For many of us, the New Year is an ideal time to make resolutions that aim to improve our health, finances, career, spirituality, relationships, and personal growth. However, when it comes to pet parents this can be a good opportunity to take up resolutions that aim at re-evaluating the health of their furry balls and improve their quality of life.
In this article, we have come up with a few suggestions regarding New Year’s resolutions that can boost your pet’s happiness and health. Let’s go through them one by one.
Prioritize their health checkups
The first and foremost resolution that you should take up this New Year is to prioritize your furry friend’s health check-ups. You should take your pets for annual health check-ups to screen for potential diseases. This will help you spot health problems and offer relevant treatment.
Enroll your pets in pet insurance
What can be better than ensuring the good health of your beloved pet this New Year? This will not only help you save money but also offer your pet optimal healthcare, besides keeping you prepared for the unexpected.
Exercise them more often
Regular exercise is very important for pets. Besides keeping your pal limber, exercise helps reduce behavioral problems such as digging, scratching, biting, and inappropriate elimination. It also strengthens your bond with your pal as it builds their trust in you.
Teach social behavior
Socializing is important for both cats and dogs. It helps them learn to interact with fellow animals and humans, in an ideal way. It also builds their confidence and helps them adapt to situations like travel and interaction with guests.
Give importance to parasite control
Both your canine and feline friends need to be dewormed regularly for them to stay away from internal parasites like hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, and whipworms. Kittens and puppies need to be dewormed at more frequent intervals than adult animals. It is also important to protect them against external parasites like fleas, ticks, and mites to protect your animal companions from infection, inflammation, and transmittable diseases.
Be mindful of your pet’s diet
Not all pet foods available in the market are suitable for your pet. Some of the popular diets contain flavor enhancers, artificial colors, and preservatives which results in not offering adequate nutritional value. This is the reason you should keep a careful watch on the ingredient label while buying foods for your pet. Avoid foods that contain sugar, corn syrup, carrageenan, white flour, butylated hydroxyanisole, MSG, ethoxyquin, sodium nitrite, and titanium dioxide. Take the advice of your vet to decide on a diet plan and the best food to offer your pet as the food requirements vary with the pet’s breed, health, size, and life stages.
Give importance to your pet’s oral health
Plaque often accumulates in animals’ teeth after having a meal. If left unchecked, the plaque hardens into tartar leading to painful dental conditions that include periodontal diseases, gingivitis, and tooth loss. To avoid such unpleasant situations, we advise you to get your pet’s teeth and gum checked at least once a year. You can also practice dental hygiene at home by brushing your pet’s teeth or offering them dental toys and treats to reduce plaque buildup.
Give them proper identification
To ensure the safety of your pet, it is always advisable that you microchip them. Microchipping is a painless and inexpensive procedure where a tiny chip is injected under your pet’s skin. Microchip plays an important role if your pet sneaks out and gets lost. In such situations, its rescuer can take it to a vet, who can scan the microchip and get details including your name, telephone number, and address.
Wrapping Up
As our furry friends are such an important part of our lives, New Year is an ideal time to prioritize their health and well-being. Have you decided on your New Year’s resolutions yet? If not, don’t delay and make one today. We are sure that our suggestions will help you make your choice.