How to Help a New Pet Adjust to Home

Congratulations on deciding to adopt a pet. It’s a big step for you and your family and for your new pet, too. However, not every new pet owner understands that the first few days can be very stressful for the new animal. To make the transition easier on your new best friend, it’s a good idea to keep a few things in mind.

Provide Privacy and Quiet Space
Whether you’re adopting a cat or a dog, it’s going to take some time for him or her to get used to the new surroundings. Animals crave familiarity as much as humans do. And everything in your place just smells different than what they’re used to. It’s actually quite common for new pets to find a safe place to hide and only come out for food and water (or not even that for the first day or two).

You can make things easier for your pet by offering some privacy and peace and quiet. Cats are best kept to one room at first, where they have access to a clean litterbox and food and water. You don’t even need to take them out of the cat carrier. Instead, just open the door so they can decide when they feel that it’s safe to venture out.

Big dogs obviously won’t fit in a carrier, but you can still make them feel comfortable by giving them a safe corner to hide in. Leaving a cuddly blanket or a doggy bed in an area of the house that doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic is perfect.

Minimize Anxiety
Leaving the shelter, riding in a car, and meeting new people at their new home can be really overwhelming for your new pet. Ideally, you should minimize his anxiety by keeping travel to a minimum. That means you need to pick up dog or cat food before you pick up your pet at the shelter, so that you can go straight home from there.
It’s also best if you can keep visitors away for a while. You’ll also need to tell your children to give the animal some time to get used to the home before they overwhelm it with love. Of course you can introduce them, but you should try to keep the kids calm to avoid scaring your new pet.

Be Patient
Depending on the age and general disposition of your pet, it can take some time for him or her to get used to your home and its inhabitants. Kittens and puppies are often more adventurous and will thaw out quicker. An older pet may be more cautious and take longer to feel comfortable. Fortunately, all kinds of pets will eventually adjust as long as you’re patient with them. All animals are inherently curious, and you won’t have to wait long until your pet starts exploring your entire home and making it his own.

Be Loving
Even if your pet hides in the corner of your house all day long, he or she still needs love and attention from you. Make sure to spend lots of time with your pet, such as petting him and talking to him quietly. He’ll learn that you’re not a threat and begin to trust you. Now is not the time to start dog training or discipline the animal if it did something wrong. Of course you can redirect his attention to a different toy if it chewed up your shoe, but it’s more important to build trust than to expect obedience at this point.

Stick to Routines
Dogs and cats like routines. Your animal was probably used to being fed at specific times of the day at the shelter. Dogs may also have their outside time scheduled. If at all possible, you should try to keep the schedule the same for a little while. If you don’t like those times, you can always change them later (by gradually adjusting the time about 30 minutes each day). If you can’t follow the shelter’s schedule because of work or other commitments, then you’ll just have to do the best you can.

Getting a new pet is exciting, so it can be kind of disappointing when your new pet is just hiding at first. But when you follow these tips and let your new pet set the pace, it won’t take long until you have made a new best friend for life.

5 Perks of Being a Foster Pet Parent

Have you ever thought about fostering a cat or a dog? Fostering an animal is a great way to help your local shelters and rescue organizations. It turns out that there are a lot of benefits for foster pet parents, too. After all, you get paid in cuddles and kisses. Here we have listed 5 additional perks of becoming a foster pet parent.

You’re Saving a Life
Fostering an animal will make you feel good, because you’re essentially saving a life. Foster pet parents provide space for animals in need of a home when the shelters are overflowing. While there are quite a few no-kill shelters and rescue organizations, many public shelters still euthanize animals if they can’t find a home for them quickly enough.

Even when the pet is staying with you at your home, it still belongs to the shelter or rescue organization. That means it can be adopted by a new family even though it’s not physically present at the shelter. Your job is to keep it safe and loved until the animal finds its new forever home. This could happen within days, but it could also take a few weeks or even months.

Your Other Pets and Kids Will Love It
Admittedly, some pets just don’t like other animals. But most cats and dogs don’t mind company. Having another pet in your home could make all the difference for your existing pet(s). Finally, there’s someone to play with!

Your kids will love it, too. Kids love helping others, including animals. When you foster a pet, it teaches your children a wonderful lesson in caring. They can even help you take care of the animal. Even young kids will enjoy cuddling with or playing with a dog or cat, because they can be fun companions. You just have to make sure to supervise animals and kids together to prevent potential problems or injuries.

Fostering Is Flexible 

Fostering pets is flexible. It’s actually a great option for people who really want a pet, but are unable to make the full commitment. For example, if your family takes frequent trips out of the area or gets caught up in other obligations that prevent you from adopting a pet yourself, fostering can be a good option.

Fostering an animal will help you understand the time commitment involved with having a pet. It’s quite possible that you end up figuring out a way to keep a pet permanently after all. And if not, you can foster pets when you have the time, but you don’t have to accept any new foster pets if your schedule just doesn’t allow it.

Your Costs Are Covered 

The biggest expenses related to having animals are medical bills. There are a lot of older cats and dogs and animals with certain health conditions that require medications and regular visits to the vet. When you foster one of these animals, you don’t have to worry about these medical bills. Generally, the shelter or rescue group will pay for the veterinary costs. In some cases, they’ll even reimburse the foster pet parent for other costs of fostering.

Happy Endings Make It Worth It
It can be sad to say goodbye to an animal who has lived with you for several weeks or even months. On the bright side, saying goodbye to one of your foster pets usually means that there’s a happy ending for the animal. It has finally found its forever home, where it will be loved and cared for. Of course, you’re going to miss the animal, but you can rest assured that it will be in good hands.

In some cases, you might find it too difficult to give an animal away. Fortunately, you always have the option to adopt the pet before someone else does. These animals are lovingly called “foster failures”. If the thought of this pet being adopted by someone else is too abhorrent, then you should take it as a sign and consider adopting it yourself. However, if you do that too many times, you may not have any additional capacities for fostering in the future.

Our rescue organization relies exclusively on foster homes, because we do not have a facility to keep the animals. If you’re interested in fostering an animal, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. You can fill out a foster application here or send an email to Jennifer.popowich@gmail.com to get more information.