Challenges and Chances for Pets and People Shut In by COVID-19

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Mandatory stay-at-home orders in most U.S. states may have largely shut us in, but they have not shut us down.

Resourceful souls are mining personal gold from the corona coal mine. Many find connection via virtual communities. Some, like myself, are confronting their deep-seated technophobia in the process. Cross-street neighbor families — including fur kids — toast each other across front lawns and concrete rivers. YouTube has become a cornucopia of COVID-related creativity. Parodies of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody evoke laughter during this dark time.

Staying at home can be a double-edged sword, however. While there is more time to do the things one might normally avoid, one cannot avoid those things in one’s self that aloneness — or sharing close quarters with others — brings to the surface. This can be as true for one’s relationship with their children-on-all-fours as it is with other humans.

Here are some considerations for the millions of us locked down with or without pets:

  • Spiritual cleansing. During this time of isolation and news overload, it’s easy to feel helpless and angry — and to unwittingly transmit these feelings to our highly receptive animal brethren. Each of us needs to replenish our inner wellspring lest we have nothing left to give to others or ourselves. This is why we’re instructed to place our own oxygen masks on first when a plane’s cabin pressure drops to dangerous levels. Stop. Take a deep breath. Rather than becoming a brooding bean-counter in this down market, let’s remember the loved ones who fall into our “plus” column of spiritual assets. There’s probably at least one with a scruffy little face looking up at you right now.

  • Intimate connection. When sharing close quarters for extended periods with significant others, it’s inevitable that we’ll push each other’s “buttons.” Perhaps becoming spoiled because we’re around them so much, pets may appear to become needy and annoying. Instead of digging in our heels, we could open our minds and hearts to our pets and try to understand them as much as they accept us. The need to take short “breaks” from each other is normal. We can be engaged with our two- and four-legged loved ones without being enmeshed.

  • Learning Opportunity. Our old “don’t-have-the-time” excuses for not taking up the piano or exploring the world of  bonsais are, for the time being, out the window. This is also an excellent time to begin or accelerate potty and/or behavioral training of our four-legged. Those of us in a condo could set up a patch of real or artificial turf (with a functional and sanitary drainage system underneath) on our balcony. If they “go” on this alternate space let’s praise them lavishly. The mutual rewards will last a lifetime.

  • Health check-in. Tempting as it may be to despair and sink in front of the tube with a bushel of chips, the far better choice is to walk — and take our best friend with us! Of course, we should observe social distancing and all other aspects of public hygiene while outdoors. Now is probably not the best time for raucous play sessions in the grass where an infected person may have spat their loogie. Some of us overeat while moored at home and we may want to indulge our pets as well. The whole point of hunkering down is to preserve good health, not abuse it.

The overwhelming majority of us will live to enjoy those delicious hugs with friends and loved ones — and embrace change as we carry forward.


What else do you think we can do for our pets and ourselves during COVID-19?