tails on the Isle of Sheppey. 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, and whether they come from one family or several. The Paw Seasons in Birchington runs day care from a dedicated site, and Milton Paws and Doggy Dream Garden Retreat offer day care alongside home boarding or overnight stays. Bedima, Birch Abbey and Manston Boarding Kennels & Cattery in margate-cliftonville, Rosie's Retreat near Sandwich, Tawnyhill Boarding Kennels and Jasmil Kennels and Cattery in Sittingbourne, and Butterstone Pet Boarding near Faversham all run boarding kennels; Manston, Jasmil and Butterstone also board cats alongside dogs.

The council licence position here

All three councils require a licence for dog boarding, home boarding and day care, but the register you can check differs. Thanet District Council's and Swale Borough Council's licences were read through the animal-licensing.uk platform, an independent third-party mirror of council registers rather than either council's own site. Its Thanet pages give a licence type and expiry date only, with no licence number and no star shown; its Swale pages add a licence number where one is recorded, but Swale's own star ratings are likewise not shown here, since a rating read only from a mirror is not treated as a council-verified fact. This means Milton Paws' and other Swale or Thanet businesses' council star ratings do not appear on their listings, even where the mirror itself shows one. The one exception is Rosie's Retreat near Sandwich, whose licence was checked directly on Dover District Council's own register, which lists it under boarding of dogs (kennel) with a 5-star rating and a licence running to July 2029 — so its listing carries a full council licence block, star included. You can check the mirror registers yourself at Thanet District Council's page on animal-licensing.uk and Swale Borough Council's page on animal-licensing.uk. Three businesses here — MrDogStar, Doggy Dream Garden Retreat and Sandy Tails — were not matched to any register at all; two of them quote their own licence number, but as this cannot be confirmed against a public register, no licence number or block is shown for them, and it is worth asking to see a current licence certificate before booking.

Questions worth asking

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?
• Which council licensed you, and can I see the current licence certificate?

None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what a licence register shows, so ask rather than assume an answer either way. See our Margate, Thanet and Swale prices guide for what the five businesses that publish a price charge, and what a second dog or a bank holiday commonly adds on top.