A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or reforming of a habit. The most common resolutions include losing weight, exercising more, eating better, drinking alcohol less and quitting smoking. Consequently, the only one capable of making and following through with these types of commitments is the individual himself. No one could effectively impose such commitments upon someone else.
However, pets don’t have the ability or the thought process to make New Year’s resolutions. If they could, I’m sure that at least some of them would commit to some kind of process to improve their quality of life. Maybe an overweight dog would try to exercise more or underweight cat would make himself a doctor’s appointment. It just doesn’t work like that.Pets are totally reliant on their owners to provide medical care and basic health care for them. As pet owners, it is our responsibility to take good care of them and to adjust their care depending on their changing needs. Besides, we have already established that they are no longer just pets; they are furry family members. They just happen to not be able to care for themselves.
So, it stands to reason that we should include our pets when making New Year’s resolutions. What are some of the more common commitments we could establish for our pets? Certainly, giving them more exercise and feeding them healthier are within reason. However, all pets are different with regards to what they can and cannot eat. The same thing can be said about their metabolism and the amount of exercise one individual would require in order to stay healthy. Some pets seem to be able to eat a variety of food stuff without having any problems.
However, many pets become very sick if they eat the wrong things. For example, Marlo, like most Yorkies has a very sensitive intestinal system. More importantly, Jazz, our Golden retriever, has to eat a prescription food to prevent urinary crystals and subsequent urinary tract infections. When it comes to exercise, Marlo is still very young and hyperactive and she is so small that running through the house allows her to get plenty of exercise. She eats all she wants and never gains any weight. However, Jazz is geriatric and arthritis tends to hinder her from real strenuous exercise. She tends to gain weight easily if over fed.
Another resolution for our pets could be to provide more diligent health care for them. Maybe your dog or cat needs to have their teeth cleaned, yet it gets overlooked because of so many other important things to do. Maybe you have trouble remembering to give your dog his once a month heartworm prevention or their daily medication for arthritis or thyroid condition. I realize how difficult it is trying to remember everything, especially when you have children and have to remember all that goes along with taking care of them. I do sympathize with you! Often, team effort or approach makes it much easier and more efficient. This could be accomplished by involving your kids in the care of your pets which also teaches them about responsibility. That would definitely be an awesome resolution to make sure your dog receives his medication in a timely manner.
It is not unusual for some pet owners to skip their pet’s yearly vaccinations for one reason or another. Some forget, some are too busy, and others don’t realize just how important vaccinations are. If more pet owners followed the vaccination protocols proposed by their veterinarian, some diseases could even possibly be eradicated.
As you can see, New Year’s resolutions are not necessarily only for yourself, you could easily include your pets. Surely, most everyone has something they would like to improve when it comes to pet care.
If you really take time to think about it, including your pets in your New Year’s resolutions makes perfect sense. Hopefully, most everyone will also follow through with their resolutions. I know I will. So this year, please consider some resolutions that will better your pet’s life so that they can live a long, healthy and happy life.
