Merging Into Life: First-Time Pet Owner’s Guide

[00:00:45]
Amanda Greene: No.

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Amanda’s daughter: I want a puppy so bad. It’s so fuzzy and cute, and I want one.

[00:00:50]
Amanda Greene: No one said puppy!

Welcome to Merging Into Life where we navigate life’s milestones one episode at a time. Brought to you by AAA Northeast. I’m your host, Amanda Greene. Today, we’re going to talk about adopting your first pet. It’s a massive decision with huge impacts, but unlike many of our topics on this show, it isn’t a necessary part of adulthood. Moving out, finding your first home, buying insurance, these are things that usually have to be faced at some point. But getting a pet is very much a personal choice, one that has to fit with your life, because once you commit, you are in it for the long haul, and it’s hard to think clearly when faced with a little fuzzy miniature bundle of love.

So, before you start wandering the halls of your local shelter, sit back and listen. We’re going to take you through all the things to think about before you find yourself saying yes to the pet, such as how to adopt a rescue dog, pet insurance and selecting the correct food for your pet.

We’ll be speaking with Abbie Harrison, a pet lover and editorial director of animal content. But first.

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Ann Hohenhaus: So I’m Ann Hohenhaus. I’m a veterinarian here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center. My area of expertise is in oncology or cancer medicine for pet. I was born into this field. My father was a veterinarian, and so I just kept doing the same thing I’d been doing all my life, which is taking care of animals.

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Amanda Greene: It’s in the family. That’s really beautiful. What was your first pet? How did that experience shape your life and your approach to veterinary care?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Well, I would say that the pets were really my father’s. So the first pet I remember is a beagle dog. He loved beagles. He always had beagles, and that dog met an unfortunate end in that it was hit by a car. And I remember being in his clinic with him, and I think he knew that the dog wasn’t going to make it. And I spent much of the last moments of that pet’s life making sure that its nose was wet with little gauze sponges, because if the dog’s nose was wet, I was sure that it was going to live. And so, possibly, that dog had an impact many, many, many years later on my career.

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Amanda Greene: Wow, that is really special. So for a family to decide they’re ready, they would like to get a pet, how do you help guide people or families in determining the type of pet that best fits their lifestyle?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Well, I think that is the question they need to ask. What is your lifestyle and how can a pet fit into that? If you’re someone who likes to go away on the weekend, can you take that pet with you where you’re going on the weekend? Or if you’re someone that works from home all the time and can walk a dog whenever you need to, then a dog might be a great pet. And then let’s not just think dogs and cats, but we could also think about more non- traditional pets, which might be something in an aquarium, that needs probably less day- to- day maintenance. Although having been a fish tank owner for some time, cleaning those things can be a challenge. Or some small mammal like a gerbil or a guinea pig. Those are easy pets to take care of and great pets for beginners. And so that lifestyle question is a very important first question for the first-time pet owner to wrestle with when they’re making a decision on a pet.

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Amanda Greene: Yeah. So your lifestyle, are you someone who’s even home enough for certain kinds of pets is a really big one. I hear people say that a lot. ” I’m not home enough to get a dog yet.” So what animals are best suited for different needs or environments? Let’s say you live in an apartment.

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Ann Hohenhaus: I would say that there are many, many people in New York City that have 60 pound dogs. And the reason that we know that is that every time the animal medical center remodels itself, we always add more runs for big dogs, which tells us that we’ve got a lot of big dog patients. You can have a big dog because in the apartment, the dog mostly hangs out, and then that dog is going to get walked multiple times a day. Dogs with backyards, you open up that backyard and the dog goes out there and lays in the sun and the grass and then comes back. New York City dogs actually get exercise because you walk them around the block, you take them to the park that’s closest to you, and so they get a lot of exercise and are perfectly fine in not a very big apartment. So I don’t know that internal space really makes a difference.

Cats, one thing about cats is you need to have a litter box, at least one litter box for every cat. So even though cats are small, having five cats in a small apartment is a problem, because you can’t fit enough litter boxes into the apartment and could end up with territorial issues. So those are all things to think about in terms of space.

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Amanda Greene: So the act of actually deciding how to get your pet, when it comes to deciding between a breeder or a rescue, what factors should a first- time pet owner consider?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Well, part of it depends on what kind of pet you want. If you have your heart set on a purebred animal, you might need to go to a breeder, but you might also be able to get a purebred dog from a breed- specific rescue group. So there are Frenchie rescue groups and Golden Retriever rescue groups for people who have to relinquish their pets for a variety of reasons.

Co-op boards, those are the people that run the buildings that you live in, sometimes set a limit on the size of a dog that you can have. And they might say, “You can’t have a dog that weighs more than 30 pounds.” Well, that makes going to the pound a challenge because you don’t always know how big that pound puppy is going to turn out to be. And so you might need to go to either get an adult dog or get a dog from a breeder where you can pick the size of the dog that you’re getting because of the co- op board restrictions on pets.

I think also it matters who is in the household. So getting a pet from the shelter, you don’t know as much about their background and you don’t know as much about their health. And if you have immunocompromised family members, then that shelter pet is more at risk of bringing home an illness that could be translated to a family member. So in that case, a pet that comes from a private home where you know everything about that pet’s background might be better for your particular family.

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Amanda Greene: This is all very interesting. We’re going to come back to Dr. Hohenhaus and how soon, but first I want to dive a little deeper into where to get your first pet.

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Abbie Harrison: Hi, I’m Abbie Harrison. I am the Associate Editorial director of the Sprucepets.com and Dailypaws. com. I have two dogs myself. They are two rescues. One is named Millie and the other is Finn.

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Amanda Greene: Amazing. So could you describe how you would caution someone considering adopting a dog from a breeder? What should they look out for and what kind of questions should they ask?

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Abbie Harrison: You really want to do your research before you decide to go the breeder route. There’s a lot of backyard breeders and puppy mills that you want to stay away from. So with a responsible breeder, they should be registered with their breed club. So like the Golden Retriever Club of America or something like that. You can go to that breed club website and they should list out all of their affiliated breeders. They should allow you to come visit the facility and meet the dogs, the parent dogs, any of the puppies that they have currently. And that way you can also evaluate the facility and make sure that it’s a clean facility and see where the dogs are kept and just to make sure it’s a good environment. They should provide you with health certificates and screenings. Hip and elbow and eye screenings are just some of the things you can look at. They’ll probably also give you information about the dog’s line because these responsible breeders work very hard to make sure that they’re producing dogs that are healthy and have a good temperament.

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Amanda Greene: I imagine as you are visiting their facility and you are evaluating what they’ve done, they should also be sort of making sure that you are a fit home also.

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Abbie Harrison: Definitely. Yeah. They will want you to submit an application, and you’ll probably have to end up on a waitlist. Because a responsible breeder won’t have just all kinds of puppies available at all times, they will have a schedule of when they are going to expect litters to be born. So you should expect to be on a wait list for a year, maybe even two, depending on the breed of dog that you’re looking for, and that breeder’s program.

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Amanda Greene: What else should you look for in a breeder?

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Abbie Harrison: I think another thing is they should never offer to ship a dog to you. You should have to go to the facility and pick up the dog. That is a common sign of puppy mills and backyard breeders is they will ship their dogs out or a scam where you put up deposit online and then nothing ever comes of it.

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Amanda Greene: Okay. So what about from a rescue? What considerations are important there when adopting a rescue dog?

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Abbie Harrison: When you go to a rescue, you want to work with the staff and tell them about your lifestyle and ask them if they can give you some information on the dogs that they have currently and help you find the right fit. If you are a first- time dog owner, you don’t want to end up with a dog who might have a lot of behavioral issues, maybe has come from a bad situation, unless you are fully prepared and able to take on that challenge. And so the rescue staff should be willing to work with you to find the right fit for you so that way you don’t bring the dog back in two weeks when things aren’t working out.

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Amanda Greene: Something to keep in mind is that getting your pet from a shelter comes with the satisfaction of doing a good thing, but it also comes with fees sometimes as high as $600 and $700. That cost is one more thing to factor into a very big decision. In a perfect world, when you get a pet, it’s for life. And if you can’t make that commitment, Abbie points out that there are other ways for animal lovers to get their fix. Shelters are often looking for volunteers to help out. And then there’s the ever important role of fostering. According to Dr. Hohenhaus, not only does it free up a place for another animal in the shelter, it also gives young animals exposure to real households and invaluable experience for when it finds its new home.

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Ann Hohenhaus: If you’re fostered in a home, you get to meet the evil Mr. Vacuum Cleaner, and you hear the dishwasher turning on and you hear what the shower sounds like and doors closing and the TV on, and all those noises that happen every single day in a home, but do not happen in a shelter because it’s a completely different environment. If you’re bringing a puppy or kitten home for children, you don’t want the first children that puppy or kitten sees to be your children. You want them to have been exposed early on to little unpredictable beings that make funny, loud noises because that can be very upsetting to a puppy or kitten that’s never met a child before. Children behave much differently than bigger adults.

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Amanda Greene: Those are some really good points. Another big consideration are your personal finances and being financially ready is really important when bringing home a new pet. So how do you recommend people gauge if they’re financially ready for the responsibility?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Well, I think that what everyone wants to do is take their credit card and rush to the local Pet Emporium and get the cute bowls and five beds and a couple sweaters for the new dog and the biggest climbing tree for the cat that you can find. And that is probably all the least important things. Your pet could be perfectly happy eating food out of an empty, clean Chinese food container and will sleep on any pillow, pile of dirty clothes or what you have on the bedroom floor.

What you need to think about is the cost of medical care, the cost of food. Pet owners in the United States spend most of their pet budget on food. They spend more on food than on medical care for their pets. Also, think about grooming. So you want that fluffy Persian cat that your grandma had, and well, then now someone needs to comb those mats out of that cat and make sure that its skin and hair are kept healthy.

And if you get a poodle, those things grow hair like you can’t believe. And trust me, I know some poodles whose haircuts cost more than mine do.

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Amanda Greene: Wow.

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Ann Hohenhaus: So those are things to think about. The grooming, medical care, food, and then who’s going to babysit that pet when you go on vacation? You’ve got to either engage the neighbor or pay the kennel, but that’s an added cost. And then you have to think about the added cost of housing, because is your landlord going to want a bigger security deposit on the apartment? Does your landlord actually allow pets? Are you going to try and sneak this one in? And if you do and get caught, is there a financial penalty associated with it? So there’s a lot of money things to think about in getting a pet.

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Amanda Greene: Most of these expenses you can plan for, but I suppose medical care can really balloon out of control depending on the health of your pet. How do you plan for that?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Yes, and one of the important decisions that a pet owner needs to make is, am I going to purchase insurance for this pet? And if I am, what is that insurance going to do? So some people want catastrophic crisis medical care coverage, meaning they figure they can budget and pay for shots, blood tests and the routine care that the pet needs, because that’s more predictable and they can work that into their budget. But if the pet has a big crisis, then that’s the kind of insurance that they want.

Other people say, if there’s a crisis, I’ll figure it out. But I want to know that my routine care is covered, and I can predict that my coverage is going to cover shots and blood tests that the pet needs every year and flea and tick medication and heartworm medicine. So that’s one way to think about it.

The other way is to create a pet slush fund, and instead of putting the money into the insurance company, put the money in the bank. But a lot of people are not good savers. And so the minute they see that they have $5, 000 in the bank, they’re like, ” Woohoo!”

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Amanda Greene: Shopping.

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Ann Hohenhaus: Let’s go to Cancun.

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Amanda Greene: Yeah.

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Ann Hohenhaus: Yeah, let’s take a cruise. But that money really has to sit there so that if the pet has an emergency, you can draw down on that emergency catastrophe fund, not use it to fund a vacation.

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Amanda Greene: Have you seen any examples within your own clients? Any stories to share?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Well, I’ve seen that within my own family. My brother got some cats, and it was a time in his life when he had a lot of children and less income. And so I gave them a catastrophic cat insurance policy as a Christmas gift. And lo and behold, the cats developed a catastrophe. And my sister- in- law said to me, ‘Oh, this is great, because I don’t know how we would’ve paid for it in our situation.’

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Amanda Greene: Wow. Being able to make choices, not just because of the finances, but for the care of the pet. That is really powerful. And for added peace of mind, AAA Northeast offers pet insurance for accidents, injuries and illnesses.

What types of things should you buy ahead of time to pet proof where you live?

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Ann Hohenhaus: I’m not sure you need to buy. I think you need to get rid of. Pets are looking for cords to chomp on. Medications, that’s the number one reason for calls to animal poison control is the pet gets into their own medications or the family’s medications and ends up in the animal ER. So putting medications away and out of reach. We’ve had some pets where it’s a tag team. The cat gets on the counter and goes, boop, boop, boop, boop, crash. And when the medication falls to the ground, the dog eats it all.

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Amanda Greene: Oh, my.

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Ann Hohenhaus: Remember that there are flowers and plants that are potentially lethal to your pets because we have pets in all the time that have eaten a plant that’s making them sick. I think you need to be sure that doors latch so no one escapes. And then this is the one thing you should probably buy is the appropriate number of baby gates, pet gates. There’s so many gates on the internet. Find the one you like. Be sure it’s tall enough, and be sure the bars are close enough together because you can’t believe how they can squish through those little skinny bars.

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Amanda Greene: That’s such good advice.

And part of keeping your pet safe is making sure it can’t get its paws on human food that can make it sick. The list is long and includes chocolate, grapes, raisins, and pits from certain fruits. The days of passing your table scraps onto your pet are long gone and for good reason.

How should pet owners go about selecting the right type of food for their fur baby?

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Ann Hohenhaus: People will often ask me, what is the best pet food? And there is no best pet food. So here are my guidelines to help you. One is that the label needs to say AAFCO certified. A-A-F-C-O, which stands for the American Association of Feed Control Officials. They’re the people in the United States that are tasked with determining if pet food meets the nutrient standard for dogs. So it’s going to be species specific, the AAFCO regulation, and it’s also going to be life stage specific, meaning approved for puppies, approved for adults, approved for all life stages. And so you need to pick the one that’s right for your pet.

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Amanda Greene: Well, at the pet store, are all of the dog foods on the shelf not certified with this?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Correct. They are not all certified.

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Amanda Greene: Wow.

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Ann Hohenhaus: Because they don’t meet the definition of complete and balanced. So that’s why that’s my rule. I want my patients to eat complete and balanced foods. It needs to say AAFCO on that label. The print is really small, but it’ll be there if it is AAFCO certified.

Second thing is that the pet needs to like the food. So even though you perceive that this food is going to be great for your pet, if it won’t eat it, it doesn’t do your pet any good.

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Amanda Greene: And so when it comes to meal prepping for your dog at home, I feel like I’m hearing you say you’re not a big fan of that.

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Ann Hohenhaus: I’m not a fan of it unless that diet has been formulated by a board certified veterinary nutritionist. Studies have been done looking at the nutritional adequacy of home- cooked diets with recipes made by the owners, and they are in general deficient in calcium and phosphorus. And I had a patient whose owner heart was in the right place, the dog had terrible allergies, and they were making a home-cooked diet for the dog. And that dog became so low in calcium that it was walking funny, and we thought it had an orthopedic problem. And then we did some blood tests on it, and its calcium was dangerously low. And that’s because the diet was low in calcium. And so now his diet is essentially the same with the right vitamins and minerals added by the board certified veterinary nutritionist. And it’s taken us a while, but we got him back on track.

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Amanda Greene: When do you bring your puppy or your kitten in for their first exam? Is it like when you have a baby, you have to go right away?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Pretty much. So if you are purchasing from a breeder, a puppy or a kitten, then you will need to look at that breeder contract because usually that breeder contract has a clause in it that that puppy or kitten needs to be seen within X days and determined to be healthy. And if not, you can return it. Although after a few days, you’re in love and you’re not going to return it. But there’s a clause in there that says needs to be visited.

And then puppies and kittens need vaccinations roughly every three to four weeks before they’re probably five, six months old. And so you need to know from who you get the puppy or kitten from, when was it vaccinated and when’s the next vaccine due? But usually quite soon after you get the puppy or kitten, you should have it checked out. Since we’re talking about planning for your first pet, you need to probably identify that veterinarian upfront. Maybe make an appointment for shortly after you get that pet, even though you don’t have it yet, so that you can get an appointment at the right time for that pet and find out more about that veterinary hospital.

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Amanda Greene: Is there any other advice you would offer to someone considering this, considering getting their very first pet?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Oh, it’s going to be so much fun. There’s nothing like having a pet around. They’re infinitely entertaining. They are completely devoted to you, and they’re unconditional in their love. So I love having animals around and I can just sit in the evening and watch my kittens play. It’s better than TV. I did not watch the news last night. Instead, I watched the kittens play.

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Amanda Greene: Beautiful. That’s a lot of love. That’s really special. Okay, so before I let you go, I have some rapid fire questions. When should you start brushing your new pet’s teeth?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Now.

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Amanda Greene: Immediately?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Yeah, immediately. So kittens and puppies are very pliable, and if you train them early, you can get them to do a lot of different things. If you wait until they’re four years old, no go on the tooth brushing.

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Amanda Greene: Should all pets be microchipped?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Yes.

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Amanda Greene: How often should you bring your pet in for a checkup?

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Ann Hohenhaus: At least once a year for a routine checkup and whenever they’re ill.

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Amanda Greene: And what’s a normal amount of sleep for dogs and cats to get per day?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Cats sleep about 90% of the time. Dogs, probably somewhat less, but still a lot.

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Amanda Greene: Wow. 90% of the day. It does seem like they’re always resting, so that makes a lot of sense.

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Ann Hohenhaus: Oh, yeah.

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Amanda Greene: Wouldn’t that be nice? Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, thank you so much for joining us and for sharing all of this amazing information. You have been very helpful.

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Ann Hohenhaus: Oh, good. Well, I hope that everyone who’s getting a first pet has a wonderful time with it.

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Amanda Greene: Thank you so much.

There’s so much to know when getting your first pet. So remember, consider your lifestyle and find something that fits with how you live. Work out your costs beforehand because food, medical care and insurance add up. Prepare your space to make it as safe as possible for your new friend. Once you commit to a pet, it’s supposed to be forever. And once you work all of that out, it’s totally worth it. Because pets bring love, companionship, and entertainment.

A huge thanks to Dr. Anne Hohenhaus, a vet and host of the podcast, Ask The Vet. You can find a link to that show in our show notes. And thanks to Abbie Harrison, Associate Editorial Director of Daily Paws and The Spruce Pets at Dotdash Meredith for coming on our show.

You’ve been listening to Merging Into Life where we navigate life’s milestones one episode at a time. Brought to you by AAA Northeast, with assistance from JAR Audio. I’m your host, Amanda Greene. If you’re learning as much as I am, follow us wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think. Email us at podcast@aaanortheast.com.

I love that. What are your cats’ names?

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Ann Hohenhaus: Right now, I have Cashew and Acorn. Oh, this is Acorn.

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Amanda Greene: Acorn.

[00:24:54]
Ann Hohenhaus: He’s a good eater. ‘Oh, I know, I know, I know. I know you think it’s lunchtime.’

[00:24:58]
Amanda Greene: Oh, so cute. But we’re still not ready for a puppy.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily the views of AAA Northeast, AAA, and/or its affiliates.