I recently had the honor and pleasure of speaking on the air with the amazing Maria Milito. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marias-mutts-stuff/id1481494152 . Not only is she a longtime radio DJ for I Heart Media’s Q104.3 mid-days, but she is also the creator and host of Maria’s Mutts and Stuff, a podcast that shines a spotlight on many things animal. She’s an extremely helpful advocate for animals in need, has a giant heart and is just a very cool chick. I got to talk a bunch of vet stuff with Maria, including the sensitive topic of when to get a new pet after the loss of one (I delved into this deeper in my post “Good bye old friend, Hello new buddy” https://theblendedvet.com/goodbye-old-friend-hello-new-buddy/ ). But one of the very excellent questions she asked me was, “what advice would you give to someone considering becoming a first time pet owner?”
Being that we just recently experienced the yearly giant onslaught of gift buying at the end of the year and a lot of rando pets being purchased (possibly some without ample forethought), I figured it’s a great time to expound a little further on what I answered to Maria.
I think about getting a pet for the first time as being quite similar to having your very first human child. Nothing on earth can truly prepare you and everyone will tell you beforehand just how much your life will change. There will be smug annoying smiles while they say “you think you’re ready but you don’t know what you’re in for,” as some “friends” take pleasure in inducing fear of the unknown. Some people might infer you’ve never really ever been truly alive or experiencing the world until you’ve owned a pet. And you might reply that you don’t really think it will change your day to day too much. “I mean we will still go out and travel and all…won’t we?” you’ll ask, as a weird sinking feeling invades your body.
Are you ready for either of these???
The truth is, owning a pet for the first time is different for everyone, just like having your first kid. Yes, there are those who will still go to bars and zip line in Bali and bring their babies and doggies along and others who transform overnight from naughty fun wild child to uptight, the-air-we-breathe-must-be-organic boring-as-fuck adults who will never again venture outside the metaphorical bubble of their world (which they wish was an actual physical bubble). Who’s to say which camp you will fall in as a first time pet owner? Maybe, and hopefully, somewhere in between.
Take us to Bali, we wanna zip line!
What are the basics???
I mentioned lifestyle changes above, and yes, there will be some modifications to your life when you get a pet. A pet is not a piece of furniture and they need food, water and love. That love doesn’t just mean a pat on the head or a scratch under the chin a day, but encompasses providing them ample exercise (which can also indirectly force you to get off your ass and exercise too), giving them set-aside chunks of the day for cuddles and attention, and bringing them for their preventative health checks. This means establishing a relationship with a GP vet, getting them vaccinated and getting them “snip-snipped.” It also means bringing them for sick visits when needed.
What kind of food to give them, you ask? I’ve worked with vet nutritionists over the years and they themselves advocate a high quality commercial pet food that is balanced. And these are highly educated vets who are boarded in internal medicine and have a special credentialed focus in animal nutrition. There are a lot of pet food companies out there preying on pet owners’ fears and anxieties as a driver for them to purchase extremely expensive “pure” foods, some of which actually do harm. A line of “reasoning” I’ve heard is that dogs are just domesticated wolves and cats are just domesticated wild cats so they should all eat raw meat. The truth is, domesticated animals would not have evolved naturally without our interference. A Yorkie is not a wolf, nor is a hairless Sphinx cat a lioness. An English bulldog was simply not meant to be, but people love them, find them to be delightful companions, and so here we are.
There are a few high quality commercial pet food companies (Hill’s, Royal Canin and Purina) tailored for certain sizes and ages and breeds of pets, who also carry special prescription diets for specific conditions and health issues. I don’t have any direct affiliation with any of these companies, it’s just what the vet nutritionists I’ve worked with stand by, due to high quality control and backing by real science. Pet food does not have to be fancy or expensive (unless there’s a specific need for a prescription diet), I promise. Whatever food you choose, make sure that if it’s something new that they weren’t already on when you adopted them, you follow a gradual transition to the new food. This means mixing a little more of the new diet in every day. A good general guideline is first two days 1/4 (a quarter of the meals should have the new food), 3rd and 4th day 1/2, 5th and 6th day 3/4 and then on the 7th day you’ve transitioned fully to the new stuff. If you’re sensing an intolerance to the new diet with vomiting or diarrhea, make sure to slow the transition and contact your vet.
Don’t Play Pet Roulette
Speaking of becoming boring (and I totally acknowledge how dry this is about to get), one of the most important things when adopting your first pet is obtaining health insurance. The cost of vet care is ever-rising and the fact that many pet owners must reconcile their pets’ medical needs with their ability to buy groceries or pay their rent or mortgage is a real heart-wrenching thing. Having medical insurance for a pet strips an entire ugly layer of consideration from the medical decision-making process. There’s a copay/ deductible depending on your plan and that’s it (aside from your monthly payments, don’t forget those!). The fact is, it’s a gamble, and you *might* never need that insurance. The stats say, however, that you most likely will. And once you need it for, say, an expensive abdominal surgery to remove a used tampon obstructing your pet’s intestines (embarrassing AND costly) you won’t be able to get it for that specific incident after the fact, as this is now a pre-existing condition. We look at our pets as members of our family and so, just as we wouldn’t roll the dice on insurance for our kids, we shouldn’t for them either. I am still told by lamenting clients that they wish there was “such a thing as insurance for pets” and I get to proudly educate them that, in fact, there are about a zillion pet insurance companies now. I do get asked which is the best one and I think it depends on your pet and what the specific plans offer. I would steer you towards those companies who have set up a relationship with vet hospitals and will pay direct to the hospital, so you don’t even need to get reimbursed. This also takes a huge layer of worry off the pet parent’s plate. I have seen the look of relief on the pet owners faces when they can breathe and say yes and don’t have to figure out how to make it work and still pay their other bills. So I say, just do it, and renew it, even if you haven’t had to use it. Chances are the second you don’t, you will need it and have deep regrets. Also, if companies try to urge you to include a wellness plan, it’s not generally worth it, so stick to their accidents and illnesses policies.
Here’s a link to a side-by-side comparison to help get you started: https://www.usnews.com/insurance/pet-insurance
Pet Proofing
If you’ve never owned a pet before, you may have no clue what common items in our homes could be toxic to them. If you’ve subscribed to my blog, you have access to my pretty comprehensive list of how to puppy proof your home full of kids. https://blended-vet.myflodesk.com/puppy-guide.
For cats, you want to avoid lily flowers in the house (they can cause kidney failure, see my old post https://theblendedvet.com/why-we-should-suddenly-be-pitying-cats-part-2/ ) and allowing access to string objects (yarn, thread, used dental floss) that especially kittens love to play with and potentially ingest, which can cause life-threatening intestinal obstructions (did you get that insurance yet??). Last Christmas, we got our middle son a pair of bonded kittens. I recommend doing this if you need motivation for taking down your Christmas tree the very second Christmas is over. Those kittens were literally running up the tree and trying to play with and ingest every ornament. This year they could really care less and we left our tree up so long I’m surprised it didn’t spontaneously burst into flames and burn our house down.
Meet Margaret Cheeks and Christopher Cringle
Other home considerations and care
When selecting your pet, think about your home environment and whether or not it would be conducive to a specific pet or even any pet at all? Do you have the time it takes to train a puppy (it’s a lot of work and frankly has been compared to having a newborn baby in terms of their need for attention and the related insomnia)? Or would you rather adopt an adult or even a senior dog, one who might come with some mental or physical “baggage” but is likely to be less labor intensive?
Senior acquisition Bill Nye,the Science Puggle
If you work long hours and are gone the majority of the day, then perhaps a pet is not for you, or maybe you just need a new job. There are ways around this, such as doggy daycare, dog walkers and getting more than one pet at a time (such as a bonded kitten pair like us suckers did). Sometimes long stretches where there is no human around is actually preferable to a cat and some of our felines might sigh with disgust when you come home after a long day thinking “oh great, why is this fucker back invading my house again so soon???” I remember during Covid when we were home so much more, I constantly got the impression our cats wanted to know what the hell was going on, while our dogs were beyond the moon happy for our increased presence.
If you see a super anxious dog at a shelter and are told they “don’t do well with kids” and you have a bunch of kids, listen to what you’re being told. You can sometimes see the anxiety of certain animals right away and if your house is a constant chaotic maelstrom like ours, then it’s definitely best to choose a different new friend. Even in a quiet house and even with a chill pet, providing an area where they can retreat to and feel secure is very important. Crate-training dogs by keeping the crate door open and giving them the highest value treats only when they go into the crate can make it a positive experience and help with any fear or insecurities. And if you’re adopting a specific breed, do your research to make sure you have the environment they require, for example a herding dog who has boundless energy and will need a yard or a large space to pretend to herd things around in to their heart’s content.
Hampy is the exact opposite of anxious around kiddos
Crate-training Fallon +/- Shep
For cats, making sure they always have a clean litter box and a quiet place to take their peeps and poops is very important. A general but slightly weird rule by vet behaviorists is that for every cat you have, you should have that many litter boxes, plus one more. This means if you have one cat, you should have two boxes. If you have 18 cats, you should have 19 boxes. But you should also not have 18 cats. Keeping the boxes in quiet places and, ideally, in different areas of the house. When bringing a cat home for the first time, also consider installing Feliway plug-in’s (like a Glade air freshener but emitting synthetic versions of feline pheromones instead). These calm cats and can help with their urinating habits, scratching, interactions with other living beings in the house (be they two or four-legged), and just any stressor in general. Another product I like is the Sentry Calming Collar which does the same thing, it’s just always on the cat so they are never away from its smoothing effects.
What about the world of birds and exotic pets?
Birds are often a very long investment, sometimes even outliving their owners and an understanding of their husbandry/care is extremely important. A new bird owner will often make the mistake of petting their bird’s back lovingly only to be shocked to find out they are stimulating her to lay eggs, as the bird is interpreting this as mating behavior. They can subsequently lay so many eggs their calcium levels plummet and they can become very sick in various ways. So yes, in this case, unintended foreplay with your bird can be fatal.
Are you my soulmate???
However, birds are social and need a few hours of interaction a day, just the right kind (not x-rated) and access to toys so that they don’t get bored.
A bored bird often takes to self-destructive behaviors like feather-picking and is a sad thing to see. Many reptiles require feedings infrequently, depending on species and developmental stage) and it’s unclear how much they care if we lived or died so depending on the species, could also be an option if you are not home a lot. But their husbandry is super important as well, and I would recommend thoroughly educating yourself on what type of heating, light, and feeding they need. Most every medical issue we see with reptiles is one where a new owner just didn’t know any better and could have been avoided had they been properly informed from the get-go. This goes for pet rabbits and rodents and other various “exotics.” These are tempting bait when you’re walking through a pet store with your child and they almost pee themselves with excitement over the prospect of taking home an adorable bun-bun (Hello, Easter). I would encourage these to not be impulse buys like that cute but weird hat you bought once (and let’s admit it–you never wore), but rather a serious convo with your family and a pre-education on what it means to own that particular creature. We obtained a jumping spider last year at my youngest son Shep’s request. I did my research first since they weirdly didn’t have a class on spiders in vet school. Luke is pretty low maintenance and I’m 100% sure he doesn’t have any attachment to us. But we love watching him hop around his enclosure and suck the innards out of worms like the cutest vampire ever. His needs are few but Shep loves him and it’s a great pet to start to teach kids how to care for another living creature, if you can stomach an arachnid in your house. Shep turns on his light every morning and turns it off in the evening and is part of his infrequent feeding and watering and enclosure cleaning.
Luke’s Lair
Traveling
You will also have to consider your pet’s care in your absence when you go on holiday (kennel, in-home pet sitter or will you call in a favor with a family member?) or whether or not you’re willing to make it a pet friendly vacation. This would include how they are transported to your destination, securing lodging that is pet friendly, and making sure they are up to date on vaccines. Are you going to stay at the home of a friend or family member who also has pets? What’s the effect and interaction likely to be? If your puppy isn’t fully potty-trained yet, will it be ok if it pisses on your host’s fancy new rug? Dogs are the most portable pets and all other small animal pets would probably rather be left in their familiar environment. This makes an in-home pet-sitter the best option. One of the best tips is to ask vet techs and assistants at your veterinarian’s office if they ever moonlight as pet-sitters. They are animal lovers with medical knowledge and an easy conduit to vet care should the need arise in your absence. I had a nice side hustle in high school pet-sitting for clients of the vet hospital I worked for and I didn’t mind staying over in their homes because, hey, doesn’t every high school kid want to get out of their house as much as possible?
Camping with Fallon
Owning a pet for the first time ever is exciting, scary, thrilling and, yes, life-altering. Doing research ahead of time and proactively bringing them into an environment conducive to their needs is paramount to success. It’s getting a new member of your family, and at least this one you don’t have to carry in your uterus for 9 months and then painfully poop out.
And one last thing—if you can, please adopt and don’t shop. There’s so many pets out there that desperately need homes. I know Maria fully agrees with me there. She’s beyond supportive of North Shore Animal League’s no-kill mission, year after year. Go Maria! As I told her during our chat, she has it figured out—music and pets, there’s not much better in this world.
As always, I’m happy to answer questions about your new pets or anything else vet related, so send them my way!
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