How to Decide If You’re Ready for a Pet
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It can be easy to add a dog, cat, or other animal to the family without truly knowing if you’re ready for a pet — or thoroughly considering the typical pros and cons. For example, living with cats has helped my son learn about pet care and has led him to love cats like my husband and I do, but it brings frustrations, too. For one, I can’t think how many times I’ve had to remind him not to leave anything lying around that could be dangerous for the cats to eat, such as toys with string or wires. One of our cats likes to drink my son’s milk and steal his toast, pizza, and so on, so we can’t leave them on the table unsupervised. I also don’t like to think about how much we spend on premium cat food and litter.
Pets can add almost as much frustration to the household as the love they bring, so here are some questions to ask yourself to help determine whether you’re ready for a pet:
1. Are you in the midst of a particularly challenging time in your child’s development or in another transitional period?
You probably don’t want to house-train a new puppy when you’re potty-training your toddler, for example — and if you have a baby at home, be aware that a dog may consider dirty diapers fascinating and may gleefully grab them during a diaper change … or every diaper change. If your child is learning to walk, it might not be a good time to add an active puppy or dog to the mix, especially if the dog hasn’t yet learned basic commands or acceptable doggie manners.
If you’re pregnant, or if you’re on maternity leave and soon returning to work, it’s probably better to wait until things have calmed down a bit and your family has established a good routine. (If you’re expecting and already have a pet, here are some tips to prepare your dog or cat.)
{related: how to get a dog when you work all the time}
2. Are you counting on your kid(s) to manage your new pet’s care?
Everyone’s heard of kids who promise to walk, feed, brush, and clean up after a hypothetical dog, for example, and then end up markedly less enthusiastic about the idea when reality hits. Even if you have older kids, you should still be prepared to manage most of your new pet’s care. (By the way, giving a child a pet as a gift has a bad rap among many animal shelter workers, but it can work out well when it’s not an impulse decision.)
3. Have you ever had a pet yourself?
If not, consider petsitting for a friend or family member — either at their home or yours — or volunteering to foster a pet for a shelter or rescue group. (If you choose the latter, be aware that that animal may end up as a “foster failure” … which isn’t really a bad thing.)
{related: how to keep your pet happy when you’re at work}
4. Have you watched your kids for signs of allergies when they’re around pets?
Dozens of breeds, such as poodles and poodle mixes, are said to be hypoallergenic, but there’s really no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog (and besides, allergy symptoms are caused by a dog’s dander, not fur). If you’re really concerned (perhaps you have a child who already has been diagnosed with several allergies), you can ask an allergist to perform tests.
5. If your new dog misbehaves or is fearful, or your cat has litter box issues, will you have the time and resources to address the problem?
What about taking a dog to obedience classes, working on his behavior problems at home, and maybe even enlisting an animal behaviorist or animal trainer? Whether you’re buying from a breeder or adopting from a shelter or rescue group, research which breeds of dogs are more likely to be kid-friendly and easygoing, such as the Labrador retriever.
If you’re adopting, it can be helpful to choose either a shelter pet who’s in foster care or a pet living with a rescue group volunteer — that way, you can get specific details about the animal’s behavior in a home instead of solely relying on information from the previous owner.
6. Have you calculated the costs of caring for a pet?
Even if spending money on your pets isn’t really a concern for you, don’t discount the potential high costs of routine and unexpected veterinary care. Pet health insurance is a great idea — and you should enroll your pet as soon as possible so that post-adoption health issues don’t get classified as preexisting conditions. Pet insurance isn’t cheap, but you can adjust your coinsurance and deductible, and discounts are usually available (such as those for spayed and neutered pets).
It’s been worth it for us; for example, when one of our cats managed to find some string and eat it, he had to have tests, surgery, and a two-day vet stay, which totaled more than $4,000. With pet insurance, we paid much less.
7. If your kids are still young and want a dog, consider an animal that’s easier to care for as a first family pet.
Some fish are good first pets for a child, as are guinea pigs. (Rabbits are often thought of as “starter pets,” but a guinea pig is easier to care for. Fun fact, though: Bunnies can be litter-trained!) Be aware that certain pets can spread salmonella to humans, such as reptiles and amphibians, which also require complicated, specialized care. (These animals, along with other exotic pets, also present ethical issues that you may or may not find important, such as the capture of wild animals.)
Does your family have a pet, and if so, what kind? Did you have the same type of pet as a kid? If your child is old enough, does she help out with pet care? Did you have to move your pet down your priority list when you had a baby and felt guilty about it? (No judgment here!) If you’re planning to get a pet, what are you considering? What’s your advice on how to decide if you’re ready for a pet?
Further reading:
- 10 Signs Your Family is Ready for A Pet [Care.com]
- Pet Care for Kids: Age-Appropriate Ways for Kids to Help [FamilyEducation]
- How to Pet Your Pet: 8 Books That Show Kids How to Treat Animals [Brightly]
- Dog Bite Prevention [ASPCA]
- Puppy Mills 101 [ASPCA]
- I Rejected The Perfect Pet Adoption Family For The Wrong Reasons [The Dodo] — This illustrates how more and more shelters and rescue groups are realizing that their adoption requirements may be unnecessarily strict.
Picture via Stencil.
With the cat allergies…all of my children experienced cats coming home after they were born, and now that my oldest (independent young adult) and my youngest (now 10) experienced a prolonged departure from having a cat, the oldest has mild allergies, and my youngest reacted when he loaned a sweatshirt to a friend who took it home, and wore it 2 weeks later and started sneezing into an allergy response in our cat-free home. We figured the hoodie was the culprit – nothing else was new. The garment was otherwise clean – no fur or hairs.
Stay with your cats, Kat! I’d love to get back into having them, but can’t, and am just not quite ready for a dog, but want SOME pet, soon.
Thanks! I don’t think that dog ownership will be easy to juggle in a high-rise apartment building, even at ours that has a dog run in the backyard.
I’m going to be honest. I love my cat to pieces and he was my first “baby,” but when he passes, we probably won’t have another pet until the kids are in high school, at least. Cats are much lower maintenance than dogs, obviously, and yet there are days when having another critter to take care of is hard.
Thanks for this! My husband and child are both dog people, but I’ve never had a pet and I am terrified about the extra work… there is already so much to do in the mornings before work. Is it reasonable to put off pet ownership until children are truly able to take responsibility?
This is a timely post. We are interested in adopting a dog, baby is almost 1. Had a dog who died about 6 months before she was born. Other details…looking for an adult dog, our baby spends time in a house w/a dog already in her nanny share. Not sure there will ever be the perfect timing, but any advice?