BRINGING YOUR PET HOME

Whether your pet lives indoors or outdoors, creating a clean and healthy environment is important to your pet's health and well-being. Learn how to help your pet feel at home! Welcoming your pet, training your pet, and taking care of your pet's health and vaccinations will help you and your pet live a healthy and happy life together. Be sure to consult your veterinarian for any questions about your pet's needs.

Welcoming Your Pet

Prepare your house for your pet's arrival. A special place should be designated for him/her to eat, sleep, and eliminate. Obtain any necessary accessories (e.g., collar, leash, ID tag, crate, cage, aquarium and dishes) before you bring your pet home. For most pets, you will need to pet-proof your home just as you would child-proof your home to avoid accidents. Harmful cleansers, plants, electrical cords, and breakable objects should be kept out of reach. Open windows should be screened.

Roaming pets are prime candidates for fights with other animals, traffic accidents, and communicable diseases from other animals Their life span can be expected to be considerably shorter as a result.

Most pets are strictly indoor pets and are perfectly content, as long as they have access to food and fresh water at all times. AVMA strongly recommends that for a healthier, happier pet you consider keeping your pets indoors only. If your pet must go outside, make sure you know where it is at all times, that the pet is old enough to manage on its own, that it is identified in some fashion (microchip ID or breakaway collar and tag), current on vaccinations, and not outdoors in extremely cold, hot, or inclement weather.

If you do not want your pet in certain areas of the house, start training it immediately to avoid those areas. When choosing where your pet will sleep, keep in mind some pets are nocturnal animals and will be active at night. Placing soft bedding materials in secluded corners will help your pet to feel at home.

Exams & Vaccines

Pets, like people, can be protected from some diseases by vaccination. Although our site provides basic information about vaccinations for your dog or cat, we invite you to seek advice from our doctors regarding your pet's vaccination needs.

Obedience Training: Puppies and Dogs

Certain pets require obedience training as a part of the domestication process. Dogs are probably the first pet that springs to mind regarding this practice. In fact, it is a MUST for every good family dog, regardless of size or breed! Puppies may start classes when they are as young as 8 weeks old. Obedience training is fun. It helps prevent negative encounters between family members and the dog. It reinforces the bond between the handler(s) and pet. Consult veterinarians, breeders, local training clubs, YMCAs, recreation centers, knowledgeable websites, pet stores and newspaper columns on dogs or pets for details about classes, costs, and requirements.

Housebreaking: Puppies

Begin as soon as the puppy arrives in your home. Young puppies should be taken out immediately upon waking and just before retiring, as well as multiple times during the day. Most puppies cannot "hold it" for long periods so it will be necessary to take the puppy out almost every hour at first (especially after periods of play, naps, and mealtimes), and then gradually increase the amount of time between visits to the "bathroom." Take the puppy to the same area each time and praise it immediately and enthusiastically when it eliminates. Do not play with, or talk to, the puppy until after it has eliminated. Remember, if the puppy does not eliminate outside, its urine and feces are being saved for deposit inside your house!

Litter Box Training: Kittens

A kitten will housebreak itself. Provide it with a clean litter box and make sure the kitten knows where it is located. Edges of boxes should not be too deep for a kitten to navigate and the box should be kept scrupulously clean. A good rule of thumb is that there should be one more litter boxes in the house than the number of cats residing there, and the boxes should be kept in different locations affording some privacy. Choice of litter (clay, sand, recyclable paper) is up to the kitten owner, although some cats appear to have substrate preferences. Many veterinarians recommend staying away from litters with deodorant and baking soda additives as they can irritate your cat's respiratory tract. If your kitten (or cat) isn't using the litter box reliably, it could be because of dirty litter, illness, litter preference, or psychological stress.