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. A fter 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.
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