Welcoming a new pet in your home is a big deal and an exciting occasion. Pets play a vital role in our lives and owning one regardless of their species, size, or breed will surely add meaning to your life. There are so many health benefits associated with owning a pet. For instance, owning a dog can help improve your physical health because of all the times you’ll be required to take them for walks. In addition to this, pets are faithful companions and they’ll never disappoint, well, except for days when they’ll be under the weather and act up. This is expected at some point in a pet’s life. But then again, you also need to consider how valuable a pet can be to your family.
While it’s a major responsibility to own a pet, their presence can have an impact on your physical and mental health. Pets will also help in teaching your kids valuable life lessons in a fun and rewarding way.
To help prepare you for this commitment, here’s what you need to know before bringing home your first pet.
1. Introducing a Pet to Your Home
It may be that you have high expectations and are optimistic that your pet will automatically fall in love with their new home. The thing is, before a pet can settle into their new environment, cats and dogs especially, they’ll snoop around, sniff, and mark their territories with their scents. Getting a pet to adapt to its new environment may take some time and every cat owner knows this all too well and the same goes for other pets. You’ll, of course, want to ensure that you know what foods they’ll love, prepare their beddings or shelter, and ensure that your home is pet-friendly.
Now, among the things that you can do to make your home habitable to a pet includes:
- Move harmful chemicals, detergents, and medications to a safe place
- Consider investing in a scratch-proof floor
- Invest in pet-friendly furniture
- Keep your treasured and fragile items out of reach
- Invest in a powerful vacuum cleaner especially if you’re bringing a shedding breed to your home
- Hide all the trailing electrical cables behind furniture
2. Toilet Training Your Pet
The last thing you want is a pet that poops everywhere in your house. Picking up after some pets isn’t all that yucky, but the same cannot be said about cats and dogs. This is why you need to start toilet training your pet as soon as you bring them home. With all the different self-taught toilet training lessons out there, it can sometimes seem confusing to find a method that works. But any method that involves hitting a pet just because they had a minor accident is completely unacceptable!
For puppies, you can use the reward method. This involves rewarding them with dog snacks for heeding to your toilet commands. As for kittens, a litter box seems to be one of the most effective and hygienic ways you can have them potty trained. As they grow, the litter box can gradually be moved outside where they’ll learn to use the backyard instead of the litter box.
3. Investing In Their Health
It’s very important to think about your pet’s health plan. They’ll need to be vaccinated, spayed, dewormed, or neutered. These are things you’ll not be able to accomplish on your own. You’ll, therefore, need to schedule regular appointments with a certified vet. If you don’t want to pay for these services out of pocket, you can always invest in a pet health insurance policy. You’ll also need to find a resourceful vet and one who’s been after your best interests as well as those of your pet in helping you deal with common pet issues.
4. Protecting Your Pet
As a pet owner, you’ll be liable for any harm or pain your pet might inflict on others. Part of protecting your pet will involve training and reinforcing the right behaviors. While not all pets will be aggressive to strangers, training your pet and taming them will help to avoid any legal actions against you for animal bite injuries. To prevent your pet from harming others, gradually let them interact with the people in your neighborhood, steer clear from any dangerous situations, and always keep your pet on a leash (dogs especially).
You’ll also need to protect your pet from angry neighbors and people who may try to hurt them. However, you need to do this calmly and in the most humane way possible. You can always sue a person for hurting your pet. Animals have their rights too!
Finally, introducing a new pet to your home will be a big change for everyone. As earlier mentioned, it will take time for them to get comfy with the new environment. It’s therefore important that everyone takes a part in making the pet feel at home.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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