What does it mean to be prepared?

What does it mean to be prepared for pet ownership? Choosing to take ownership of an animal is one of the most important decisions someone can make, yet people often do it so impulsively. Animals of all shapes and sizes are living, thinking, feeling, and conscious beings. When becoming a pet owner, you become solely and wholly responsible for a life, and nothing is more valuable than a life. Cheesy, I know, but think about it. The quality of life, the entire thing, is in your hands. Take in the weight of what that means; it's not a cliche, it's the truth.

Now that we accept the magnitude of what you just walked into and the choices we’ve made, how do we prepare ourselves to do right by our pet and give them a quality life? Time for another simple, cheesy answer: knowledge. How can we provide a quality life for them if we don't know what that looks like? What makes life quality and enriching for your animal? What will cause stress? What may get in the way of them thriving? What are all their needs, physical, emotional, and social? How will you meet them? The truth is, you can't have enough knowledge. You will never know too much, but you can easily not know enough. Sadly, once we know that we do not know enough, it's often too late. Let's remember the choice we made, you are now responsible for a life, let's not learn about it in hindsight. 

People often think they are prepared because they are unaware of the information they are missing. I like something more like, "How do you know if you are fully prepared? While there is a lot that goes into this, you should at least have these questions answered: How will you house them? How will you keep them safe? What do they need to be kept safe from? How will you provide a reliably sourced and nutritious diet? What vet will you take them to? Will they see them? How will you pay for that emergency vet bill you didn't plan for? Who will watch them and care for them when you go on vacation? How will you provide appropriate mental and emotional enrichment even when you get busy and your own life gets rough? The list goes on and on, but the truth is, there should not be questions left unanswered about meeting their needs. While preparing to meet those needs, you should find answers to questions you didn't even know to ask. Keep asking these questions and then continue asking them even after you find the answers, because a lot of this information is constantly changing and improving as new research is done and new ideas are shared. Every rock needs to be turned over before you even consider taking a life into your hands. Taking responsibility for a pet before learning how to properly meet its needs can result in the animal experiencing unnecessary hardship during your learning process.

Not sure what rocks to flip or questions to ask? Let us help. Learning what questions to ask now will save you a lot of time and heartbreak.