It seems I have gotten away from my original purpose of writing about care of pets with chronic illnesses. Buddy's illness was all-consuming and with him gone now, caring for Annie is all-consuming in a different way.
It seems she goes through periods of sadness I can't seem to pull her out of. My guess is our total attention to Buddy caused this and it seems Artie and I cannot give her enough attention to keep her spirits up. Today she's already been out for her walk then out back and in again at least a half dozen times and we haven't gotten to lunchtime yet.
I'm sure boredom is playing a part in this so it's up to me to determine how to make her waking hours more interesting. My habit is to stick to a particular route when we go for our walks but yesterday Annie indicated twice she wanted to go off in a different direction than we usually take. When we go for our evening walk I will begin to vary our route. Varying the time is another trick I've found gives her a pleasant surprise and along with occasionally throwing in an extra walk goes a long way to improving her mood.
With the cooler weather, we will sit out front when Artie is due home so Annie can experience the excitement of watching for him and the satisfaction of seeing him approaching. And Artie will surprise her sometimes by coming from the opposite direction. This way she literally patrols the front porch keeping a lookout for him.
As with so many pet parents, I'm guilty of not paying enough attention to the cues Annie gives me. All I need to do is look into her beautiful eyes, read her sweet face and pick up on her body language to change this situation around. Lesson learned.
And I mustn't forget good wholesome food and treats, homemade by Mom, are an essential part of this mix. Put it all together and it spells L-O-V-E to Annie and to any cherished pet.
No comments:
Post a Comment