Dr. Lucas Kandefer says it’s a lot of responsibility when you bring a pet home. He says we have seen a lot of people get pets during the COVID crisis and that’s great because people have a lot more time to spend with their pets, to do training together but as we return back to normal in the near future that may change. The time we have available for our pets and activity and making sure they have time to have exercise and care they need may change. Dr. Kandefer says you most likely have made the decision by now if the pet is coming home for the holidays. He says make sure you understand what you are getting in to and have a long-term plan. It can change what you can do for trips/vacations and simple things around the house. Interact your dog with other pets together; it’s really important to make sure they have that experience, so they know how to get along when they see other pets on the street. For cats make sure they get exposure to people who are nice and calm mannered to make sure they fit in the household well.
During Christmas this year we are going to see a lot less people interacting, but we still have a lot of those same risks and you might not consider them because we don’t have as many people over. Make sure there is no chocolate down around the Christmas tree. It is really easy pets to smell that and tear the package apart while you are sleeping and cause some real issues and toxicities and same thing for our food. We are going to have a lot of food around. They can jump up on the counter and get exposed to large amounts of salty fatty foods and that can cause some real severe GI issues.
Cats will want to play with ribbon and pull things down and play with the tree, even get into the tree. Dr. Kandefer says they do see cats with broken legs and injuries because they were playing in the tree and they end up knocking the tree over. So, make sure your tree is secure; it is really important.
