Back to School – For your Pets!

The summer holidays are always good fun spending time playing and being home, which is especially fun for your pets who get to see you that bit more!

Now we are due to return to school and work, what impact does that have on the animals in our home?

After being with them so much, prolonged periods of absence can cause separation anxiety. You notice it more in dogs, but it can happen to all pets.

There are things we can do to help reduce the anxiety caused by us leaving.

• Ensure their bed area is nice and cosy making them feel secure. That could be ensuring your dog has their favourite blanket or giving your small furry friends fresh bedding.
• Leaving an item of clothing with their owner’s scent on works for some pets. This is so they feel you are nearby.
• Letting your pets have chance to go to toilet or a good run around before you leave.
• For Dogs and Cats, you can also invest in plug-in diffusers or collars that release calming pheromones. We have these available at Zoar’s Pet Superstore.
• Giving your pet things to do whilst you are out ensuring they don’t get bored!

Boredom Breakers are great for keeping animals entertained and occupied. This way any absences or changes won’t affect them as drastically as they would normally.

Chew Toys can keep them distracted from chewing other things in your home. This could be chew toys for dogs or for small furry animals using chew tubes or gnaw stones.  – Please make sure you use a toy that you can leave them alone safely.

Providing them with games to keep their brain active and occupied. These can also be things that don’t need you to use treats or food as an incentive – if your pet is watching their waistline! Some ideas could be running wheels for your hamsters, mirrors and ladders for your birds or scratching posts or boards for your cats that have toys included.

Enrichment Feeders are a great source of entertainment and can keep your pets going for a while. Treat puzzles, Liki mats and Kong feeders are great for dogs and cats. For your small furries again it could be things like nibble and treat bowls or treat mazes. These are treat based so you do need to be careful that your pet is still having a balanced diet. You can use enrichment feeders to give them their normal feed if you are worried about them eating too much!