Pets and the Pandemic: Changing Routines Can Stress Animals

As Pasadenans return to work amid loosening COVID-19 restrictions, experts are asking pet owners to consider the stress the changing routines can have on their dogs and cats.

Routine is very important to pets’ wellbeing, both mentally and physically, according to Pasadena Humane Society spokesman Jack Hagerman. And in the three months many pet owners have been staying home from work, their pets have grown accustomed to constant companionship.

“When you go back to work, that’s going to be a stressful situation for them. It’s going to be a massive change to their routine that they’ve gotten very used to and love,” he said.

“And so when their routine is upset that much, that can result in some unwanted behaviors,” Hagerman said. “Things like soiling the house or chewing furniture, chewing items that they shouldn’t be chewing on, excessive barking. Things like that that are behaviors that they wouldn’t normally do with you around.”

“It’s important to know that they do those things, not out of retaliation or vengeance — it’s simply because they’re anxious or they’re bored or both,” Hagerman saisd. “The best way to mitigate some of those things is to try and build in as much a routine for their day as possible.”

Re-establishing a workday-style routine in the weeks before returning to work helps dogs and cats better cope with the sudden absence of their owners for significant portions of the day.

A regular feeding schedule is critical, Hagerman said. “It’s actually one of the most important routines you can have for your pet, not just to alleviate issues with anxiety and boredom, but there’s also a lot of, um, research that indicates that it helps for a lot of other things that are health-related.”

It’s also a good idea to give pets some alone time to help them get accustomed once again to their owners’ absence, he said.

Exercising pets when you are home will leave them less anxious when they are left alone, Hagerman said. 

Enrichment toys and food puzzles can also keep pets busy and alleviate stress as they adjust to their routine change.

“This event has been so incredibly stressful for us as a culture and a society, and we sometimes forget how much our stress and anxiety affects our pets,” Hagerman said. “They really are more in tune with our emotions than we think they are, and they respond to what’s going on with us a lot.”