Animal Health and Your Home: Helpful Tips

When you have a child there are certain precautions you take to make sure that your home is child-safe, but did you realize that you need to do the same for your pet? Hundreds of pets are injured or killed every year because of things in the home that are taken for granted. It’s not that it’s negligence on the pet owner’s part or anything but rather just not knowing what seemingly harmless household items could prove dangerous to a pet.

It doesn’t matter how well trained a pet may be, if they see or smell something interesting, there’s a chance that they are going to want to investigate it further and unlike humans who would use their hands to touch an item, most animals just prefer to put things in their mouths! This is one reason why you need to do a sweep of the things that are within your pet’s reach, like plants on tables, bottles of cleaning supplies left in the corner or even just leaving your toilet lid up! That’s actually one of the worse things you can do if you have a dog or a cat because there is a risk of falling in and if you happen to use one of those bowl cleaners that automatically circulate with every flush, you are putting your pet at risk of being poisoned if it drinks from the bowl.

Another thing that most pet owners never bother to give a second thought to is their medication. Luckily, medicine cabinets are usually up high enough that even the most agile of Jack Russell terriers couldn’t get up there, but what about where you actually take your meds? We’ve all at one point or another dropped a pill or a vitamin onto the floor either in our groggy flu-induced haze or simply because we were rushing around in the morning. Well that vitamin or capsule lying on the floor looks to a dog as good as a smarty looks to a child and you can be darn sure that your dog will scoop it up in his tongue quicker than quick! A mistake that takes only a second to make could pose a serious and maybe even life threatening risk to an animal’s health. Being careful not to drop anything when your pet is around is a must, as is making sure to pick up anything on the floor that you don’t want them putting in their mouths.

Taking the time to consider all of the possible threats to animal health is just as important and necessary as providing your pet with a warm and comfortable place to sleep, food and water. When you decide to own a pet you are agreeing to be responsible for that animal in every way. You owe it to your pet and yourself to consider every aspect of that animal’s health from the obvious right down to the not so obvious. A little caution will go a long way in giving your pet the wonderful life that they deserve.