Do you want to keep your fur baby safe and engaged at home during the lockdown? If yes, then you have come to the right page. Most animal lovers consider experience with pet animals to be one of the critical points which decides how good you are with your pets.
But lockdown is something that everyone is facing in the 21st century regardless of the experience with animals. Even the most experienced people are confused regarding the engagement and enrichment of their pets during the lockdown.
What can you do to keep your pets engaged and healthy?
Like human beings, animals go through the ups and downs of life or terrible mood swings that they do not know how to control. As a responsible pet owner, you need to ensure that your pets do not face such hard times during the lockdown when you can utilize your days working on your pet and owner bonding. At the same time, when you get back to work post-lockdown, you have to make sure that your pets do not undergo severe separation anxiety.
Here are a few ways in which you can keep your pets engaged and enriched at ease:
Give them some space
Pet animals are not humans. They are not able to break the simple puzzles of life even. It is evident that they get nervous and feel uncomfortable with all the family members at home all day long. On regular days they do not get enough members and get habituated with not seeing them much often. But the lockdown has changed everything, which holds back everyone from going out for work. If you notice behavioral issues in your furbabies, then it would be best for you to give them some cozy spot to snuggle in and eventually get habituated with all the people around!
Do food experiments
If your pet does not get enough cooked food from you and mostly gets packaged pet food every day, you can sometimes keep them engaged by cooking them new food recipes. The pet food recipes do not match with average human food item recipes. You might have to cook them home meals with more care and restrictions so as not to hurt their health. You can give them vanilla ice creams, chicken steaks with lettuce leaves, broccoli salad, etc.
Playtime
Cats and dogs love to play games with their owners. Before lockdown, they did not get enough of you or your company to play with them. But now, when you are locked up in your houses with your pet animals, why not entertain them with some fantastic games?
1. Fetch:
It is one of the most common games for dogs, which most of them love to play. Fetch is the favorite game of dogs with their owners. If you want to engage and enrich your pet dog, grab their favorite piece of toy and throw it at a distance. If you wait for a little, you will notice your fur baby carrying it back to you to repeat and play more!
2. Scratch and poke:
Cats love to scratch and poke almost everything they see. If you have a cat at your home, you can easily keep them engaged with scratch and poke gameplay. You will have to hand anything you want in front of them and dodge their paw attacks every time. They not only enjoy the game, but it also makes them increase their speed.
3. Chase:
The game chase is more like a chase hunt or a catch thief gameplay. Dogs and cats love running around the house for no reason at all. But why not give them a reason now? You can chase your goofy buddies around the house and let them chase you back for the sake of the game. It would keep them happy and engaged in you all the time.
Exercise and rest
Exercise is a must-do thing on the list of every pet owner. You can spend some great time with your fur babies, give them delicious food, play around with them and try every way to keep them happy with their tongues sticking out and tails wagging all the time. But you cannot miss their daily dose of exercise. If you cannot take them out for walks, you can take them out to the roof or any space at home for some healthy exercises to not get obese with unlimited hours of sleep and sacks of food!
Another thing which runs parallel to the exercise routine is some rest or leisure time during the weekends. You can make your pets feel royal and relaxed during the chilling time during the lockdown. You two can sunbathe on the roof with cold towels wrapped around and cucumber slices on your eyelids! You can lie down with your pets, cuddle them, snuggle them and do whatever is possible to make them feel relaxed!
Try out new fun activities
You also try out new fun activities with your pet animals during the lockdown, which is pretty new to all the animals. You can give them body massages, make them wear glasses and do a photo session, click a lot of pictures together, watch Netflix with your pet dogs or cats, destroy things from the storage to let out frustrations, give them a makeover with pair of scissors, buy them new comfortable clothes, try out dog perfumes, try out new treats, dance, and howl with them!
Teach them new things
The last but not the minor thing you can do to keep your pets engaged and enriched is to teach them new commands. Dogs who catch up with your commands are not only obedient but also intelligent. You can perform IQ tests on your pets and sit back with them with a handful of treats to teach them new commands for hours. Learning new commands makes your Pet happy and gives them some routine exercise and a disciplined lifestyle.
Wrapping Up
During the lockdown, you can practice more to keep your pets engaged and enriched with good food and life. It will also help you make your bond stronger and healthier. What keeps you waiting? Go and explore life with your lovable pets now.