How To Know You’re Capable Of Looking After A Pet
Not everyone is capable of looking after a pet. For some reason, it’s easy for many of us to feel more outraged and angered by animal abuse than hearing about human tragedies around the world. If humans are the shepherds of the animal kingdom, it’s a shame that many of us can’t apply ourselves well enough to look after them. Of course, this is speaking in grandiose terms. What matters is how you treat the animals you interact with, who rely on you. It might be that you’re wondering if you’re capable of looking after a pet, and this is a wonderful thing to consider, because it means your heart is in the right place.
But how should you apply this criteria to yourself? Of course, if you want a pet, you’re likely to be biased in this decision making. But there are definitely variables outside of how good you are with organization, and we have tried to include them in our list:
Your Home
You may be perfectly capable of keeping a pet, but your home situation might not warrant it. It’s important to consider House Method’s pet safety guide, as comparing your home situation to the advice offered in this can help you understand if your home is a worthwhile place for a pet. Be critical with yourself. It’s important to consider how much space you have, how busy your household is, if the pet is to be contained indoors or if you have a good garden space available, as well as who lives there. It might be that you are the perfect person to take care of a pet with a beautiful household, but your child shows signs of irresponsibility and behavioural problems. It might be that until those issues are solved it’s best not to introduce a pet to your household.
You might consider bringing in a new pet to complete your family unit soon after your baby is born. But realistically, will you be able to devote your time to both, or is it best to nail being a mother or father before trying to own a pet for the first time? All of these questions can only be answered by you, but it pays to consider every single element that might affect your home situation, and if you do this you may gain a very worthwhile understanding of how to tailor your home for this new desire.
Your Schedule
If your home is empty for a long period of time each day, you shouldn’t bring a pet home. Leaving a pet alone for upwards of ten hours a day during the week can be cruel, and make them feel extremely bored, even contributing to pet depression. A lively and open household can often be the best environment for a dog, and even cats that head outside need interaction with you relatively frequently. Dog walking services, doggy daycare, or even simply scheduling your work shifts differently if possible might be worthwhile to do. If you can’t adjust your schedule, it might be that waiting to get a pet until one member of the family stays at home could be the best idea.
Your Love
A pet requires love, even cats that seems to do perfectly fine without it, and often don’t beg for it as dogs do. Your love matters when taking care of an animal. They need to feel bonded to you. You need to be willing to spend plenty on their medical treatment. You also need to be willing to train them. You need to stay patient when they leave a mess on your floor despite being house-trained. You need to help them feel comfortable when fireworks are going off around this time of year. More importantly, you need to play with them, interact with them, and generally fulfill the purpose you had when purchasing the pet in the first place.
You might be busy, but it’s important to consider the household love available to them. Would your children positively love a new addition to the family in this vein? Might it help complete your family unit? Are you ready to consider this pet a member of the family and not just a convenient purchase to stop your children from nagging? Also, are you willing to research into the various needs of the particular breed in order to be the best owner possible?
If you can answer yes to all or most of this, you deserve a pet.
With these simple tips, you can know for sure that yes, you are capable of looking after a pet.
Tia, and TipsfromTia.com is trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good, from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter or Instagram.