The Challenges of Moving with Pets and How to Make It Work
The Benefits of Fostering a Pet In Need
What Are Community Cats and How Can You Help Them?
The Challenges of Moving with Pets and How to Make It Work
Moving is something many people dread. It’s kind of like taxes. But take moving and add in pets and it’s an entirely more stressful situation. There are challenges, but if you plan ahead you can actually make it less stressful.
Whether you’re moving to a new home or a different apartment or condo, there’s preparation before moving day, there’s moving day, and then settling into the new place.
When you bring home moving boxes, pets may have a strange reaction to something unfamiliar in their space. With all that’s going on, including packing, doors opening and closing, you want to ensure your pet is safe. “It’s much safer to keep your pet somewhere safe during this process—maybe in a closed-off room or maybe at a friend’s house or doggie daycare,” according to the article, “Moving With Pets: 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid” at Vetstreet.com. It’s also a good idea to keep pets safe and confined when you get to your new place.
Get your pet used to the crate or the car before moving day. By acclimating your pet to the crate, you’ll make moving day easier for everyone involved, according to the article, “Moving With Your Pet” at ASPCA.org.
Pet-proofing your new home is also important. This includes ensuring windows have screens, make sure electrical cords are safely tucked away, and remove poisonous plants and/or pest control poison traps, according to the ASPCA.
When you arrive you don’t want to overwhelm your pet, so take it slowly. “Start by allowing them to adjust to one room—their ‘home base’—which should include their favorite toys, treats, water and food bowls and litter box for cats,” the ASPCA.org said. Slowly introduce them to the other rooms.
Before you know it you and your pet will be right a home.
The Benefits of Fostering a Pet In Need
There are many shelters and rescues across the country. Many are overwhelmed with pets and don’t have the room to take in more. Fostering an animal is a great way to volunteer, and it helps a pet acclimate to a home while also allowing a shelter or rescue to take in other animals in need.
“Fostering a pet does not require that you have loads of free time or advanced dog training skills,” according to the article, “Top 10 reasons to foster a pet,” at Bestfriends.org. “In fact, most shelters offer foster opportunities that fit your schedule.”
Best Friends offers reasons to foster, including:
• The shelter can be stressful for animals and foster homes bring out the best in pets.
• From walks to the park or playing with a cat, fostering is a lot of fun for you and the pet.
• You might be able to find a potential adopter through a long walk in the park.
• While fostering you gather important information about the pet that you can disclose to potential adopters.
• “Fostering is a temporary commitment with permanent rewards,” according to the Bestfriends.org article.
When you foster, it can be for a short time or until the pet is adopted. There are other reasons why foster homes are needed. According to the article, “Why Foster A Dog and What Does It Involve?” at Petfinder.com. “A rescue group doesn’t have a physical shelter and depends on foster homes to care for dogs until suitable homes are found,” the article said.
Another reason has to do with puppies who need a safe place until they are ready to be adopted into a home.
No matter the reason why a pet needs a foster home, you’ll be doing something positive to help that pet find a forever home.
What Are Community Cats and How Can You Help Them?
If you have witnessed a large group of cats in your neighborhood, don’t be alarmed. They are most likely community cats—also known as feral cats. They are not socialized, not people-friendly, and live within their own colonies.
There are things you can do to help. “Community cats live outdoors,” according to the article, “How to Live With Cats in Your Neighborhood,” at Alley Cat Allies. “Like all animals, community cats settle where food and shelter are available, and they are naturally skilled at finding these on their own.”
According to the article, since they are unsocialized they cannot live inside with people so they are unadoptable. However, if brought to a shelter, they will most likely be euthanized. “Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the humane, effective, and mainstream approach to addressing community cat populations,” the article said.
“In a TNR program, community cats are humanely trapped, brought to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, eartipped (the universal sign that a cat is part of a TNR program), and then returned to their outdoor homes,” according to Alley Cat Allies. TNR is effective and humane and a “collaborative way for communities to coexist with cats.”
Oftentimes community cats are cared for and fed by caring people in the neighborhood. The most important thing is to ensure that someone does TNR on the cats so that no more unwanted litters occur.
If you are not sure how to help the community cats in your neighborhood or want to ensure the cats get TNR, there may be local help. “If you’re really lucky, there is an organization or agency in your area that can help you TNR the feral cats you’re feeding,” according to the article, “How individuals can help community cats,” at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS.org).
Recent Comments