Having indoor pets can be a real hassle. I know, I have five of them. Because my dogs are more than a little bit rowdy, I am not able to simply let them run loose. Some of them just don’t get along well with other dogs, and others are just too nice and will trust anyone. In any case, I want to tell you some important facts about living with your furry friends.
The Importance Of Due Diligence In Pet Care
Let’s face it, your biggest and most obvious issue is the excremental issue. You can’t generally train an animal to use the toilet, so you have to figure something out for them. The most common solution is to take your animal outside when they signal you. While this is a tried and true method, it does have one or two problems. For one thing, it can be a big problem when you leave the house for long stretches. You’d be surprised at how much waste two dogs can produce during a seven-hour work shift.
I recommend setting up a plastic tray in a little-used area of your house and training your dogs to use it. You should line the tray with newspaper, which is easy to change and usually free to acquire. This way, they will have an option for those times when you are not home. If they do not have such an option, you really can’t get angry at them for doing their business in the house. Remember, you are the human and it is your responsibility to show them the way.
So how do you teach your dogs to use the tray? Simple. When you first get up in the morning, your dogs are probably bugging you to go outside right away. Instead of taking them outside, take them to the tray, and don’t let them leave until they use it. If you have cats, this is obviously less of a problem and requires little to no training.
You will also want to get a small hand-held vacuum that is suited for picking up pet hair. Pet hair can build up on carpets and furniture over time and become a severe pain. Both your upright and hand-held vacuums should be of a kind that can handle a lot of pet hair. You need to be diligent in picking up the hair before it builds up to a problematic level. This is the kind of problem that isn’t really visible until it gets out of hand.
This brings us to medical needs. It is very important to keep your home free of fleas and other parasites that can damage the health of your animal. Regularly bathing your dog in a flea-resistant shampoo will certainly help, but you need to do more. In most homes, thick carpet makes it possible for fleas to infest the floor of an entire room and eventually an entire house. If you begin to see fleas in your carpet, you really need to take action quickly. You will need the help of someone who works in pest control services. And when they arrive, don’t hold back. Have them bug-bomb the entire area.
As disgusting as this may sound, you should also keep a close eye on your animal’s droppings. Many serious health problems can be detected early by observing the basic characteristics of their scat. For instance, the presence of little grains that look like rice is indicative of the presence of tapeworms. For cats, there are a whole host of ways that you can judge the health of your cat by the contents of their litter box.
You also want to keep a close eye on your animal’s weight. You don’t need to go a hundred percent with the idea and start weighing your animal every day. However, an animal with known health problems might warrant such special attention. For dogs, it is important to monitor their weight because this will help to tell you if they need to be wormed. You should be keeping records every time you worm your dog, but if you happen to forget, their weight can also give you a good early indicator. Weight can also give you a good idea of whether or not you need to switch food brands. Contrary to popular belief, you also don’t want your animals to become overweight. Too much is just as bad as too little.
Meg is an author at Cinnamon Hollow. She writes on a variety of topics sharing tips and ideas for daily life.