Are You Ready for a Silent Retreat?

Your pets may not be either. Yes, your pets feel. Yes, they experience emotions when you are away for any length of time and even more when you are gone for an extended period. It is important to share with whomever will be watching or visiting with them what their experience has been for the weeks prior.

Is someone at home with them during the day? Do they have a sleep buddy? Do you have music on or other noise, activity or zoom calls that they hear throughout the day? What is your pet’s typical routine while all of that is happening? All of this adds up to what they expect to experience when you are away as it is what makes them feel safe, content, and it’s the routine.

As a pet care professional, we do our best to offer love, support, and presence for your animal family members. Understanding the latest in your activities, living environment and their routines helps us provide a unique experience for each that meets their individual needs as well as address with compassion what we see come up during the visits with them.

We can turn on music to provide background noise for them during the day, suggest having something out from their sleeping buddy’s space that makes them relax more at bedtime (a pillowcase that has their person’s scent), offer different types of play based on the type of interaction they are accustomed to at various stages of the day and night. All of this equates to happier pets who feel more at ease in their time away from you, their family. Yes, this is even key when staying in their own home.

The physical needs are important. So too are their emotional and mental needs when it comes to time away from you - for you are their everything! Every pet is individual in what comforts them. Sometimes, it is acknowledging what they are hearing outside or inside, with others it is offering connection, some it is allowing them to feel protected while they take an uninterrupted nap, and with others it can be all these together based on what their routine is with you throughout the day and night. Some kids like slow-paced movement, others want companionship outside when they are in the yard, and many enjoy quiet connection inside possibly in conjunction with play or even a friend seated nearby while they eat.

Yes, just like us they, in some ways get accustomed to others being around or our ways of doing things. You leaving the house, can feel like a silent retreat to them.

Can you visualize how you might experience life differently if all of a sudden for several days and nights your comfortable environment shifted? No television, radio, phone service, no communication or video games. No one, but yourself to talk with and even your bathroom habits depicted by someone else’s presence or not in the home. Try it for 24 hours…how long can you go without picking up your phone? Do you notice the silence? What about all the household sounds – do they seem louder? Do you sleep differently?

Yes, now you have a greater understanding of the situation your pets experience when you go on vacation, a business trip or anything else that takes you away.  This is even more important when dealing with a solo pet or one who has lost a sibling and is now encountering their world on their own for the first time.

As a pet companion, we may not be able to mimic your entire home environment and lifestyle; however, we can implement some key aspects into the schedule and set them up for further success with your help.