Adopting an animal is such a joy for anybody and everybody who has ever adopted before you know what I'm talking about and to be able to be talking to you guys who might be sitting at home clicking on the title cuz you're like well I'm thinking about it what do I need well that's what I'm here for ma'am, first of all, let's just talk about why adopt.
Because we have millions of animals that are going into animal shelters every single year, and although we have made great strides in lowering our kill rate across the country. we're still at about a million cats and dogs a year that died in these shelters and most of the time it's because we just don't have enough homes for them that's the reason to adopt.
At this point, because you love animals you want them to live plus the companionship plus the unbelievable gratitude that you get, some people doubt this, but for anybody who has rescued an animal, they know that they hit the gravy train and they're stoked.
so the first thing that you should be thinking about, is we got to put it out there, is the cost rescuing.
is one of the most loving things that you can do for one animal, for all animals. but you do want to make sure that when you think about their entire life that you're going to be able to afford what comes up I'm a big proponent of pet insurance if you don't already have insurance for your existing animal family think about it there are a lot of different insurance companies they have flexible premium plans some cover a lot more than others do there are some that even cover behavior counseling go figure and look whether you put your money into premiums every month or whether you are e in a dedicated way stuffing money into your mattress every month for the well-being your animals do one or the other, I know I'm walking a fine line here, I don't want to scare you off, and at the same time, I want you to be prepared, you do have to think that when you adopt a kitten that kitten is hopefully going to be with you at least you know 15 years. you know you got to think about that the expenses over that amount of time and one of the big things you want to think about right off the bat is you want to be able to spend some money setting up your cat's environment and that leads me to my second point and that is getting your home ready for your new arrival, and it doesn't matter whether it's a kitten or a grown cat.
That proofing is something that is an areal thing and something that you should take seriously, so if you're bringing home a kitten child, locks on all of the cabinets you don't want them into, is a really good investment and really well worth your time, so whether that's under the kitchen sink under the bathroom, sink the closets that might hold any kind of toxins whatsoever, just make sure you're getting all that taken care of, wires are something that why don't we get chewed a lot of times, so a really easy fix for that is running your computer wires or any other wires that you don't want to be chomped on because whether it is just losing a connection or electrocuting your potential family member, it's a really easy thing to just take the wires and feed them through some PVC, tubing there are some products that come with brand names with this, but you can also just go to a hardware store.
and just get PVC tubing and run those wires through there's a lot of cool products out there right now but it is much. better to do that right off the bat then wait for something bad to happen whether you live in an apartment or a house check your windows check your screens imagine if you will your cat sitting in your home on the second or third floor of a house and they're pushing on a screen because there's a bug on the other side of that screen remember their whole body weight is going into it or whether you have bars and your windows because you live in an apartment everything check everything doesn't just let your cats out there I'm not even a big fan of letting them out on a balcony or something like that if there's a bug out there if there's a moth if there's even a bird that they think they can reach they're gonna try to pet-proofing is one part of preparation the other part is establishing base camp if you don't know what base camp is well checked out this video right here and that'll give you everything you need to know about it in the meantime, it is a way to make sure that your new arrival weather kitten or grown cat doesn't matter it has the roots of mojo in your home that's base camp and setting up that base camp before they arrive is the best way to make sure that when they do get there the adjustment is not such a big deal and another reminder block off the under don't let cats into the closet under the beds because why would you want to start off your relationship with them trying to dig them out of a place, they've hidden for the first week of their tenure with you now worth it.
whether we're dealing with adoptions during the lockdown and quarantine or beyond.
one of the things that shelters and rescues do very well, for the most part, is letting you know what kind of a cat you're adopting in terms of energy level in terms of needs in terms of history and what potential issues they might have based on their history pay very close attention to that even if you vibe with a cat and you look at that picture and you're like that is the cutest cat I've ever seen I want that cat in my life that's amazing and I love that I think it's great that you look at a cat and go I just I know that I and you were meant to be together that's a fantastic stay with that for a second now back away for a second and think about how that cats specific energy level works in your home for instance if this is a cat who has a history that's not so shining with other cats or dogs think about that for a second, if you are incredibly busy if you're working 12 hours a day I know once you go back to work but then you want to make sure that you're adopting cats that is ok with that and that means a cat that's a little more settled in their way as a senior cat and seniors really need the attention in shelters much more so than kid kittens go flying out the door for the most part but those seniors tend to stick around if you do work long hours I'm not saying that a senior cat won't also get bored and you won't have to do stuff about that kittens really need attention they really need that playtime a lot and and
they need to be able to start bonding with their humans and that's 12-hour workdays, no that doesn't work with that.
don't have a strong training base for your dogs now's the time to do it not after a cat comes into your life if your dog can't stay while your cat is
walking across the room then just stop there's no rush it goes a long way and this is coming from somebody who has made the mistake of bringing cats into your home when your dogs aren't quite there yet and you just spend a lot of time with remedial training work and trying to then repair a relationship between cat and dog that might have been fractured right off the bat because they got chased.
when it comes to bringing home a cat with an existing cat we talked about making sure that you know the history of the cat that's coming to your home if they have a history of not getting along with other cats don't push it to take it on the cat daddy there is no point to trying to push a relationship with a cat who has a long history of just saying you know what man I would rather be alone you know and make sure you understand how to introduce cat to cat I have gone through great details about introducing a cat to cat right, when we bring them home there's this initial rush of love and you're flush with energy sometimes anxiety if you don't already have your basics in your mind and written out there and you and your partner have it all worked out tends to go out the window and panic sets in have things planned out just like you're gonna pet-proof just like you're gonna set up base camp think about how this introduction is going to go down what we're going to need in in the way of a different set of dishes and litter boxes in terms of the meeting itself and using baby gates if you need these kinds of things just plan it all out.
we all got thrown into the same hole here and we're all trying to claw out from that hole and we're learning new things about our system and how we adopt animals and suddenly we're doing socially distanced adoptions which is actually pretty amazing do remember to check out what kind of policies are in place whether in your city your state or from shelter to shelter and rescue to rescue
like I said everyone's doing it the same but different and it's important to research that ahead of time now there's one distinct advantage to adopting or even fostering during the time of this quarantine Eve lockdown place and that is well obvious we'respending more time with our animal family and bringing in a new family member and really getting to know the ins and outs of their likes and dislikes their habits good and bad where they like to sleep what they like to play with where they like to hang are they nocturnal or not what do I have to do for you to make you happy in your new home well you're gonna know that's so much better right now so it's something to just seize upon taking advantage the other thing that you can do before you go back to work you've, you've adopted a new family member, you brought them home you've integrated them congratulations now don't forget you are going to change your life back again and the cat is going to have to adjust to your new normal so the best thing you can do is to forestall separation anxiety get them used to what that normal is gonna look like slowly start taking more longer walks during the day and get outside a little bit more don't just leave and go to work for ten hours and come back home don't expect that just because you know it's back to work time for you that your new cat or cats are going to just understand that and adjust just like that just ease them into it with a different type of routine spread out feeding time so that it will correlate with you getting up in the morning you leave the house you get home you're going to bed just start getting your routine back in order with your cats in mind before you leave the house once again you guys if you're watching this video then you've already been thinking about adopting a new family member and from the bottom of this cat daddy's heart thank you thank you for being part of the solution to the horrible overpopulation crisis that we've been in the middle of for so many years we're finally getting to the point where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and you are a part of that light so again thank you for adopting remember be prepared before you bring them home because the lack of surprises means you can spend a whole lot more of time on a lot more lovey-dovey.
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