Hello,
I would like to introduce you to myself and our decision to open Mystic Mountain Retreat in 2005. After much soul searching, I decided to follow my passion to provide a custom and holistic boarding facility to assist people with a temporary loving home for their animal friends while on vacation or traveling.
Over the last 40+ years I have taken care of my many animal friends and learned an enormous amount about the care of special needs; from puppies to the geriatric, rescued and traumatized, and the young and healthy. I believe that when an animal faces their later years they can do so with respect and grace, even with reduced activity and health.
I have learned from my own experiences that it’s hard to find the right place that will care for your animal companion in the individual way that most of us desire while you are out of town.
My husband Brad and I have many species sharing our life and as many were rescued they have had special needs of different types. Our Ridgeback, Zimbabwe, due to past traumas could only handle being around strange dogs for about 30 minutes so we were unable to leave him at the new type of free range boarding services. Our Cattle Dog, Herman, liked to tell others what to do so again we could not place him in a free range environment. And due to both their needs we could not leave them with family or friends.
My past special needs older dog, Olaf, at the age of 12 was unable to walk for 6+ months then required special assistance until the age of 15, if I had not found Cindy Horsfall at La Paw Spa I may have missed my Sisters wedding. Then with a 20 year old cat, Whipple, who required special food and supplements many times a day it was hard to leave during his last years. And I would never consider leaving any of my animal friends at the large commercial boarding facilities.
To top it off I follow a holistic/limited vaccination program which restricts me from most facilitates. So in the past my husband Brad and I brought our dogs on trips, and found care for the cats, rabbits, ferrets, chickens, doves, llamas and horses with close friends.
About 2002 I was planning on opening an animal sanctuary when I retired from corporation life, but then I determined that I could not wait an additional 15 years to work with animals full time (I had already worked 18 years in the engineering/IT area at Boeing and 5 years at Microsoft (MCP Program) as an Product Manager).
After much soul searching I decided that I could still follow my core vision with a custom boarding service that catered to the special needs animals, from dogs to cats to rabbits to ferrets. Summer of 2005, Brad and I finished fixing up our 5 acre ranch with a special facility that houses an average of 15 dogs and 3 cats. As we cared for the animals personally (with help from assistants), the facility has been designed to limit the number of animals to ensure each one receives the best care.
Please review the web site and if you have any questions, would like to reserve a reservation, or would like to have a tour of Mystic Mountain Pet Retreat, please contact us.
Cindy and Brad Hill
