You have adopted a new pet…congratulations! Get your new pet started off on the right paw with these basic behavioral and health care pointers:
• Be gentle and patient—animals in shelters are usually under tremendous amounts of stress. They are often missing their old home and territory and may be disoriented from the move from the old home to the shelter and now to a new home.
• Bonding—it is important to bond with your new pet and assure them that this will be a lifelong home. Give a little extra attention and spend as much time with him or her as possible.
• Training—take training slowly at first. Establishing a bond and gaining the trust of your new pet is the most importance. Train with patience and quiet firmness. Be consistent—all family members must use the same commands.
• Nutrition—many shelter pets will have had very poor nutrition—some will be too fat or too thin, depending on the circumstances from where they came. Work with your veterinarian to determine what your new pet should weigh and make a feeding plan.
• Veterinary care—some pets that end up in shelters have been previously neglected. Many shelters will have evaluated a pet’s general health and identified any pre-existing conditions with bloodwork, urine and fecal testing. It is also important to get your pet on a routine schedule for heartworm and parasite evaluation. It is not uncommon that newly adopted pets will have problems with stress that commonly appears as digestive upset or skin breakouts.