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How to get dogs and cats used to being alone at home after smart working

Computer on the table in the kitchen and cat on the legs. Call in the living room and dog on the sofa. How many of you have experienced or are experiencing these scenes during work from home and the months of lockdown? A new situation for workers forced into home working, and a godsend for ours pets. Or maybe not entirely. Yes, because there are many dogs, but also cats, who have happily got used to having us always at home, but many others have remained bewildered by the sudden change of schedules. And now that old pre-pandemic rhythms are starting to resume? How will our four-legged friends react?
We asked two experts, who gave us many tips to avoid trauma to dogs and cats by restoring a balanced relationship.

Dogs: that healthy detachment that avoids addiction
L’dog educator of the Lav – Antivivisection League, Amelia Palermo, he explained to us that a healthy relationship with the dog is based on independence, and not on the mutual dependence pushed to humanize the furry friend. But then how should we behave and what should we avoid? «Given that you have to think about it during the period of stay at home, the advice is the same as we give when a dog arrives home for the first time and is not used to living in that environment. We tend to be very close to him, to keep him very busy and to caress him every time he asks us. We are often gratified, even if we do not admit it, by the fact that a dog follows us and asks for our attention. In reality, a balanced relationship is precisely one based on the pleasure of being together, but also on independence. In conclusion, it is we who transmit our anxieties to the animal. Conversely, even a healthy detachment would be very helpful to the relationship“. In gallery find all the practical tips to implement this relationship model.

Cats: the change of habits that generates stress
And the cats? They too are affected by the change in their master’s habits and can demonstrate it with anomalous attitudes. We asked the Dr. Manuela Michelazzi, veterinary expert in animal behavior. “For the cat, just like for the human being, theunpredictability can be a source of anxiety and worry. For this reason, when there is some change in the living environment of our feline (e.g. a move, the arrival of new furniture, the entry into the home of people, children or other animals, protracted separation from some members of the family, change of habits or schedules of the owners, etc.), the cat could be affected in various ways. How? For example, starting to stop using the litter tray for manure, compulsively licking one’s body, persistently seeking the owner’s attention, meowing during the night ».

If the dogs were happy to have us constantly cuddled, was it the same for the cats? “Unlike dogs that, in many cases, have benefited from the forced cohabitation h24 with the owner, several cats have on the contrary suffered a little from this condition, especially because the constant presence of people in the house (especially children) has upset the their habits: napping and relaxing during the day and finally taking control of some domestic spaces at other times they are not allowed. There are cats though that in reality, just like dogs, they are very much attacked and dependent on their owners, who live their absence badly and who lived this condition of closeness with man in an idyllic way. For these subjects, the return to normality could represent a moment of considerable stress, precisely because they have lost the habit of staying at home alone »concludes Dr. Michelazzi.

Here in the gallery are the tricks to reduce the stress generated by our changes.

(Opening photo Adobe.Stock)

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