How to protect your new pet
Simple precautions you can take to protect your new family member, and give them a happy and healthy life!
Simple precautions you can take to protect your new family member, and give them a happy and healthy life!
April 4, 2024
If you’ve brought home a precious new puppy or kitten, I have no doubt that you’re completely in love and want to do everything possible to give them a happy, healthy life!
These wee babies need our protection to ensure they enjoy just that - at this age, an incident that hurts them can have lifelong impacts.
So today I’ll go through a few easy precautions you can take to protect your new family member. This is not intended to be a bleak read, rather an empowering one so that you feel confident your new little family member is safe and you’re doing all you can to prevent injury and illness both now and in the future.
Puppies that are over-exercised or do too much high impact activity too early are at risk of joint and bone injury, which may result in immediate damage, deformity or conditions such as arthritis and hip dysplasia down the track. Southern Cross Pet Insurance received over 900 claims in 2023 for dogs with osteoarthritis, and around 463 claims for dogs with hip dysplasia - with vet bills sometimes soaring up to $6000.
A young puppy’s growth plates are typically made of soft cartilage, but they gradually calcify and transform into denser bone as your pup matures. While soft, your pup is at higher risk of injury.
It's recommended that puppies refrain from high jumping, fast jarring turns, excessive impact and too much exercise, until the growth plates are closed (this happens at different ages for different breeds, so check with your vet). It's ok if your pup jumps over natural obstacles as they encounter them while out and about, but be mindful of the height and don't actively encourage it.
As a general guide, be really careful until your pup is 12 weeks old, you can start to be more relaxed about it by 6 months, and by 12 months it’s fine for most dogs to have more running exercise, jumping and weaving etc. A good rule of thumb is that a puppy should have five minutes of exercise for every month of age, up to twice a day, until they are fully grown (so an 8 week pup = 10 minutes twice a day).
However be aware that, conversely limiting your pup’s activity too much can lead to boredom, frustration and behavioural problems. Low impact play, ‘sniffaris’ and mental stimulation (including training sessions) are an excellent way to tire your pup out in a safe way - the brain uses the majority of the body’s energy!
Do a careful scout of your house and garden to check for anything that may pose a danger to your puppy. Remember that young pups generally want to bite and chew anything and everything they come across!
Some key things to protect your pup from:
- Small hard items like marbles and stones: could be a choking hazard or cause internal damage if consumed
- Medications, cleaning products and human foods: a number are dangerous or potentially fatal if eaten by puppies such as chocolate and raisins
- Cables and wires: may be chewed through
- Blinds: could pose a hanging or strangulation risk
- Suffocation hazards: a particular one to keep in mind is the dog food bag. Your pup may wiggle in to get to the bag and become trapped inside
- Plants: many common house and garden plants are toxic to pets, do a good Google search and make a plan to protect your pup from them. Karaka berries are particularly toxic so be extremely mindful if there is a karaka tree around in the fruiting season from January to early April.
Ingestion of foreign bodies is a major risk for dogs, with Southern Cross Pet Insurance alone getting 857 claims in 2023 relating to this. In the worst cases, this issue can prove fatal, but even if not, treatment can be thousands of dollars for surgery and post-op care.
Puppies are natural explorers. Make sure your home and garden are escape-proof so curious puppies can’t get onto the road! Remember they may be able to dig, squeeze through small gaps or climb particular types of fencing. Set fencing up well from the get go, otherwise if they learn to escape through poor fencing, you are teaching them to become better and better at escaping.
Children and puppies are made for each other, the cute factor is extreme! But supervise all interactions, particularly with young kids. Make sure they aren’t picking up the puppy without help as doing so in the wrong way can damage your pup’s delicate new limbs (particularly for tiny breeds like Chihuahuas or Pomeranians). If a child drops a puppy, this can result in long term damage. Also make sure kids aren’t pulling tails, legs or poking at eyes. The resultant defensive behaviour if they are hurt can lead to aggression from the pup.
Contact with bigger dogs is an essential part of your pup’s socialisation, so don’t avoid it! However, make sure the other dogs your pup meets are appropriately gentle - excessively rough play can be damaging to a pup’s bones and joints, so don’t allow really rough play with bigger dogs and pups. A little rough and tumble is okay as long as the pup is not getting really bowled over and tossed around - high impact hits can be damaging.
Scratches to eyes are very common and can be disastrous when your family cat meets your new puppy for the first time. It’s important to manage a new puppy’s early interactions with cats carefully (particularly confident cats!) - we suggest keeping puppy on a lead and the cat in a crate for the first few interactions, and never allowing your pup to chase the cat. We have more guidance around managing this relationship in our Virtual Puppy School.
Until fully vaccinated, your pup is at risk from nasty viruses that may be present on the ground, such as parvovirus and distemper. It’s still EXTREMELY important to get your pup out to socialise before their vaccinations are complete, but make sure you do so in safe ways. For example, carry your pup in a front pack around parks and beaches, wheel them around in a pram or pet trolley to get exposure to different environments and traffic, meet at friends places where there are no unvaccinated dogs, go to puppy classes, take them in a travel crate to a café, have people around to your place to meet your pup, or go on visits to vet clinics or pet-friendly hardware stores.
Unrestrained pups can be thrown around a car while driving and a crash could be catastrophic. Keep pups in a secured travel crate or secured by a harness for car rides.
Pups often swallow bits of things they enjoy chewing, which can then block a small intestine. This is one of the most common causes of severe vomiting in a puppy. Make sure you choose safe chew toys and don’t give your pup access to things like corn cobs, meat wrapping, underwear and cooked bones. Be conscious about where your rubbish bin is as pups can raid it and find dangerous items.
Before you bring your kitten home, clear away or safely store any items that could cause harm such as chemicals, cords, string, electrical cables that could be chewed through, and dangerous plants. Many common plants and flowers are toxic to cats so educate yourself about which these are, a friend of mine tragically lost her precious cat after he got into a vase of lilies on the kitchen table, which are one of the most dangerous and may cause acute kidney failure. Numerous human foods are toxic to cats too, so keep them out of reach.
Keep toilet lids shut as they present a drowning risk, and remember that kittens are super nimble and will jump on things and climb more than a puppy will, so be mindful about hot stuff on the stove or cups of hot tea!
Young children don’t realise how fragile a kitten can be. Teach them how to be gentle with pets, and only allow handling with adult supervision. Give the kitten spots they can retreat to away from the kids in case they need a break.
Curious kittens LOVE to squeeze into tight little spots, but this can pose a big danger when getting in is easier than getting out. Kittens can become stuck in radiators, down the back of couches or even in a sink waste disposal if they’re going after yummy scraps. Kittens can also climb into open appliances like washing machines, dryers and fridges so keep doors closed and always double check your kitty didn’t get inside when you glanced away.
Cats aren’t known for having the best road sense, and kittens particularly so. If you live on a busy road, you may want to consider keeping your cat exclusively indoors (or use a catio to give them outdoor access in a contained way). If your cat is going to have outdoor access, still don’t allow free outdoor access until you’ve had your kitten for more than 12 weeks. This helps strongly establish your home as their territory which helps keep them a bit closer. In 2023, 373 claims were made to Southern Cross Pet Insurance for cats who’d sustained traumatic injuries, with the average claim being above $1000, so it’s worth being careful about this.
Always ensure that your contact details on the NZCAR for your cat's microchip are kept up to date or they wear a collar with tag, so they can be readily identified in the case of an accident.
If you have other pets, consider if they could pose a risk to your kitten. Adult cats (especially males) can be overly rough, dogs can chase and easily injure a kitten even if they’re doing it in a playful way. Also scope out any other pets in your immediate neighbourhood in case you need to be aware of predatory dogs or aggressive male cats.
Your kittens feet and tail are very delicate, and they can get underfoot. Be careful of where you’re stepping, the tilt of your rocking chair and close doors slowly in case your kitten needs to get out of the way to avoid major injuries.
It’s the quintessential cute photo - a kitten playing with a ball of wool. But if a kitten ingests long items like wool, string, ribbon, hair ties or tooth floss that could result in a trip to the emergency vet. Only allow them to play with items of this description under supervision.
Look, no matter how prepared you are, accidents can always happen and something can go awry that you never even dreamed of. So, if an accident should happen, you want to know your pet will be looked after.
I would personally never be without pet insurance. My pets are undoubtedly part of my family, and I need to know that if they get hurt or sick, they’re going to get the treatment they need - not just to save their life, but to maintain their quality of life.
My Awa is insured with Southern Cross Pet Insurance and my previous boys Monty, Tommy and Reggie were too. If you have a new puppy or kitten aged 6 to 26 weeks old, you can even get 6 weeks of free insurance (no obligations = no brainer!) that pays up to $2000 in the event your puppy or kitten has an accidental injury or illness. I prefer Southern Cross as they are a New Zealand company, I love their commitment to helping our pets live better quality lives, and because like me, they support Pet Refuge.
I hope this article has helped you develop a plan to keep your pet safe!
Perhaps the most important way you can protect your pet is by getting pet insurance, so you’re covered if your pet has an accidental injury or illness. Southern Cross Pet Insurance offers 6 weeks of FreeCover for puppies or kittens aged 6-26 weeks, which provides up to $2,000 cover for unexpected vet treatment, which may be super helpful while you get your head around things. This is a no obligation offer so in my mind, it’s a no brainer. I took advantage of this when I got my puppy Awa!
Learn more at southerncrosspet.co.nz/freecover
This content was created in partnership with Southern Cross Pet Insurance.
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