Low-Maintenance Pets And Animals : Having pets and animals around isn’t just someone who can be with you every day, but an added responsibility on your shoulders. When you’ve decided to have an animal for your home, you should prepare for the pet duty that you need to accomplish each day. It will help to give them a comfortable, healthy, and happy life, making you a responsible pet owner.
Even if you have got yourself low-maintenance pets or animals in your home, it doesn’t give you a free pass to neglect their needs. Treat them like any other animals and provide as much love as possible. Most people get themselves a guinea pig because of their adorable faces and low-maintenance care. However, you should still check about guinea pig information as they might need some special care and love.
Moving on to different types of pets and animals, below is a comprehensive guide on how you can care for your low-maintenance animals, no matter what type and breed they are:
Give Them Healthy Food
One of the first things that you should prioritize when taking care of pets and animals is providing them with the healthiest foods as much as possible. It will help them with the nutrients they need to live a healthy life. Since some animals might not be able to consume fruits and vegetables, similar to humans, looking for the right food that contains all of the essential nutrients would surely be helpful.
You can begin with consulting with your vet about any recommended food types and brands that you should feed your animal with. Moreover, you should always check the label and compare the nutritional facts from one brand to another. It will help you have thorough knowledge about the nutrients you’re feeding your animal with. As you give them healthy foods, ensure that you serve them moderately and only up to their recommended daily intake. Even if you’re feeding them the most nutritious meals, they might increase their chances of being overweight if you provide them intensely.
Ensure Unlimited Access To Water
Unlike animal food, your pets can consume as much water as they like, especially during the peak of the summer season—the more hydrated that you allow your pets to be, the better. Like humans, pets and animals cannot survive without water within two to three days of its absence. Since they’re free, you can offer as much water to your pets as possible. You can simply get them from the tap and provide your pet with unlimited water.
Ideally, you should check your pet’s bowl every two to three hours to see if they still have enough water. For your small animals such as hamsters and guinea pigs, you should consider adding a water bottle that they can consume for the whole day. And for the next day, you should dispose of any remaining water and replace it with a fresh tap to ensure maximum safety.
If you have enough budget, there are automatic water dispensers for dogs that allow you to fill litters of water on a single day without checking on them every hour. That’ll help you save time, and it would be great if you needed to head out for the entire day.
Encourage Physical Activity
Like humans, all animals should practice as much physical activity as possible. It would help keep their bodies moving, stirring them away from any possible injuries and bone illnesses due to staying in bed for the entire day. For your low-maintenance dogs, you should take them out for a walk for at least 40 minutes a day. You can also play fetch with them to improve their catching skills while at the same time keeping their bodies moving.
For your other pets, usually inside their small cages, such as hamsters, rabbits, and guinea pigs, you should provide them with an activity that allows them to move. You could add a hamster’s wheel, ladder, tubes, tunnels, etc. However, you might not be able to force them into playing with them as they’ll use them as they please. To encourage physical activity, try to keep those activities present as soon as you bring them home.
Provide A Hygienic Home
Just because you’re keeping low-maintenance pets doesn’t mean that you have the opportunity to neglect their home. Even if your pets live in a small cage inside your home, you should keep their environment clean as much as possible. Apart from making them comfortable, it can also home plenty of bacteria and insects, which could harm their health. And with that, you should regularly clean their home at least once a month, depending on their quality.
For your small pets, such as hamsters, rabbits, and guinea pigs, you should clean their cages at least once a month or every three weeks, depending on their population and dirt. For your aquatic animals, you should regularly clean and change their water at least every two to three weeks to ensure safety. Along with this, you should also clean its filters as it gathers every dirt inside the aquarium.
For your indoor pets such as cats and dogs, you should ensure that their entire environment is safe and clean. They should have a neat bed and a place to do their business. For your dogs, you should wash where they do their business regularly, ideally after every pee, to eliminate any bacteria and smell build-up.
Bring To Vet Regularly
When owning a pet or animal, regularly bringing them to the vet is a must. It will help ensure that they’re healthy and get all the vaccinations they need to live an ill-free and healthy life. As soon as you receive your pet, you should bring them to the vet to update any vaccinations and deworming. As soon as your vet provides their shot, they’ll be giving you date about when you should come back for another vaccine or any boosters.
Bringing your vet for vaccination allows you to have a quick check-up, especially if you have any specific questions. However, don’t be afraid to visit the vet immediately once you notice something troubling your pet, such as lack of appetite, lethargy, or sudden aggressiveness. Early prevention is a must for your pets as you won’t know if they’re in pain since no one can communicate with them at all.
Give Them Company
Just because your pets are low-maintenance, it doesn’t mean that they’ll be happy striving on their own. In reality, some pets would be more comfortable if they were with a companion with which they can bond and play, especially if you’re gone. However, before bringing a companion, you should check their breed first to see if they’re capable of having a companion or would it be better to have them alone.
When giving your pet some company, you need to prepare which genders you should pair together. When joining males and females together, expect that they’ll mate and provide you with plenty of offspring. While going for the same gender sounds more practical, some pairings might become violent and always be in a fight. To prevent being an unintentional pet breeder, you should neuter your pets once they’re mature to keep your home at peace.
Keep Pets Up To Your Capabilities
Having low-maintenance pets might tempt you to keep as much as possible, especially if you don’t need to do much to keep them happy. While they can be quite effortless as you’ll only need to clean their environment and provide them with the right food and water, you should only keep pets that you can handle. This’ll include some responsibilities and expenses that you need to shoulder.
Apart from your pets’ daily necessities, you should check if their monthly and yearly check-ups would still fit within your budget. Moreover, you should also consider their hygiene products and see if you can keep up with their lifestyle. Some pets might be more sensitive than others, while some might carry an illness you need immediate care for. Ideally, you should only keep at least one to two and gradually increase as you feel comfortable with having more.
Give Toys And Entertainment
Like humans, pets and animals need to have fun once in a while. And if you’re keeping pets inside a cage, you can imagine how boring their lives would be as they’re doing the same thing repeatedly. To keep your pets entertained, you should provide toys and entertainment for them as much as you can.
While buying plenty of pet toys in one go might sound amazing, you shouldn’t give them all at the same time. Because it might make them get tired of their toy faster and lose excitement, even if there’s a new one that you show them. You can begin giving two pet toys at their maximum. Rotate them every two weeks with a different toy so they won’t lose interest in their first one. Apart from toys, you can use treats as their form of entertainment whenever you’re playing with them so they can increase their happy hormones.
Bond With Pet
Even with low-maintenance pets, they might need some human interaction to keep them happy and healthy under your care. Don’t worry, as it won’t take your entire day, wherein you can only allow at least ten minutes of your day to bond with your pet. You can do this right after coming home from work, especially since they missed you while you’re gone.
There are plenty of ways you can bond with your pet. Apart from playing and bringing them outside to catch some sunlight, you can snuggle and cuddle with them and let their fur touch softly on your skin. Even if they don’t communicate back to you, you should still try to talk to your pets as your voice interests them. During your bond, don’t be afraid to feed them with healthy treats, so they will have a positive perspective when it comes to playing with you.
Pet-Proof Home
For your pets roaming around inside your home, you should ensure that you pet-proof your house right before their arrival. It will help ensure that they’ll have a safe environment that’ll free them from any possible accidents. Since your pets don’t have much knowledge about what’s dangerous and harmful for them, you should consider taking them away from their sight rather than trying to train to keep them away from those. It would guarantee fool-proof safety.
Ideally, you should keep all chemicals away within your pet’s reach, even when standing up. You should lock your supply closet for your cleaning tools and materials and never allow your pets to come inside. Moreover, it might be a great time to rearrange your indoor plants as some might be poisonous for their bodies. You can opt to switch them into a higher position or bring them into a hanging pot to keep them away from sight.
Hire A Sitter When Necessary
If you’re leaving home for a couple of days, you should hire a sitter to care for your pets whenever necessary. Since they’re low maintenance, you can ask them to go inside your home at certain hours so they can provide them with clean food and water. If you’re going to take a few weeks off from your home, you should also advise them to clean their homes to provide a healthy environment.
And for your dogs, hiring a sitter will include pet walking as part of their service. However, if you’d like your pets to feel like royalty while you’re away, you should consider taking them to a pet hotel where they’ll eat and drink on time while also having their room where they can sleep and rest anytime, they want. They might also include some activities that allow your pet to have social interaction with other animals, allowing them to be occupied while you’re gone.
But if you have any family and friends, you trust living around the corner, the better. You can simply ask them to refill their bowls while you’re gone. And because of that, you can be more comfortable leaving your pet while being away for a couple of days or so.
The Verdict
Having low-maintenance pets needs some love and care as well. While you won’t have to worry too much about caring for their coats and providing such a lavish lifestyle, you should still ensure that they get the right amount of nutrition and care they need. If you’re having trouble catching up with their care needs, you can always consult with your vet and see their recommendations and guidelines.
