4 Tips to Help You Care for Your Disabled Pet

Being the owner of a disabled pet can be both daunting and challenging. This is often because there aren’t that many disabled pets with special needs around, so you may not know the best way to care for pets with additional needs. Our pets can become like family members, so it is important to us that they are cared for as well as possible.

While it may seem difficult to have a disabled pet to care for, by making a few adjustments to your home and lifestyle, you can ensure that your pet’s additional requirements don’t get in the way of them living a happy and restriction free life. Here are four tips on how you can care for your disabled pet.

Stick to a Routine

It is important that you instill a routine into your pet’s life, as this will help them to feel orientated and settled. If your pet has only recently become disabled, then it will need some time to adjust to this new way of life. Making sure that you stick to a routine can mean simple changes, such as getting out of bed around the same time every day and letting your pet outside for the toilet. This helps them to prepare for each part of their day, so they don’t feel overly stressed.

Get Online

While you may not know any other disabled pets and their owners, there are plenty of them online who you can reach out to. By joining forums and looking out for advice pages, you can find all the information you need to make sure that your disabled pet is well cared for.

You can also find support for yourself online. Having a pet that is disabled can sometimes be overwhelming and you may start to wonder if you can cope. But remember that it is important that you look after yourself so that you can be there for your pet.

Get Any Necessary Equipment

A disabled pet is likely to need special equipment to make their day to day lives a lot easier. If you live in a home with stairs, then you may start only allowing your dog on the bottom floor, so that they can’t injure themselves any further. You can also now get dog wheelchairs; these can help dogs who have had their legs amputated or who have lost the feeling in their legs.

Check Your Home is Safe

You should make sure that you check your home before having a disabled pet come live with you, as there may be potential areas of danger that you hadn’t considered when your pet wasn’t disabled. You may want to install baby gates to block the stairs or add non-slip rugs to your wooden floors to avoid further injuries.

Having a disabled pet can feel like a life-changing adjustment, but there are many simple changes and additions you can make in your life to ensure that a pet with special needs is just as well-looked after and cared for as a pet that is 100% healthy.