Out of the Box Thinking Helps Pets Too
In the past few weeks, I have been visiting with several canine and feline friends who have developed medical conditions that have changed what they can see and/or hear. With my canine friend who I last visited in 2019, experiencing how his diminishing sight and hearing affects his day-to-day activities and experience has been enlightening. His world is a lot quieter. I have witnessed many of the ways his hearing has decreased. His sight makes it challenging for him to see the dimensions of items, furniture and some doorways that are stationary as well as to see a toy ball coming toward him, and to see the edges of a bed that he just got down from to get back up. This is also dependent on the amount of light and how bright or soft it is.
I am doing everything I can do to make him feel more secure during my overnights with him. As a Pet Companion, I find I tend to sleep lighter and tend to easily awake even when they do not use vocalizations to communicate that they need assistance as I just sense him standing nearby and feel his frustration. With this kid, that may mean awakening when he returns to the room as he is trying to get back up to sleep on the bed – so I gently touch him, wrap my arms around his body like as if to give him a hug, visualize I am going to lift him, and then gently place him on the bed. With inside play, it can be putting on some soft lighting so he can see the outline definition of where the ball is – and I make sure to observe his facial expressions and body movements that shift when he is able to see the object.
He has been sharing some of his experience with me as he enjoys going for morning walks and I am able to observe what sounds, movements, and objects he sees or does not see. He has led us into areas that are new to me to share what it feels like to experience that feeling of moving through the unknown as he sniffed the new areas trying to catch something familiar. It would be like how you might maneuver your house with a blindfold on.
With a feline friend who recently lost her sight, it is relatively the same. Not knowing where people or other cats are in the home or what direction you are heading when you stand up, have you turned around far enough to be looking at the open pathway or a wall – and gingerly stepping shakily forward hoping you do not run into something. With our pet friends, they do not have the benefit of putting their hand out in front of them to make contact before they walk into it face first.
Often, it is about learning to utilize their other senses…smell, taste and feeling the changes in floor textures to know where they are. If they still have hearing, then sounds become a big part of their day-to-day experience. Finding ways to assist them or new ways to play are key to providing them with what gives them joy. Scent games, modified movement games with toys that are geared to which side they can better see/hear from, finding ways to get his/her attention without startling and/or create vibration that lets them know you are there, in a space or are calling them. Sometimes it is putting ourselves in their place, what would help us maneuver our environment.
Some things we can do to make it more assessable in their environment is keep everything in the same placement, especially their things and furnishings. Be aware of boxes that are delivered and set in the space. You can use animal-pleasing scents (i.e., candles) to mark individual rooms or to communicate open doorways and paths. For those who do not have hearing loss, guiding them with voice commands. For those who have sight, yet their hearing is diminishing training them to respond to hand signals or sign language can be beneficial. Using soft or gentle touch can be less startling as well as making sure he or she is facing you as they do not hear you coming up behind them whether they are awake or asleep.
Helping our pets is often a matter of stepping outside the box to focus on the pet’s other working senses.
