Getting a pet is a serious step that requires responsibility and consciousness. You take charge of another creature’s life, and almost all your actions will affect its well-being in one way or another. Besides, it is one thing to get a puppy or a kitten that hasn’t faced any cruelty yet, and it is completely another thing when you adopt an adult animal. Unfortunately, some people are cruel and take it out on innocent animals. And when a person adopts a pet with such an uneasy background, they should realize the whole range of challenges they can face. Such an animal can have serious psychological traumas and suffer from trust issues. Indeed, it can be hard to trust a creature who punished you in all possible ways. People neglect, deprive animals of food, and show various types of aggression. It’s not surprising many domesticated animals behave like their wild ancestors. Thus, you should be ready for all the challenges that the rehabilitation of such a pet can involve.
What moments point at trust issues?
If you have never had a pet, you may not understand whether your new friend has trust issues, or it has just a specific character. Well, in most cases, an animal who has faced abuse will be antisocial and distrustful. It will try to keep its distance from you and constantly hide to protect itself from bad treatment on your part. While an ordinary happy pet will try to investigate new territory, an abused animal will try to find a safe place.
Everything depends on the animal itself and the duration of mistreatment it faced before. Thus, some pets may suffer from apathy, show an unwillingness to somehow interact with you, and poor appetite even if you offer top rated food, for example.
Such pets may be extremely sensitive to noise, raised voices, or sudden movements. Such things may serve as triggers and associate with subsequent punishment. They need much care and attention, so don’t spend the whole evening reading https://writepaperfor.me/ reviews.
How to rehabilitate such a pet and regain its trust?
It doesn’t matter whether you decide to get a dog or a cat, in both cases, you will have to follow certain rules to help your pet become a full-fledged family member. Anyway, you cannot interact with it at a desirable level if you don’t restore its trust in humans. You shouldn’t forget that your pet has gone through difficult times, so it will need time and patience on your part to heal this mental wound.
Don’t use force
When you deal with a sensitive pet that fears everything around it, you should provide it with personal space and time to get used to its new surroundings. If it doesn’t want to do something, don’t force it to follow your word. You should never demonstrate any signs of aggression if you’re going to win it over. If you deal with a dog, it may take more time to persuade it to do the desired actions, but every minute of such persuasion will strengthen the trust between you and your pet.
Spend quality time together
Domesticated animals are social creatures. And while a cat may spend a lot of time on its own, a dog requires more time with its owner. Thus, if you want to show your affection, you should devote some time to interacting with your pet every day. You can walk, play, feed, rub its belly if it wants you to. If your cat or dog wants your attention, don’t push it away. Your pet should associate some cool things with you. Thus, you can try to involve it in play and treat it with some goodies as a reward for interacting. It will not be superfluous to study cat food reviews to understand what you should treat your cat with to please your furry friend.
Don’t forget that if you have adopted an abused animal, it may experience stress being surrounded by many people. The same stress is experienced by some students, when appearing in the new surroundings, and this is the reason they sometimes reach out to Speedypaper.com. Thus, it is better to start small before you introduce your pet to other family members.
Make physical contact
When your pet gets used to you and feels pretty comfortable, you may start taking small steps towards prolonging the time of physical contact. The latter plays a crucial role in regaining trust. Try to be around your pet more often, stroke, hug it when it feels like that. However, if you see that your new friend is not ready for such things, don’t force it to embrace you. In this case, occasional strokes will be enough. Gradually, each day, increase the time and intensity of the caress. Over time, the pet will look forward to your attention.
Speak calmly
When you address your pet, speak in a low voice. Don’t forget about some pleasant words. If you eliminate triggers that evoke fear in your pet, it will relax faster. Try to avoid sudden movements and approach your new friend very slowly. If you see that it gets stressed, take a step back. You should respect your pet’s personal space and mood. It is the only possible way to regain its trust and make friends.
Establish a routine
You can be surprised how much a routine may help enhance the recovery process. When your pet gets used to the routine, it feels comfortable and calms down. When its daily schedule consists of the same cool things, it stops expecting abuse and other negative moments. Acting this way, you meet its physical and emotional needs, strengthening the bond between you two.
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