Many people who buy companion animals as holiday ‘gifts’ are not prepared for the chaos, challengesKELLY MOYERstaff reporter

The first months of the new year can be a tough time for an-imal shelters. People show up with puppies and kittens they bought from pet shops or back-yard breeders and they’re over-whelmed – what was meant to be a soft, furry, lovable holiday gift is now a quickly growing an-imal with sharp teeth, heavy-duty claws and enough energy to pow-er a small town.

“We do see an uptick in (sur-renders after the holidays),” says Jennifer Ryland, canine assistant supervisor for the Humane Soci-ety for Southwest Washington in Vancouver. “Mostly in puppies that people bought at pet shops. They realize after a couple of months that they didn’t realize everything that’s involved, with the housetraining, the chewing, the lack of sleep. They just didn’t know what to expect.”

Tracy Nichols of the NW Love All Animals Rescue in Battle Ground, agrees. Less than one week after Christmas, Nichols had already fielded more than 20 calls from people who had bought or adopted pets as holiday gifts.

“They didn’t know how to housebreak them, or they were having problems with chewing,” Nichols says. “I tell them that hav-ing a routine, that being consistent, is key. We always tell people it’s going to take at least two weeks to acclimate, that it takes a few weeks for an animal to truly bond.”

Even people who plan ahead, who gather information and adopt from a reputable shelter can get easily overwhelmed when they bring their new companion ani-mal home. Just ask Donna Cloud and Jeff Mital, a couple living in Southeast Portland, who had been looking for a dog that would fit into their busy lifestyle and get along with their three indoor cats.

The couple searched for a year, talking to various shelters and re-

searching dog breeds. When they found Murray, a 1-year-old hound-mix, they thought they’d found the perfect canine companion. Mur-ray was housebroken, got on well with the cats, liked his new human caretakers, walked on a leash, and played well with other dogs. Per-fect, right? Not exactly.

“He has anxiety and sepa-ration issues,” Cloud says. “He didn’t like being in the crate when we left, even though we never re-ally left him alone very long … he would get anxious and drool. A lot of drool! So we thought, ‘Well, we’ll leave him in our bed-room while we’re gone,’ but he destroyed the door. At one point, during that first week, even we thought maybe we should take him back, that maybe this wasn’t going to work out.”

Fortunately, for Cloud, Mital and Murray, they stuck it out, es-tablishing a routine for Murray – setting up a bed next to theirs so he wouldn’t have to stay in his crate all night; taking him to Mital’s office at Reed College during the daytime; putting him in his crate for small amounts of time while

they were home to get him used to it; socializing him with other dogs at fenced-in parks to get his young-dog energy out; and add-ing a cup of just-brewed chamo-mile tea to his food before leaving him to help calm him and reduce his anxiety over being away from people. At the six-week mark, the couple could see a marked im-provement over those first days with their new dog. Now he was a part of the family and his anxiety issues were improving.

“You kind of have to expect to have a miserable first month,” Mi-tal says. “After that, it gets better.”

Ryland, at the Humane Soci-

ety in Vancouver, says her orga-nization tries its best to prepare adoptees with all of the infor-mation they’ll need to weather those first few months with a new dog, cat or other companion an-imal. For people who have pur-chased animals from pet shops or backyard breeders, the Humane Society is still a great resource center, offering food assistance programs, microchipping, pet li-censing, lost and found services, spay and neutering clinics and a retail store stocked with pet food, treats, cat litter, crates, toys and grooming accessories. The local Humane Society even brings lo-

cal dog trainers in once a week to host ongoing pet socialization and pet training courses.

“We are more than happy to do everything we can on our end to help people keep their animals at home instead of (surrendering them to the shelter),” Ryland says.

Need help caring for your new companion animal? Following are a few tips from Ryland and the Humane Society for South-west Washington:

Housetraining: Establishing a routine is key. Kittens usually pick up on the litter box routine

in the tooth. If the pulp inside of the tooth is exposed, not only will pain result, but the tooth will

Tooth fractures can result in dental pain and infectionKEVIN STEPANIUKfor The Reflector

The holiday season passed and many of us filled our pet’s stockings with wonderful treats and toys.

Many of us in the Pacific Northwest choose natural and renewable treats and toys for our pets such as antlers, chew hooves and hard-pressed raw-hide whenever possible. From an oral health standpoint, we need to be careful that we do not accidentally introduce a chew toy that may cause tooth fractures resulting in dental pain and infection.

The tooth is a living struc-ture with the pulp tissue inside. The pulp contains the nerves and vessels that extend out to the margins of the tooth. If the enamel and dentin is fractured off the tooth, the inside of the tooth can be exposed. This results in pain and infection

Lifestyles Companion Pets

C4 The Reflector JANuARY 7, 2015

Humane Society offers tips for overwhelmed pet owners

MURRAY, A YOUNG HOUND-MIX, is adjusting to his new home in Portland after shuffling through an array of California and Oregon shelters. Things are good now, two months after the adoption, but Murray’s new parents say the first few weeks were pretty rough. They advise other new pet parents to stick out the first few weeks, because “It gets better.’’

MURRAY THE DOG and Ash the cat are buddies now, but it took a few weeks for them to get used to each other. Murray and Ash’s parents, Donna Cloud and Jeff Mital, said they introduced Murray, their new dog, to Ash, who they’ve had for 10 years, slowly, and respected both animals’ needs for quiet, alone time.

Photo courtesy of Donna Cloud

Photo courtesy of Donna Cloud

See PET OWNERS on Page C8

Dog chews can cause fractured teeth

See DOG CHEWS on Page C8

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Photo courtesy of Columbia River Veterinary Specialists

THE FRACTURED molar of a dog is shown here while undergoing root canal treatment. Area veterinary dentistry specialists encourage dog owners to be careful with the chew toys that they give to their pets.