Cuprins
We are coping with forced isolation in different ways. Someone is calm like a boa constrictor, someone is nervous like a doe being chased by a tiger. And how do pets endure hitherto unprecedented close proximity to their owners? Are they happy to see us at home and what will happen to them when the quarantine is over?
Unless you’re a freelancer or retired, this is likely the first time you’ve been spending so much time with your pets during quarantine. Are pets happy? Rather yes than no, says zoopsychologist, pet therapist Nika Mogilevskaya.
“Of course, pets are most often tuned to communicate with humans. When we start them, at first we devote a lot of time to them, and then we move away, because we have our own affairs, ”explains the expert.
If the owner lives in isolation according to the same schedule as before — he works a lot, for example — nothing changes for the animal. “Your pet is also sleeping, doing its own thing, it just has an additional “TV” in the form of a person left at home,” says Nika Mogilevskaya.
“My British cat Ursya is clearly happy that I work remotely. The first couple of weeks she didn’t stick to me — she went to bed somewhere closer while I worked. But she seems to be getting more and more dissatisfied with the fact that I’m sitting at a laptop instead of playing with her. This week, she used win-win ways to attract attention: she hung and swayed on the curtains, gnawed at the router and threw her laptop off the table a couple of times, ”says reader Olga.
In quarantine, the owner can pay many times more attention to the pet than before quarantine. From what kind of attention it is — with a plus sign or with a minus sign — it depends on whether the animals are happy with our presence.
“We pay positive attention when we go out for a walk with the dog once again. Or more play with the cat. In such cases, the pet certainly enjoys, ”says the zoopsychologist.
If you want to cheer up a despondent, albeit pleased with your presence beast, technology will come to the rescue. “It’s hard for our dog Pepe without the usual long walks: there are not enough impressions, there is no activity, she is worried. We signed up with her for an online stunt marathon — now we are doing it together so that she can spend her energy, ”says reader Irina.
Unfortunately, the attention that pets now receive can also be negative.
“There may be a struggle between the beast and its owner for a place. While the owner was working in the office, the cat chose a chair or a sofa for herself. And now the man is at home and does not allow the animal to lie there. And then it can experience stress because the usual rhythm of life, which included sleeping in a certain place, is disturbed, ”explains Nika Mogilevskaya.
There are sadder stories as well. “Some people in self-isolation feel intense frustration about being locked in the same room with other family members and pets. At best, they speak to the animals irritably or drive them away, at worst, they use physical measures, which is unacceptable,” says Nika Mogilevskaya.
Naturally, in this case, pets do not like human quarantine at all.
I look at you like in a mirror
Animals can feel the state of their owners. Another thing is that these sensations are individual for each animal: like people, they have a more or less high sensitivity to other people’s experiences and emotions.
“The strength of the nervous system is one of the characteristics of the higher nervous activity of humans and animals, its ability to absorb and process information. This force was once investigated by the legendary academician Pavlov. Simply put, both we and animals perceive external information at different speeds.
Animals with a weaker nervous system are more susceptible to both positive and negative stimuli. For example, in a dog with a weak nervous system, pleasant strokes will quickly lead to joyful, excited behavior, while unpleasant strokes will lead to avoiding them. Such pets can «catch» the mood of the owner, try to console him or worry with him.
But animals that have a stronger nervous system, as a rule, are less susceptible to subtle matters. The owner is sad all the time — well, that’s okay. I put it to eat — and it’s fine … ”- says Nika Mogilevskaya.
Whether the animal mood of the owner picks up or not depends on how the person behaves. If he starts crying, swearing, throwing objects — that is, he expresses his emotions very clearly in behavior — the animals get nervous, scared.
“If a person’s unspoken emotions do not affect his behavior in any way, then only a very emotional animal with a weak nervous system will feel that something is wrong with the owner,” the expert believes.
“My daughter plays the flute and now practices a lot at home. When she has a side flute in her hands, our cat Marfa listens to music very attentively and is actively interested in the instrument. And when her daughter picks up a recorder, Martha experiences a cognitive dissonance: she cannot bear these sounds. He sits next to him, looks angrily, and then jumps up and bites his daughter in the ass, ”says reader Anastasia.
Perhaps it’s not just a refined musical taste?
Comfort me, furry friend!
Pet therapists know a lot of exercises involving dogs and cats. Performing them with our beloved pets, we improve our mood, relieve anxiety, we can work with our body and emotions through communication with animals.
Earlier we wrote about the techniques and techniques of feline therapy, a section of pet therapy that offers to heal the soul and body by interacting with cats. Read about how their purring, watching their movements and even imitating their poses help us here.
If you have a dog, you can please both her and yourself using the TTouch method.
“This technique includes special stroking, massaging certain parts of the dog’s body — paws, ears. These exercises will allow the animal to relax, feel its body better, and you will have fun and fill part of the day with productive communication with the pet,” says Nika Mogilevskaya.
Too much affection
Can pets get tired of our too much and too much contact with them? Of course, after all, we ourselves sometimes get tired of communicating with loved ones.
“My cat was very unhappy that I was at home. I had to take her to the dacha in order to somehow make amends … There is at least a house, not a one-room apartment, and she has not seen me for a day. It seems to eat food from time to time. I am sure that somewhere she is sitting very happy, ”says reader Elena.
“Cats themselves choose whether to be around or not: when they want, they come, when they want, they leave. And for dogs, it is worth setting a certain mode of communication, and this can be done with the help of the “place” command, Nika Mogilevskaya recalls.
The attention we give our pets can be active or passive.
“If a pet wants active attention, he rubs himself against you. Pet him: if the pet «approves» this with his movements, then everything is in order. But if you start stroking a cat or dog and notice that they move away, if the cat begins to wag its tail in displeasure, it means that they just want to be with you, but do not want to be touched. This means that now the animal needs our passive attention,” explains Nika Mogilevskaya.
Zoopsychologist warns: you can not touch the animal when it is in its place or when it is sleeping. Children should also be taught this, so that everyone can live in a peaceful, calm environment and more easily endure isolation.
“It is strictly forbidden to pester our cat Barcelona Semyonovna at any time. She hates it when someone tries to pick her up, so there is no question of any “squeeze”: we have mutual respect, it is only allowed to stroke her politely. Now that we are at home, she does not miss the opportunity to demand extracurricular food, and often her attempts end in success … But we get stable aesthetic pleasure from her, ”shares reader Daria.
Si apoi, ce?
Will the animals be sad when the lockdown is over and the inhabitants of their house return to their usual schedule?
“Like us, they will get used to the new conditions. I don’t think it will be a tragedy for them. The animals that live with you for a long time are the easiest to adapt to change. When you restore the previous schedule, the pet will get used to it easily, because he already has a similar experience, ”explains Nika Mogilevskaya.
But if you decide to get a pet right now, dose the attention you give it. “Try to bring the amount of communication closer to what you can give your pet when the quarantine is over,” says Nika Mogilevskaya.
Then he will perceive your “exit from the dusk” much easier.
How to help homeless animals during quarantine
Our pets are lucky: they have a home and owners who will fill the bowl with food and scratch behind the ear. It is much harder now for animals that are on the street.
“Dogs and cats that live in parks and industrial zones are usually fed by older people who are now at risk and do not leave their apartments. And we can replace them — for example, by joining as a volunteer to who works in Moscow. Volunteers are given passes, they bring food to homeless cats and dogs,” says Nika Mogilevskaya.
If this option does not suit you, then you can take animals that are overexposure. “Right now it is important to look in the direction of shelters, overexposure: not to buy an animal, but to take it. Then the volunteers will be able to help others, those who have not yet found their home,” Nika Mogilevskaya is sure.
So, Muscovites can find a four-legged friend with the help of the Happiness with Home Delivery charity campaign, which started on April 20: volunteers talk about animals that need owners and are ready to bring a pet to those who want to give him shelter.