I encourage people to make sure that they learn what a pet needs and the social behaviour of an animal so that misunderstandings are minimised.

For example a woman contacted me about her pet rabbit, to say thay he was very nervous when she put him on a lead and tried to take him for a walk.

I explained that she needed to see the world through his eyes. When she put him on a harness and opened the door onto the street, he could hear, smell and see things that were alien to him. Why would he want to walk amongst it? Traffic and strange people are not what many pets want to investigate . When I pointed all this out the woman made her garden escape proof and now the rabbit can play in the bushes and long grass withoug being stressed.

I also went to visit a sick cat , and quickly picked up that the cat, who was not allowed outside apart from into a small run ( the size of a shed) was actually severely stressed and depressed from lack of outdoor stimulation, and hence had become sick as a result. He could smell the emerging spring time life, hear the birds, see insects fly by, yet could not take part in it. His brain told him he needed freedom to roam, his body was in prison.

The owner lived on a busy road with a rail line at the bottom of the garden, so a compromise was needed. When she understood cat behaviour and a cat need to explore, she had her garden fenced to so that her cat could enjoy all of it, not just stare at it from a small run, and he was protected from the traffic and trains. To see him in the bushes, climb trees and run around the lawn is a joy. His health has improved of course, as I knew it would.

Thought for today. We always need to see the world through the eyes of an animal, not from a human perspective - if we want them to be truly contented and happy.

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