Making Your Home Senior Pet Friendly

As our pets age, it is our responsibility to ensure that we continue to provide the best care, enrichment and cuddles we can provide.  This means, we, as pet parents, may have to make some changes and adjustments to our homes to keep our senior pets safe and happy in their golden years.

Keep a Routine

Our pets thrive on routines from a young age.  This does not change as they get older.  Our pets, especially our senior pets, really thrive when a good routine is in place and kept as much as possible.  Keeping a routine increases the predictability and consistency in their days.  This helps to reduce anxiety and hyperexcitability.  Simple things, such as, keeping meal times, walks, play time, cuddles and even bedtime at the same time each day can help keep your pet happy and calm.

Senior-fy Your Home

If you have multiple pets in your home, create multiple safe places for your pets to go if they need some time alone.  This decreases stress and social tension, but this also gives your pet choices and allows resources to be more accessible.  Make sure you have plenty of soft resting places.  For dogs, this could be a comfy dog bed, for a cat, consider a chair cushion for a ledge or dresser top.  Consider heated pet beds, if you live somewhere that experiences cold weather or you enjoy cranking up the a/c, providing a warm bed for your aging pet can provide comfort. As your pet gets older, they may need assistance on tile or hardwood floors.  Rugs, yoga mats, carpets or even booties with grips on the bottom can help your pet move about your home safely.  In my home, our biggest concern was our hardwood steps.  We were able to find stair mats with a non-slip rubber backing to assist our dog while using the stairs.  Like humans, pets can begin to experience a loss of sight as they age.  Adding nightlights in areas your pet might visit overnight/when light is low can help.  Places like near food bowls or litter boxes will make sure your pet will be able to find their way around in the dark.

Encourage Appetites

You may notice as your pet ages they are not as excited for meal times as they used to be.  This could be many things, but simple changes you can make, may just be the thing your pet needs! Consider raising up your pets food and water dishes.  Using a standing tray or switching to bowls that come with a stand or riser may make it easier for your pet to eat.  Some pets experience arthritis most commonly in their backs and hind legs, raising up food bowls allows your pets to eat and drink without bending over, which could be painful.  Try adjusting food schedules, not changing times, but consider feeding your pet less amounts per feeding while increasing the frequency of meal times.  As pets age, their senses may weaken, try adding a bit of warm water or broth to your pet's kibble or heating wet food for a few seconds in the microwave.  Heating pet food, even slightly, helps the food become more fragrant and may be more appetizing to your pet.

Grooming Assistance

While brushing and cuddling should be part of your pets normal routine, as they age these activities could be even more beneficial to your pet.  In cats, as they age, they begin to not be able to keep up with the grooming of their fur.  Brushing your cat regularly helps to spread the oils on their skin and keep their coat healthy.  It is also beneficial to keep your pet's coat tangle free! If your pet is not a fan of traditional pet brushes and combs, consider a silicone brush that may be softer for your pet.  Making sure your pets nails are kept trimmed and short.  This helps with traction as your pets move through the world.  

Enrichment

Even as our pets age, that does not always mean they are no longer interested in playtime.  We just may need to make some adjustments to accommodate their age.  Things to consider as our pets age, shorten length of play time but increase the frequency of play times.  Our senior pets may tire out quicker and we do not want to force them to play if they are not interested.  Consider horizontal play surfaces such as the floor, get down on their level.  For cats, drag their favorite wand toy on the floor for them to chase instead of airborne play.  Make sure you are rotating toys, our pets may get bored or be more interested if they are not seeing the same few toys all the time. Introduce some toys while others are put away and swap them out.

Training

All dogs and even cats can benefit and enjoy training.  For our senior cats, something as easy as teaching them to ‘sit’ on command can be a fun trick to teach them and something that will be mentally stimulating for them.  For dogs, continued training or reinforcing commands that your pup already knows is another great way for your senior pup to use their minds!

If you or your senior pet is in need of care, and you are in the Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard or Naperville, IL communities,  give us a call! We love our seniors and would love to meet your pet! Call or text us at 847.802.9538 or contact us here.