Tips to Prepare You for Adopting a New Pet
Published on: 2023-01-20
Adopting a pet from a shelter is a great thing to do, this help homeless pets on your community to have a home, love and food and at the same time give you the joy of having a loving new friend and companion. Rescue an adult pet differs of rescuing a puppy, both required of different preparation and you should know what to expect on the first period of adaptation, the more prepared you are the easiest this transition goes.
Preparing your home
Same as a new baby, new pets needs a pet-proof home, you should clean your whole house and remove any hazard ornament or poisonous food and plants, hide or remove electric cords, lock any unsafe substance like cleaning solutions and medications that could harm your new friend. Keep in mind that pets like to explore their surroundings with their mouths so remove anything that isn’t supposed to be licked on or chewed.
Bring a lot of toys
You should have some toys so your new friend can play. If your new pet is a puppy, you should buy some chew toys so he don’t use your shoes or furniture to play, remember that they’ll chew anything they can sink their teeth into. If he is teething we recommend to have some teething toys always having in mind the size of the dog, never use small toys on big dogs because they can be chewed off. For Cats you should have balls of yarns, plastic rolling balls with or without bells inside, Ping-Pong balls or plastic practice golf balls with holes, to help cats carry them around. You should also predefine some space for him to play, new puppies needs to relieve a lot of energy during the day.
Gather supplies
Prepare the items that your pet is going to need in advance so you don’t have to run to the store for supplies at last minute. An appropriate bed depending on the size of the pet, some blanquets, a collar with an identification tag with your phone number and the name of the pet, harness, leash, food and water bowls and training pads for the first period. For cats you also need litter box, scooper and a kitty litter. A crate that’s large enough for your dog to stand up and turn around in is something that some owners like to have in case that you want to keep them in a closed space for a small period of time when you are out of the house or as a training technique.
Food transition
We recommend to buy the same food that your pet have being using so far at least for a small period of time until he finish the adaptation period, after that you can start introducing gradually the new brand that you want it to use. The stress of the moving and a diet change can cause some stomach upset to your pet, keep an eye on any sign of illness because these could be caused by the stress on the change.
Vet visit
Another important step is to setup an appointment with the vet to check the general health of your new friend so you can discard any illness or disease that could have. You also need to gave him the rabies shoot if he don’t have it yet or any other vaccine that he could need depending on the age of the pet. Another extra step could be adding a ship to your new friend so you avoid the issue of lost your mind if your pet run out from your house.
Avoid big changes
Finally, don’t plan any big trip or renovation on this first period, those extra changes could cause stress to your new friend. Adopting is a big transition for you and your pet and being prepared is going to make it easier for both. Keep an stable an loving environment and you will be rewarded with a loving companion for life.
