Can’t We All Just Get Along?: Introducing the New Fur Kid
Adding to your fur-family can be such an exciting, overwhelming, stressful and adventurous time for all two-legged and four-legged friends. With so many emotions running through everyone, it can make bringing a new fur-friend home quite the challenge. Wondering how the new addition will adjust to life with us to worrying about everyone getting along, it can make the adventure scary and unappealing to pet parents; but if things are taken slow and everyone is prepared in advance, the thought of that new furry addition can begin to be tipped towards the fun and exciting side. There are lots of things that can be done to help alleviate the stress of bringing a new pet into the household; it just takes some patience, calmness and willingness to keep trying. And above all else, remember that bringing a new furry addition home requires time and patience. Not everything will transpire within the span of minutes and not everything will go according to plan. So while you find your center of balance and serenity, we have some general tips to help calm the stress of adding a new pet to the house.
Be prepared BEFORE you bring your new pet home. Make sure your new resident has their own bed, food and water dishes, toys, etc. Having their own things around the house will help them to feel more comfortable and (hopefully) less likely to compete for resources.
Bring your new pet home when YOU have plenty of time to help them settle in. Long weekends are an ideal time to bring home a new pet so you don’t have to rush anything with you or your new addition. This will give you ample time to start bonding with your new best friend as well as some time for your new addition to settle in and get adjusted to their surroundings.
Give your new pet lots of time and space to explore. Before doing any introductions, let your new addition explore the house, find their area and calm down a bit before meeting everyone else, including other four-legged furry friends. This gives them the opportunity to explore their new surroundings on their own (with your supervision of course) and without any distractions of other people and pets for them to worry about. Everything will be new for them, so give them some space and time to themselves to figure some things out.
Let the scents be the first introduction. Let all pets involved get used to each other’s scent before that first face-to-face meeting. You can swap blankets, bedding or just use fabric that has been wiped on a pet to let everyone take some time to sniff out the new scents that will be coming into the house. This will give each pet time to ‘investigate’ the smell before seeing the culprit.
Keep the introductions very controlled. You want to see everyone succeed, so keep in mind you want to keep all dogs on a leash while introducing them to other pets, especially to a cat. Make sure new and old pets have escape routes in the house that they can use if they need to quickly leave during introductions.
Lay on the positive reinforcement like crazy! This should include lots of verbal praise and treats, which will help the pets to associate each other’s presence with good things.
Remember to never force relationships. Give all pets time and space when introducing a new friend to the house and never try to force anything - it can always backfire and leave you with a damaged relationship. Remember that every animal’s personality is different, so let them go at their own pace. This is also a reminder for you to have some extra patience with attempting to form a bond between the old and new residents of the household.
Do not punish your pets for growling, hissing or trying to fight with each other during the introduction phase. This can be hard because your first instinct when a pet does one of these is to scold them, but these behaviors are actually completely normal when animals meet for the first time. Reprimanding any of them for their behavior could backfire and leave a pet thinking ‘punishment’ is associated with the other one.
Keep all pet’s food and water bowls in separate places. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be permanent! But until everyone can control their feelings of jealousy and competitiveness with resources, the best thing to do is separate those bowls to keep everyone comfortable and feeling secure.
Stick to your routine as much as possible. Continue to feed, walk and play with your pets as per your normal schedule to show the new addition the household routine as well as keeping stress levels and tension down between everyone. Just keep going like it’s a normal day, except you’ll have one more furry friend to share the day's adventures with!
Remember, everyone needs some extra TLC during this time of newness. Make sure you give all of the pets in your household lots of attention and love with some reassurance that everything will be okay. Everyone is going through the change together, but we all handle change differently so don’t skimp out on those extra belly rubs, head scratches and cuddles on the couch!
General tips are a great place to start when thinking about bringing a new pet into the house; preparation is definitely a key player when you’re adding paws to your family. When it comes time for the face-to-face introductions, knowing the certain needs of each animal involved can help make the situation progress towards a more positive and promising outlook.
Introducing a Dog to a Dog
While we love when our canine companions make new friends at the dog park, it is a completely different ballgame when you bring a new friend home for your canine companion to live with. Before bringing that new dog home, bring home something with the new pups scent on it so your current dog can be introduced to a smell before a face; this will help your current dog cope a little better when the face-to-face happens. It is also important to set up the new dogs area with a blanket that already has their scent on it so they can easily find their area while helping them to adjust to the new environment.
The initial introduction should happen in a neutral area that is unfamiliar to both dogs, such as a park or a large outdoor grassy area; this will help your current pup with those feelings of territory being threatened or invaded. Each dog should be on a leash and you will need as many people as there are dogs so one person is not holding all leashes. The key here is to stay relaxed and in control of this introduction so the dogs don’t pick up on any tension or apprehension you may have running through you. Remember to never force an interaction; just walk them near each other for a few minutes to observe their behaviors with each other. They may ignore each other, which is completely fine! Just stay positive and give lots of verbal praise when appropriate behaviors are shown.
Allow the dogs to sniff each other for a few seconds with some praise if there are positive outcomes coming from the dogs. Keep the sniffing of each other brief before separating them and leading each away for a small walk, followed by a simple command and a treat to solidify their good behavior with the situation. Bring them back together to reacquaint them and continue to let the dogs interact with each other for short periods of time until they tolerate one another. Once they show signs of tolerating each other, bring them home and give each dog their own food and water bowls, bedding and toys. With more than one pup in the house, always make sure to spread the love evenly between them so as not to stir up any feelings or jealousy or feeling left out.
One very important aspect of the introduction process is to watch all of the dogs body language and movements. If you see loose body movements and muscles, relaxed open mouths, play bows and other playful postures, things seem to be going well and in the right direction. However, if you start to notice stiff and slow body movements, hair standing up on their backs, tensed mouths or teeth baring and growls or prolonged staring, take some caution and start to put some distance between the two. Use the tactic of removing each for a brief walk and command to see if you can try again with some positive behaviors.
Introducing a Dog to a Cat
While cats and dogs will always be looked at as natural enemies, it is possible for both to co-exist under the same roof together, happily. Although this introduction is not as in-depth as a dog meeting a dog, there are still some rules that should be followed when bringing a dog home to a cat.
As is with any new introduction, make sure you take things slowly and cautiously when it comes to cats since they can be skittish creatures. If you can, bring home an item with the new dog’s scent on it so that your cat can learn about the dog through smell first and start to acquaint itself with the new smell that will be filling up the house soon. Place all of the cat’s things somewhere that the dog cannot reach to separate which toys belong to whom and always always always make sure there is an escape route for your kitty so they can get away from the dog and feel safe. For that first face-to-face meeting, keep the dog on a leash so your cat has more of a free roam to escape when need be. Whenever you need to leave the house, keep the dog confined to an area so your cat has some space to come and go freely without having to go past the new dog to get to their litter box, toys or bowls.
Introducing a Cat to a Cat
When bringing a new cat friend home to your current cat, keep in mind that cats are extremely territorial and dislike change. With that in mind, one of the best ways to introduce cats is through a closed door at first, working your way up to cracking open the door and then trying a pet gate (if you have one or want to get one). While it may seem odd, feeding your cats on either side of the closed door also works well when doing introductions. This is a great way for them to hear and smell each other without seeing one another while associating something good (aka being fed) with being in each other’s presence. It’s all about keeping things positive!
When you do have that fateful face-to-face introduction, don’t be surprised if there is some hardcore staring, hissing and even minor squabbles that occur. However, cats can’t always “work things out on their own,” so make sure you don’t let them attack each other because their aggression can escalate, ultimately leading to a damaged relationship that will need to be repaired.
You can help reduce the tension in the air by placing litter boxes throughout the house so each cat has plenty of places to ‘escape’ to without being harassed by the other. You can also make sure there are plenty of vertical territories that each cat can access to get away from each other, such as cat shelves, cat trees and window perches. This helps each cat understand that they can find a calm and relaxing spot for just them to relax without anyone else in their area.
Adding paws to the house can get a bit tricky, but with some patience, preparation and positivity, expanding your fur family can be such a great and fulfilling time for everyone. Always keep in mind that the goal is to make each and every fur-iend feel safe, secured and still loved despite bringing a new house guest home.
Although adding to your household can be overwhelming, we at Going Mutts Pet Services, LLC want to help take that stress away and give you more peace of mind with all of your pets! Let us help with some daily dog walking to give your pup that much needed exercise throughout the day while also checking in on your cat to make sure all love is spread equally between family members. We offer dog walking, pet sitting and daily dog/cat check-ins to keep everyone feeling safe, secure and satisfied with leaving their pets home. Contact us today for a FREE Meet ‘n Greet to customize your pets needs.
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