Perfecting the art of being a bad pet parent

Are your pets past due for their annual exams and vaccines? Have you forgotten to give them their flea/tick/heartworm prevention…for a few months, or years? Is your pet overweight, maybe from all those extra treats and table scraps you don’t want to admit you give them? Do you sometimes feel like a bad pet parent?

Most of us feel like bad pet parents, at least some of the time.

We ignore recommendations made by our vets, or put them aside until the timing is better. Even folks who work in veterinary medicine often, even frequently, don’t do all of the things we are told to do by the vet.

I have never met a single person who brushes their pets teeth, every day, as directed. Every few days, maybe. A few times a month, more likely. A few times a year, likely. Never, the majority of us (author raises hand! 4 dogs and 3 cats-I would never have time to brush my own teeth if I did all of them, everyday).

Life gets busy.

There are things outside of being a pet parent that take our time and energy (like being a parent of one or more human children!). This is one key way having human kids differs from furkids: we can ignore the non-essential needs of our pets, at times at least.

This isn’t to say that it is ok to put your pet’s medical care aside so that you can have a bigger Hawaiian vacation. Buying a new car should not mean that you delay spaying your outdoor cat for a few more months. We have to make our pets priorities in our lives, and that includes budgeting in their medical needs.

Keep some perspective, though. Even great people have moments when they are bad pet parents.

I had one fail recently that I’m still bothered by.

My poor old pup Ajax got knocked down the stairs (concrete stairs, of course). It was my fault. I was taking the dog Tribe out for an evening visit to the yard. I was having problems getting all 4 of them headed towards the door at the same time. Ajax (who is suffering from some senior dementia) was confused and kept wandering back into the living room.

I should have just picked her up, right? I was annoyed that this was taking so long, and I was hungry and wanted to finish eating, so I hustled all of them out. In the chaos, the golden Deuce ran right over Ajax and sent her tumbling. I tried to stop her fall but couldn’t get there in time. She went head-over-tail all the way down the stairs. Luckily she landed on the bag of chicken feed and wasn’t injured.

Fail. I knew better. See, we all have our moments…

You should not get too down on yourself if you are a bit past time on getting Fluffy in for her annual exam. It’s ok if you have to take the kids to soccer practice instead of taking Fluffy to the dog park.

Do you best, that is all I can advise.

Don’t beat yourself up for your fails! We all have them; even the vet advising you on the things you should be doing is probably not doing all of those things them self.

Obviously, keep your pets safe and make sure their basic needs are met. But it is OK if you sometimes have to be a bad pet parent, and put aside non-essentials when it comes to your pet’s care. Just don’t put them on the back burner for too long.

It is ok to fail your pet now and again, and to be a bad pet parent. Yes, we should all try and do better. But today, I give you permission (if you need it) to be a “bad” pet parent. It’s ok. I’m a “bad” one myself sometimes.