If you’re thinking of adopting a new pet, congratulations! This is a very exciting time. If you’ve done some research, you probably have a great idea of how to prepare for and introduce your new dog or cat to your home, so this article is about the “transition period” that you have heard of. This adjustment period may take days, weeks or even months depending on your new pet’s age, temperament, previous training and lifestyle. Re-homing breeding bitches with their over-protective instincts could take 3-4 months.
People talk about this transition period – but what does that mean?
Think back to the last time you started a new job. On your first day, you may have wondered who to report to, if you were dressed appropriately, whether to bring a lunch or count on going out…the list goes on. Even if you got a tour of the building, you may or may not have remembered the locations of key areas like washrooms, the kitchen, the equipment you needed to use, etc., and you likely didn’t feel like you had any space to call your own at first.
Now imagine doing all of that when you don’t speak the same language. And make it a new job AND a new home – where you don’t speak the language, you’ve never met anyone, and no one you’ve ever known or loved is with you.
Thinking of yourself in this situation is a little bit like what it must feel like to be a newly adopted pet. As kind as you are to your new dog or cat, and as excited as you are to have them, you can’t explain to them that they’re safe, that you’re their new family, and that, this time, they won’t be dragged away and put into a new situation yet again.
Everything and everyone is new, and it is confusing and scary.
So during this transition period, you can expect to have a little – or a lot – of disruption. How long it lasts will be different for each animal. Some adjust nearly instantly and will be happily settled in no time, while others can take months or a year; most will be somewhere in between.
During this time, your new pet may engage in behaviors that might make you wonder if this is the same pet you agreed to adopt. For example, a new pet may:
- Jump up on people or climb furniture
- Eliminate in inappropriate places
- Hide in corners or under furniture
- Bark or meow or cry
- Try to steal food
- Dig
- Run wildly around the house
- Wake you up at night
- Try to escape from the house or yard
This is perfectly normal at first. Remember that your new pet is not doing these things to cause you grief; he or she is nervous, hasn’t bonded with you yet, and doesn’t know the rules.
If you stay calm, be patient, and go slow, you and your new pet will make it through this transition period to calmer seas, and have the relationship you’d been expecting. If you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to contact our clinic 780-352-7006 of visit the website www.wacvet.ca for more information and help.