Please don't do this to your pet!

When adopting a pet it’s important to educate yourself about the needs of the animal in question, in order to make sure that it is receiving proper care.

On one hand, adoption of a pet often occurs for selfish reasons, to satisfy the needs of the owner (for example as a gift!) with total disregard for the pet’s well-being. Certain animals shouldn’t be kept as pets at all in my opinion. It’s important to realize that animals are sentient beings who can experience fear, pain, and depression just like humans do, and adoption should occur if you know that your pet will live a happy life.

On the other hand, there are many instances when we have the best of intentions for our pet, but may be doing something that annoys or even harms our little bundle of joy.

In this post, I’ve made a small list of things I wish people would stop doing.

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Keeping birds and fish as pets

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This is an easy and straightforward one. Birds fly in the sky, and fish live in rivers or in the ocean. Since you can’t have a sky or an ocean in your house, please refrain from adopting these. Cages and aquariums, no matter how large, are still prisons for your pet. The fact that they were bread in cages and never experienced the wild is not an excuse. A baby born in a prison is still a prisoner.

Here in Panama there is a whole trade of tropical birds such as the red-lored amazon (see picture below), who are caught in the wild and sold as “pets”, usually to end up in tiny cages for the rest of their miserable lives. Their wings are clipped to prevent them from flying away, and it’s truly heartbreaking.

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Whenever I can, I try to talk to people who do this and make them understand that these animals are very unhappy. Having a bird as an accessory to your home is just selfish. It would be the equivalent of cutting someone’s legs to keep them in a wheelchair for life in the corner of your living room.

But it’s not just happening in developing countries. I grew up myself with a poor little pet bird when I was living in Luxembourg. I can only imagine how sad his life must have been, all alone, without being able to see nature.

Taking your dog to crowded and noisy places

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I’m referring to street events or celebrations that involve very loud music, people shouting, and especially fireworks. If you dog is not used to that type of environment, he will feel scared and might even full on panic. Fireworks are extremely scary for dogs. They tend become disoriented, and run away. We know you love your pet and don’t want to be separated from it at any cost, but there’s really no need to put your pup through this. Instead, on July 4th or any other fireworks worthy celebration, leave your pup in a calm, confined space. A crate for instance is usually a good idea.

Cats don’t like change, so if your cat is not used to seeing lots of people and you organize a big party at your house, it will get extremely scared. In this case, put your cat in a quiet room away from the crowd until it’s over.

Rubbing a cat’s belly

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Cats usually dislike it, although there are exceptions to this rule. Out of the 4 cats I own, only 1 of them likes it (see photo of my Ganja aka "the fat cat" below). You may only try this if your cat willingly rolls over and exposes his belly to you.

People usually think that cats enjoy it because dogs do, but they’re two very different species with distinct tastes when it comes to human interaction. Dogs may like playful behavior with a bit rougher petting, but cats prefer calm, and gentle handling. This is important if you have small children in your home.

Taking your cat on vacation with you

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This is a very bad idea. I mention this because I knew of a guy who traveled through Asia with his cat. While the poor thing seemed calm, cats generally don’t like to be away from their home territory and get stressed easily. Unlike dogs, cats are more attached to their territory than their owner, and are extremely averse to change. Traveling to a new place each day must have been torturous for the poor cat, even if she was in the company of her favorite human. Keep in mind that we usually make these decisions for selfish reasons, not because the cat will miss us when we go on vacation.

If you have your cat’s best interest in mind, the best solution would be to get someone to pet-sit for you. This is an awesome website that is well worth the membership fee if you have pets: http://www.petsitters.com/

Feeding your pet human food treats

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Once again, we think that we’re doing our pet a favor, but many human foods are unhealthy and even toxic to cats and dogs. I almost fell from my chair when my one of my best friends told me once that her cat loves Nutella as much as she does. I was glad I arrived on time to tell her that it could kill her cat.

Human foods that are toxic to cats include:

• Alcohol, even in small quantities (can cause liver and brain damage)
• Chocolate, especially dark chocolate (known to cause heart problems and seizures)
• Anything containing caffeine (causes muscle tremors and heart palpitations)
• Milk and other dairy products. Cats are lactose intolerant, and this may be the biggest mistake people make with cats. Cats, just like humans, are not supposed to drink milk that is destined for baby cows. Just remember the saying “not your mother, not your milk!”

Human foods that are toxic to dogs include:

• Onions and garlic (can cause anemia)
• Grapes and raisins (even just one raisin can cause kidney failure)
• Chocolate (same as cats)
• Alcohol (same as cats)
• Caffeine (same as above)
• Milk and dairy: “Not your mom….” You know the rest! (it causes indigestion)
• Macadamia nuts (can cause weakness, depression, tremors, vomiting and fever)
• Cooked and sharp pointy bones. They can get stuck in throats and perforate the stomach. Uncooked large bones are OK

Leaving your dog alone all day long while you work

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While cats don’t really care much about solitude, dogs are social animals and crave interaction with their owners. The rule is easy: if you cannot spend at least half of your day with your dog, please don’t get one. It may be sad for you to accept, but you will avoid making a pup unhappy. Unhappy dogs will either misbehave and destroy your apartment, or become depressed and cry until you come back. I filmed my own dog while I was gone and she was just touring the house to find things to chew on, from the kitchen counter to the living room table. I didn’t share this footage because the quality was too low, sorry about that! But leaving a dog alone is the equivalent of leaving a toddler on his own for hours at a time. You’d expect lots of crying and misbehaving.

If you haven’t seen what dogs do when you leave, check it out the following video:

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Smothering your pet

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Cats like affection in a gentle respectful way, and do not like to be turned over belly up, kissed in the face and smothered in cuddles and hugs. Cats like having their personal space, and won’t enjoy your excessive display of affection. Remember when you were a child and your grandma or aunt used to do that to you? It’s the same for your pet.

Dogs see hugging as an act of dominance and if you wrap your arms around them, they don’t actually enjoy it. A way to tell if your dog doesn’t like hugs, is if he licks his lips, or looks away. These are signs of stress. Some dogs seem to enjoy it when in fact they may just be barely tolerating it.

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Sources:
https://www.vets-now.com/2017/02/foods-poisonous-to-cats/
https://www.vets-now.com/2017/01/foods-poisonous-to-dogs/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/04/26/dont-hug-your-dog--it-hates-it-say-animal-psychologists/
https://www.thespruce.com/things-dogs-cant-stand-1117467

I hope that this article was helpful, and if you know of more things that pets don’t like, feel free to comment below.

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