Mental Stimulation As Part Of Your Pet’s Daily Care Routine
We know that when it comes to ensuring the health and well-being of your pet. Our pets bring unconditional love, care, and attention to our families that are priceless and irreplaceable. As a result, we express our love, dedication, and gratitude in our daily care routines for our furry family members.
Naturopathic medicine is the practice of identifying the underlying causes of illnesses. This helps to avoid the common practice of suppressing symptoms while healing and pursuing the least harmful healing treatment process for your pet. At the Naturopawthic Veterinary Wellness Center, we use customized treatment plans to address new and recurring symptoms by identifying and healing their root causes. But as you care for your pet on a daily basis, you may wonder how to implement naturopathic principles into your daily routine.
Here are a few tips for establishing healthy in-home daily habits:
I often recommend puzzle toys or snuffle mats to my clients when it comes to at home mental stimulation. Human and animal mental and physical states are critical for overall health. There are many ways to stimulate your pet’s problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. For example:
Set up fun and challenging scavenger hunts at treat and mealtime.
Teach them a few tricks.
Use puzzle toys for feeding a full meal or as a midafternoon way to burn off energy when it is freezing cold outside or you have work to do.
What about outdoor time
When I take Lulu for a walk, I remember that this is HER time, not mine. Why is it HER time? Because this is when she can smell all the messages left by other dogs and wildlife, not just on the ground but in the air, watching the environment around her as we walk (when she isn’t sniffing out her pee-mail). But it’s a great stress and anxiety reliever for both of us. So be sure to work in extra time to allow your pet to explore their environment and stretch their legs. Whenever possible, take walks in woods to provide some forest grounding for you both (remember to use some sort of repellant for ticks, I like essential oil based collars and sprays as the first line of defense, and always check for ticks after)
Walking outside……
Stimulating neuroplasticity and utilizing energy.
Coming down from a stressful occurrence. When a dog doesn’t have an outlet to release excess, built-up energy, they find other ways to do so. Perhaps chewing on things they shouldn’t, becoming more aggressive toward the mail or UPS person, or increased separation anxiety, to name a few.
Summing Up
Giving your dog a positive outlet while stimulating neuroplasticity, and giving them an alternative for going for a walk include:
Using interactive toys and puzzles
Giving them chew toys (while supervised) such as bully stick, yak chew, kong with their favorite food in it.
Allowing them to participate in physical activities, such as yoga, with you.
Playing hide and seek around the house.
Practicing commands (sit, roll over, stay, come).
Remember, our mental health and well-being are vital for a happy existence for all of us!