Hello all, I’m Dr. Kerri Marshall and I’m really excited to join in on this blog about Pets! I just attended one of the largest veterinary conferences in the country, the American Veterinary Medical Association annual convention in New Orleans. One of the talks I found particularly interesting as a veterinarian, but even more so as a Pet parent: behavioral enrichment for your Pet.
Every year we find out more and more interesting information on behavior of our beloved Pets. This helps us to ensure their unique social needs are met, and that they fit in well with our families. I have a personal interest in behavior as I have a unique family mix. In addition to my dear husband, my family consists of 2 Chihuahuas named “Popo” and “Maya” (both spayed females) and a Domestic Medium hair cat named “Mona Montana” (also a spayed female). The cat weighs more than both Chihuahuas combined and although she is a beautiful cat who looks somewhat like a white and black dairy cow, she is not always the sweetest cat.
Back to enrichment. This lecture by Melissa Bain, DVM, from the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine was aptly titled: “Behavioral Enrichment: Walking the Dog is Not Enough.” Her talk was about what types of things cause stress in a Pet’s life and what are the things we can do to reduce the stress and improve their quality of life.
Confinement is a big stressor to some Pets, especially if they are young and active. If you are gone all day and leave a Pet alone in the house, it can be stressful. Luckily, there are several things you can do to “enrich” their lives.
1. Solo toys–squeaky toys, catnip toys and food releasing toys are often fun for Pets. Food releasing toys can be bought or hand made out of a tennis ball by cutting a small hole and stuffing your pets dry food in it. As your Pet plays with it, the food should GRADUALLY pop out. Usually you just use their regular dry food if it fits through the holes. Be sure to watch them play with it carefully at first to make sure they actually like playing with it and don’t become overzealous. Also make sure only a little food releases so they don’t eat too much and eventually become obese–another favorite topic of mine for a later blog. Since my Chihuahuas tend to gain weight easily, I just leave them their favorite stuffed toys to sleep with and carry around to each of their dog beds. Always be careful that these toys do not have sharp edges, or can’t be swallowed. If your pet is an excessive chewer, be careful of hard plastics and rubber as they may cause their gums to bleed or they can be chewed up and swallowed.
2. Visual stimulation–TV or even videos for your Pet can help alleviate the boredom of being alone for a long time. Dogs generally like to watch other dogs and cats like to watch bird videos (a long time ago I used to play Jonathan Livingston Seagull for my cats and they loved it!). For cats, a soft window perch with a bird feeder outside may give them hours of entertainment.
3. Another Pet in the house is often great companionship and enrichment as long as they are compatible. My two Chihuahuas were raised together as puppies, so really love being together all day. I have to separate the cat, however, or she stalks the Chihuahuas, and though has never hurt them, I think she scares them.
4. Human interaction is the best enrichment. We take our dogs to “Chihuahua Sunday” playgroup once a month. Maya has fallen in love with a Chihuahua named “Ernie”. Popo tends to prefer interacting with adults and children, not so much with other dogs, but she has gradually become better about at least greeting other dogs.
5. The best advice that Dr. Bain gave was to really examine how you walk your dog. This can be one of the best bonding experiences and enrichment for your Pet, or it can be a daily chore if it is too regimented. Do you let them be a dog and sniff to check their “Pee-mail” along the way? Or are you always correcting them. Correcting and training are good, but there are times your Pet needs to know they can just be themselves. Remember to leash your Pet for safety and to be very cautious about interactions with other Pets and always supervise. One of my previous dogs was a cute little Sheltie and I would take her to the park every day. One day a large dog who was not on a leash came bounding up, tail wagging, so I let them sniff–the large dog suddenly lunged at my Sheltie and bit her right over the shoulder blades! Luckily it was a scrape to the skin because the dog mostly grabbed her thick hair, but I was surprised at how I couldn’t tell the dog was aggressive until it bit her. Watch carefully and prevent “little dog-big dog” interactions, especially if you have a little dog – they usually pick the fight and usually lose!
6. And you CAN teach a cat to walk in a harness, usually this is more successful when you start with a young cat. I used to take my cat out for walks in areas where I was sure she wasn’t going to meet up with a dog. She even walked on the beach with us once (on a harness and leash of course). But she finally decided that walking on a leash was not for her, so she now stays indoors. Her enrichment consists of stalking my husband and teasing him into petting her, then swatting him. We now use a playful “cat mitt” that I found last week at PetSmart – it fits on your hand like a glove and has super long fingers with bells on them so when she swats she doesn’t hurt us.
Have a little fun with your Pets and watch their personality blossom as their stress decreases!
