well this is a great opportunity for you to spend time with your pet that maybe you've felt a little bad about when you go to work every day or go to school that your pet is home by themselves.
And now this is like the best thing that ever happened to your dogs and cats they can hang out with you all day.
So it's a chance to throw the ball in the yard a few extra times take them out for a frisbee, take them on an extra walk so if you've got a puppy it's a great time to really concentrate on housebreaking.
So we've got some opportunities here improving their health and their weight loss all those goals all those things that you've been meaning to do all along and you've just never quite gotten around to it.
Exercise
We do need to focus a little bit on our pets and how this lockdown is going to go with that making sure that they're getting the exercise and that the care that they need.
Just like us as we sit at home for months and try to avoid social contact, Our pets are kind of going to get crazy and bored so a few points are definitely stay active.
Couple times a day walks them outside even cats if you can get them to your cat's a social cat and will follow a feather or a toy around the house throw them a treat you know kind of do some things to mentally stimulate them so they're not just staring at a wall as we stay at home.
And that's important because we will see a lot of behavioural changes with dogs and cats as boredom sets in so make sure you're keeping them stimulated and that'll help them for.
What To Do In Case You Get Sick
Now CDC came out and made a statement that if you're sick you should try to avoid handling your pet,
But there's been no indication that they can harbour the virus spread the virus serve as a foe might for the virus or any other transmission.
So really if you're ill there's really not a reason that you ain’t just hang up with your dog.
And that's not what CDC is saying but anybody that handles the dog that you've been hanging out with or a cat, If that's the case should wash their hands with soap and water and antibacterial soap and water prior to the time that they handle food touch their faith handle any of your laundry or any of those things.
But we should be washing our hands after we handle our pets anyway so this really shouldn't be much of a change and (if you're not feeling good who's gonna hang)
Now that being said we still need to be taking precautions we should be washing these surfaces first with a soap.
The using a disinfectant soap alone won't kill the product that kill the virus and an antiviral product won't get rid of the organic materials so you need to do a combination of those. but again there's no any transmission that's ever been reported yet with this virus so those puppy snuggles at night.
Being Over Prepared
Now let's talk about kind of preparations as you know the isolation and the quarantines we're not sure how long this was gonna go to last.
what if your pet has a prescription that they need or you know requires vet visits you know what advice do you have on that right.
And like everything we want to be prepared but we don't need to be over-prepared either we're seeing runs at the pharmacy you know their life ain't at the pharmacy or long people are trying to get their prescriptions filled in in advance people are doing six-month supplies of dog food and it's getting a little crazy it's right up there.
Preparing In Advance When You Get Ill
If you live alone you're going to want to make some arrangements that you have a friend a colleague someone else that might be able to help you with the pet a boarding facility some of those things.
So if you're a single person living with your pets by yourselves, you may want to go ahead and make some arrangements that if you become ill you'll take care of somebody else's and vice versa.
You know turn about it's just like when parents you know help with co-parenting and sharing babysitting duties and teaching duties and all those things we can all pitch in and help each other.
So find some people who have compatible dogs or cats with yours see if you need to help them out or you can help them they can help you if not then a boarding facility would be appropriate you may have family member that's more than happy to take them.
But don't wait until that you're really down and out and sick before you start thinking about those alternatives absolutely planning ahead is key.
Should There Be Social Distancing Between You And Your Dog?
No you shouldn't, you know this is a time when we need our cuddles we actually need to spend time with our pets.
But between ourselves and other people's pets? then Yes when you're out on a walk which we can't at the moment because of lockdown you do want to social distance from those other people.
Now as far as that goes there is no evidence that that dogs can pass the disease on to people however if somebody who does have covid-19 coughs or sneezes on your pet then in theory you can transmit that virus for a few hours from the dog's fur to yourself.
Taking Your Dog To A Veterinarian
Some people not taking their pets to the vet because they're too scared to go outside now covid-19 does not affect animals, it is not transmitted by pets at all not by cats not by dogs another that's stupid article from Hong Kong out there it's pure clickbait panic dogs are not vectors for covid-19 transmission.
If your pets are safe your pets are not a health risk to you but certainly skipping regular vet visits are gaining the health care your pet requires because you're concerned about going to the vet is actually a health risk to them.
Now of course if you are isolating yourself and if you're actually feeling sick don't go to the vet don't go outside self-isolation is a very important part of managing this pandemic.
However there are many other ways to get your pet to the vet you can ask your friends or relatives to help you out there are pet taxi services in most cities and a lot of taxi companies will just take your pet to the vet if needed.
So there is a ton of options out there for getting your pet to the veterinarian even if you don't want to go outside yourself or you're sick and can't do it but you certainly do not have to worry about the pets transmitting disease to you of course. There are measures our veterinary clinics like any public service can take to protect their clients.
So what we're doing is we have hand sanitizer that we asked everybody to use once they walk in the door you sanitize your hands done you.
Take Care Of Them
At the moment is that we cannot walk them we cannot take our pets out in public because our pets can't get exercise in the same way they need mental stimulation.
We need to be playing games with them we need to be teaching them new tricks doing new things we need to be giving them food toys you need to be spending more time working with puzzles with them to keep them happy.
There's that as well the main thing I want to say is just don't panic you know panic is gonna cause more harm to our society in individuals than the actual disease has the potential to definitely don't withhold care for your pets because you're afraid that they'll somehow the exposed to the virus there is not an issue.
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