When the kiddos go back to school, it doesn’t just affect the kiddos. Parents have to adjust to not having kids at home during the day and to driving kids to and from school, games and other school related activities. But there are other household members who notice when the kids are gone – those are your pets. Here, we share back to school tips for pets to help your fur babies adjust from Dr. Kurt Venator.
5 Back To School Tips For Pets Experiencing Separation Anxiety
Your pet might suffer from separation anxiety when the kids go back to school. In fact, up to 20% of dogs suffer from separation anxiety and up to 50% of senior dogs do. How can you tell if your dog is suffering from separation anxiety?
Here are 5 telltale signs that your dog might be suffering from separation anxiety.
– urinating or defecating in the wrong places
– excessive barking
– chewing
– decrease in appetite
– pacing
If your dog does any of the above things, he or she may be experiencing separation anxiety. Here are the Top 5 Tips to Address Separation Anxiety in Pets During Back-to-School Season by Dr. Kurt Venator, Veterinarian for Purina.
1. Get your pet into a routine. Pets love routine because it makes them feel secure. I love routines, too. When kids are around during the summer, pets get used to having them to play with and socialize with. When they go back to school, this can make cats and dogs sad, confused and lonely. Your pet may experience separation anxiety. You can ease your pet into this transition by replacing the old schedule with a new one. Make sure to devote time to play with your pets after work or be sure to keep as consistent a schedule as possible.
2. Burn off some energy. If your pet becomes destructive {chewing, howling, etc.} it could mean that your pet is experiencing separation anxiety. Take your dog for a walk to help use up some of the energy they might spend doing these destructive behaviors. You can also play with your cat at night. Cats love to chase feathers, play with a ball or yarn, chase toy mice, etc.
3. Create an interactive environment. Pets love interactive toys and this would be a great time to get your pet a new one. This helps to distract them and mentally stimulate them. While the kids are away, they might notice how much they miss them less because of their new stimuli. Dogs love chew toys and cats love play areas with scratching posts, cat furniture and more. This things can help ease the separation anxiety in your pets.
4. Turn up the tunes and start with baby steps. My dog, Daisy, loves to watch TV as I am sure many of your pets do, too. Also, many animals love music. When you leave the home, consider leaving some soothing music on for your pets. This can help distract your pets from other noises that might make them anxious or think that someone is home when they are not. Some animal shelters play calming music to help their pets relax. You might also want to jingle your car keys occasionally to help your pets get used to noises that could increase anxiety.
5. Spend time with your pet. When you get home, think of your pets. You have had a long day, but so has your pet. Your pet may have been sitting at home feeling lonely all day waiting for you to come home. Be sure to spending some quality time with your pet to let them know you love them. Always be sure to show your pets that you care.
For more information, please visit www.petcentric.com.
These are great tips! luckily none of my dogs have separation anxiety!
These are such great tips! I am not even sure if my dog noticed that my boys are gone all day LOL. Either that, or he’s like me and really enjoying the peace and quiet 🙂
I love these tips!! I hate leaving the dog at home. If it were up to me we would take him everywhere. I am glad that I get to work at home and that makes puppy happy!
I think that is my favorite thing about working at home. I get to hang out with my dogs all day. 😀
It’s a good thing I don’t have kids. If I did, I think my goofball dogs would loose their minds.
I feel SO lucky that none of my animals have had separation anxiety issues. It’s so hard on them and on their owners.
Awe, that is so sad for a pet to have separation anxiety. I totally get it. So glad that you have helpful tips for this!
I have a friend with a dog that absolutely freaks when the family goes anywhere. I’ll have to send this to her.
I never thought about how the dogs would react when the kids went back to school. What a great blog post!
What some great tips – my pooch gets separation anxiety bless her, I often drop her with my parents these days if I’m going out so she isn’t alone. x
My dogs have separation anxiety but only with me.. Not my kiddos which I’m so thankful for as 4 of them are out of the house all day now!
I can see the school year being a big shock for the pets. I’d definitely try to employ some strategies to help them cope.
We’ve never had pets due to allergies and asthma so I had never heard of this issue, but I guess it would make sense if all the kids are suddenly gone for hours.
These are all great tips. I’m so glad neither of our dogs suffered from separation anxiety.
Our dog is beside himself when my son gets back in school. I never thought it was separation anxiety.
These are all great tips. Our dogs luck out with me home most of every day, but they do prefer when everyone is home!
Awe… I have never thought about pet separation. These are such great tips… There is almost always someone around here for our pups, but I could see them getting sad if we weren’t.
Cats never behave this way. In fact I think my cats think, “good riddance, now I have the house to myself!”
Haha! I think my cat thinks the same thing. He has buddied up with two neighbor cats and pays us basically no attention now, lol. Our dogs stay inside and are super needy, though. 🙂
Great tips! I think pets like routine and back to school is a big everyday change for our precious critters.
Sometimes we forget that our pets are affected by these changes. This article was full of information.
I never even thought about the pets but it is true. It is a big change for them as well.
Our pet is our baby too 🙂 so close to our heart . This is a great article, as a reminder to pet owners out there
These are great tips. My cats are experiencing some separation anxiety. My Daughter just left for her first semester in college. They are really missing her.
This is a great post. I have a few friends that could really use these great tips. I will have to share this with them.
It is an adjustment for pets too! They are so used to kids being home.
I never thought about what a pet must go through with kids going back to school for the kids. These are great tips to help the pets not be so lonely.
These are great tips! I am happy that my family dog does not have separation anxiety!
Life can get very busy but don’t forget our furry friends need attention too! They can be very sensitive!
These are wonderful tips. Sometimes, we tend to forget our fur babies when we get too busy with so many things.
This is a great reminder to all the pet owners out there that our pets miss us, too when we get too busy and our kids are back to school.
these are some great tips. my friend went through this with her dog and it was a tough time for the entire family.
If there is a neighbor, it helps to have them stop by if you are not home. This gives the dog a little bit of love mid-day and very well may help the neighbor too to reduce their loneliness.
This is a very good idea. A trusted neighbor could be a great help when you have to be away.
You know, I never thought about getting pets ready for back to school! But you’re right. Pets need it too!
We can be too busy with a lot of things, but we never should forget about our pets. These are awesome tips.
These are some great tips! The first thing that my kids does when they get home is play with our dogs and guinea pig!
We are lucky as our two cats do not have separation anxiety when our kids go to school. Our cats love their mommy though!! They like me sometimes lol.
Haha! It’s funny how pets choose who they like best and that’s that.
These are some great tips! I have a cat who actually gets separation anxiety really bad. People never think that cats get that attached to there owners but they really do.
My little puppy love used to have pretty bad separation anxiety and I found that putting her in her crate with a tshirt of mine and some of her toys really helped her. She doesn’t like big spaces when I’m not around, I think she gets overwhelmed.
My stepdaughter’s dog has been urinating in the wrong places as per the hubs. So he could be getting separation anxiety, huh? Thanks for the info and the tips.
Lucky for us our two year old is still home to annoy the dog. LOL Just kidding. I can imagine separation anxiety can be very hard on a dog when kids head back to school.
We don’t have a pet at the moment but I’m really hoping to get one. My daughter loves animals.
We found leaving the radio on helped with out dog. We would also leave a shirt that smelled like us for her to cuddle with.
I like that idea about the shirt. I had never thought of that.
This might be an issue in a few years, but we still have three little guys at home, so our pooch still gets plenty of lovin (maybe too much). Good to keep in the back pocket though.
I don’t think a pooch could ever get too much loving. 🙂
This is the story of our life. We have a sensitive little pup. Hope these tips help us.
These are great tips for dog owners. A lot of time we don’t think that the dog will be affected by something like a kid going away for school.
I would have never thought about pets having separation anxiety when kids go back to school. But it makes sense! Thanks for these great tips.
These are great tips, and if we still had pets, I would use them for sure! I know how bad separation anxiety can get in a pet, as I have lost a puppy from it. The vet said he died of heart break 🙁 What made it so heartbreaking for me, is that he wasn’t left completely alone, he just didnt have me…
Oh my gosh! Are you serious? I didn’t know that was possible. I am so sorry for your loss. 🙁
I never thought about back to school affecting the dogs too. I don’t think ours noticed since I’m here. My chi will howl if he thinks everyone is gone.
These are such great tips for pet owners. I don’t have any pets so I’ll have to pass this along to my bestie who has a dog.
I love the tip about creating an interactive environment, I am definitely going to give that a try for my furbaby!