If your family pet is misbehaving, it might be suffering from the back-to-school blues.
The kids who kept the dog or cat company all summer suddenly are disappearing from morning through much of the afternoon. And the pets are noticing.
While some pets take changes in schedules in stride, for others, the return of kids to school can mean distress, said Liz Stelow, staff veterinarian in the behavior service of the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California, Davis.
Some dogs panic and engage in such behaviors as scratching grooves into the front door, while others get bored and go looking for shoes — or, depending on the size of the dog, table legs — to chew on.
Bored cats will go looking for something to play with, like a furniture throw or pillow.
Stelow suggested creating diversions for your pet.
"The food-motivated dog can get his meals presented in food toys or food puzzles," she said. "This way, he spends otherwise idle time in the acquisition of food instead of chewing grandmother's hand-woven lace pillow."
For cats, consider a new scratching post or cat furniture.
And leaving a TV or radio on can help animals adjust from the summer's busy, noisy household to one that just got very quiet.
One final suggestion: Tell the kids not to greet the dog too enthusiastically when they return.
"It sends a message that the owner leaving is not as good as the owner returning," she said. □
