Owning a pet is quite expensive and demanding. While this is the fact, with expenses ranging from regular visits to the physician to other regular expenses, including the food and litter, the feeling of owning a pet is immeasurable. If you are thinking of owning a pet, you need to know several basics you should include in the new pet owner checklist. This ultimate guide will ensure you keep and organize everything as expected and, after that, gain a complete understanding of what comprises pet ownership.
Here are basics to know as a new pet owner.
New Pet Owner Checklist:
Pet Care
Proper pet care is important for the health of your pet. Whether you have bought your pet or adopted it, understanding how you should handle it is the first thing in the new pet owner checklist. It is also crucial since your pet will become part of the family and entirely depend on you for the pet’s health and wellbeing.
We appreciate the unconditional love and warm environment that comes with pets. They demand a lot, but it can’t be compared with how they make us feel. To ensure your pet is happy, try to follow the following tips.
- Feed your healthy pet food: People need healthy food, and so do pets. They need to feed on food rich in nutrients for better and healthy growth. Understand pets feed on different foods for various purposes. Also, it is essential to know that what you feed a young pet is going to be different than what you would feed an adult pet. You may have a pet with special diet conditions; you also need to go the extra mile and provide for it. Although you should feed your healthy pet food, that doesn’t mean little but healthy food. It should have the right amount and be healthy as well. Let the food be not more than enough. Overfeeding your pet would cause obesity, which would cause health-related problems like heart disease, renal-related problems, and many more. Feed your healthy pet food but at the same time watch your feeding options to avoid other conditions that could trigger illnesses.
- Offer your pet a safe and cozy shelter: It is a common thing to have threats to your pets in the places you live. Things like cars and predators can threaten the lives of your pets. It is the reason why you need shelter for your pet. Do not just provide a shelter but let it also be cozy. Remember, it should be happy to make you happy, and it all starts from a better and cozy shelter.
Get Your Pet to an Animal Doctor for Treatment
With many pet owners understanding that pets are part of the family, it is ideal to have this tip in the new pet owner checklist. And just like a human being, pets too need regular checks to keep their health at par. Apart from the regular checkup, many feel ill, and having an animal doctor pending is ideal. Monitoring the health of your pet is crucial to keep it strong and resistant to common illness. By maintaining regular visits to the animal doctors, they can detect any illness before it occurs to your pet. Among the standard services that your animal doctor would conduct include:
- Heartworm: This is an illness common to pets, and it is transmitted from one pet to another through a mosquito bite. When your pet is bitten, it can stay dormant for six months without showing any signs. That is why you need an animal doctor ready for a regular check of your pet. A disease like heartworm can only be detected through blood screening.
- Dentistry: A dental-related problem has been a problem when it comes to pets, especially puppies. Some go to the extent of dying due to complicated dental health issues. There is a stage in the life of a dog that needs critical care when it comes to dental care. The dental-related problem can even enter the bloodstream and eventually attack vital organs in the body. With the animal doctor, you can be taking your pet for regular checkups.
Hire Wildlife Removal Service
The fact that pets can’t be indoors all through remains a challenge to keep your pet safe. But there is an alternative for that. You can hire wildlife removal services to have destructive animals out of the environment. Unlike animal control, a government-sponsored activity, a wildlife removal service helps pet owners protect their pets from abuse on fees.
They mainly deal with animals or issues caused by non-domestic animals. If you have encountered any animal that may cause a threat to your pet, you can inform them of the animals in the neighborhood. They will come to investigate the situation. If they happen to prove the allegations, the moment you alert them, they prepare for the animal evacuation using methods like animal trapping.
Carpet Cleaning
In the new pet owner checklist, carpet cleaning is another tip that you should not miss out on. People who live with pets in the same house can forget that a pet can have an accident in the living room. That is not the issue until you think of cleaning your house. People who find them in a more complicated situation are people with carpet in their living room. And this is why these tips should appear in the new pet owner checklist. Unlike their counterpart with other kinds of flooring, carpets are demanding and challenging to wash, especially with filthy carpets that may require high-quality cleaning equipment.
Keeping your carpet clean is essential, especially for your loving friend who spends most of their time on the carpet. So there is a need to keep them clean to enhance the comfort of your pets.
Tips to pet owners with carpets
- Never feed your pet on the carpet: Giving your pet food on the carpet is one way for your carpet to get dirty. Ensure you feed them on a floor that is easier to wash in case of any messes. Also, ensure you don’t treat your pets on the carpet. Some of the treating substance sticks on the carpet and can give a hard time when washing.
- Train your pets on bathroom manners: While training your pet on matters to do with the bathroom, always ensure you don’t have carpet on the floor. They may cause ‘accidents’ on it before they get used. Otherwise, have an absorbent mat on your carpet until you’re sure they have mastered the art.
- Consider professional cleaning: While trying to keep your living room clean, you can also consider the general hygiene of your friends by considering hiring professional cleaners to clean your carpet. A professional cleaner will easily clean what you would find hard to clean. They use some of the effective machines and detergents you may find expensive to buy as an individual. While you can have a professional clean your carpet, be careful of the chemicals and detergents used. Some can cause permanent damage to the carpet.
Chain Fence
Chain fencing is a pet care tip that is most underrated in the new pet owner checklist. It is essential, and that’s why even rescue organizations and other responsible pet breeders insist on having a fenced-in home before buying or adopting a pet. There are several reasons why they insist on having a fenced-in home. A fenced-in home keeps the pet away from the road and away from other dangers like being hit by vehicles. A chain fence also keeps unwanted critters out.
While fencing can prevent and keep your pet from several dangers, you should be mindful of the height of the fence to put in place. Some pets can’t jump over a four-foot fence, and others can jump over as high as a six fee fence.
Also, fencing should be done in a more advanced manner because the pets are natural diggers. When fencing, ensure you have a wire underground, three to six inches, to tame that behavior. This is common with people using electric fencing. Even if you are not using the electric shock, have the underground wire connect to a source of electricity. That shock by the electric wire will keep off the pet from digging.
Bee and Wasp Removal
Another thing to include in the new pet owner checklist is the management of bees and wasps. Bees and wasps are important as far as our ecosystem is concerned. They help, especially the bees, in the growth of different agricultural products. They are pollinators of our plants, and without them, most plants would not be able to produce fruit. Although they are beneficial for the environment, there comes a time when they can be a danger to use and our pets. That’s when you would want to call in a professional for bee & wasp removal.
If you have a beehive, swarm, or nest of bees in your home, they can be a threat to pets, especially to pets that like climbing. Firstly, determine the type of bee since there are some that are harmless. After this, decide what to do with them. Following the benefits that come with them, we can’t afford to destroy and kill them. It is advisable to get a professional bee and wasp removal service.
The beekeeper will relocate the bees to their beehives to produce honey. However, there are exceptional circumstances when destroying them is allowed. Such situations include when they are so close to where people are conducting their activities.
Animal Emergency Service
If there is one thing that you can’t avoid as a pet owner, it is an accident. Pets are known to play, jump, and eat just about anything. As a result of these things, you can expect an emergency anytime. Make sure the keep a phone number on hand for any animal emergency serivce.
Get 24-hour emergency care for your pets
You can do this by talking to an animal doctor about emergency protocols. Find an alternative doctor in case they are off duty. It is also ideal for keeping their phone number, address of the emergency health clinic, and any other detail that can be used to reach out to them.
Get a Primary Care Physician for You
Not only does your pet need a doctor, but you do too. Once we get a new pet, we realize we may have allergies, or get scratched, or bit. In these types of cases, you’ll want to make sure you have a primary care physician that you can call. You want to make sure you are healthy to take care of your pet.
Being a new pet owner should never sound so complicated. It is just a matter of time, and you will no longer be a beginner but a veteran full of knowledge. You only need a few things in your new pet owner checklist to ensure you are guided and doing the right thing.
If you’re starting as a new pet owner, have these tips in the new pet owner checklist: pet care, animal doctor, animal treatment, wildlife removal service, carpet cleaning, chain fence, bee and wasp removal, animal emergency service, primary care physician, and emergency health clinic. By observing these tips, no doubt you will have smooth interaction with your pet.