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It may be called "the
holiday season" but we all know the real deal. Between planning meals,
shopping endlessly for the right gifts and hosting out of town
in-laws, "the holidays" become synonymous to having a second full-time
job. So, here we have all this holiday mayhem and we haven't even
mentioned our pets' sudden unattractive behavior: jumping into the
laps of guests, pulling the table cloth down along with the turkey,
refusing to use the litter box and clandestinely munching on the
holiday ham. Sometimes strange humans tromping through the house or
the unexpected arrival of a new pet can make our dogs and cats go
haywire. They may either exhibit behaviors that we have never
experienced in them before or more extravagant displays of wildness
that we've only seen hints of. This dose of HealthyPetNet News will
focus on behavioral problems in our pets -- things they do and what we
can do about it.
Understanding Our
Pets
If every pet owner in
America took a little more time to understand the root of their pets'
behavioral problems, shelters and streets would be a lot less
populated with strays. About 60% of animals in shelters are there due
to behavioral problems. When cats start scratching furniture and dogs
start barking incessantly, it's natural to say to ourselves: I didn't
sign up for this. Sometimes, a pet's behavioral problems can be
strictly health related. Other times, they can be a manifestation of
our own shortcomings as owners. After all, who would want to use a
litter box that hasn't been cleaned in weeks? Haven't you ever walked
into a roadside gas station restroom only to walk right back out?
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Use Your Imagination
Before anything else, the first step to overcoming our pets'
behavioral problems is to use our imaginations -- to jump into their
brains and understand the world through their eyes. If we do this, we
may see that we ask a lot of our pets. First off, we place them into a
human-created environment and expect them to forget their wildness and
behave in ways that suit and benefit us. Many of the things we teach
our animals go against the very nature of who they are. We ask our
cats to relieve themselves into small trays when its really natural
for them to do so anywhere in their territory. We discourage our dogs
from barking at our visitors when it's synonymous to preventing them
from having a simple chat with strangers entering their habitat.
Got
Issues?
When our pets start misbehaving, they may be demonstrating signs of a
deeper issue that needs investigating. What we deem as "bad behavior"
may very well be a manifestation of a health problem they're
experiencing. For example, a cat with a urinary-tract problem may have
a sense of urgency to urinate and does so wherever she is at the time.
Once a cat starts urinating elsewhere, it's hard to coax her back to
the litter box. When your pet starts acting strangely and the peculiar
behavior persists, it's a good idea to make an appointment with your
veterinarian for a checkup. |
