Pet Tip For You: Back from Spring Break Blues

Your kids are back at school and Motor the dog and Theo the cat are showing signs of being stressed out. Motor marked on the edge of the bed this week, something he never does, and Theo is yowling and pacing. To help you and your pet with the transition, Kit Jenkins, a pet behavior consultant, offers the following advice:

Importance of routine: Remember that for pets, routine is first and foremost in making them feel safe. When your schedule changes, consider the impact on your pets. To transition smoothly, you can gradually adjust the schedule back to your pre-summer-vacation routine.

Feeding times are important: If the pets were fed at 9:00am all summer and the kids leave for school now at 8:15 am, then put the pets’ food bowls down right before you leave for school, rather than when the kids first get out of bed. If you feed pets twice a day, schedule dinnertime as close as you can to the usual evening feeding.

New use for dirty laundry: When kids head off to school, try leaving one piece of their dirty laundry in the dog bed and wherever the cat hangs out. The scent of their favorite kid is very comforting to pets.

No attention deficit: At night encourage your children, who may be busier than ever, to spend the usual amount of quality time with their pets. Make it a family project to devote a block of time to pets for walking and attention, such as a favorite game. This will be reassuring to the pets who may be off-balance from a new schedule.

Be patient with your pets, and sensitive to their need for routine, and they will adjust to your new back-to-school schedule quickly.

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