One of my best friends in the world is pregnant, and I’m just delighted. You might remember her dog Casey, who’s appeared in a few stories here and there.
Now that my friend has entered her second trimester, Casey has started to act differently. She’s been having accidents in the house — specifically in the kitchen and the bathroom — both while her owners are home and while they’re out at work. I turned to one of my favorite online dog communities to see if anyone else had experienced something similar during their pregnancies.
They had! Several ladies wrote in to say that their dog had acted differently and thought it was due to all the hormonal changes. Here in the Pets Blog, we’ve looked at pet behavior AFTER the baby is born, but never before.
If you’ve seen your pet’s behavior change while you were pregnant, I’d love to hear your story. (Casey’s mom would like to hear it, too!)
In the meantime, here are some things I suggested to help Casey deal with the pregnancy:
- Make sure that the problem isn’t a physical one. Often, a dog who is housebroken who starts to have accidents in the house has a bladder or urinary tract infection. When Lally was piddling on my bed a lot, that’s the first thing we checked before deciding it was a behavior issue.
- Make sure to spend plenty of quality time with your pet. Walks, playtime, cuddling, grooming — make sure they know they’re loved.
- Try a calming pheromone spray. If human hormones are agitating your pet, an animal pheromone might help calm things down. I’ve seen how well they work on some cats at the boarding facility.
I’ve seen too many pets being surrendered to a shelter or given away because a baby was on the way. I believe that in many cases, there is a way to have everybody — human and animal — find a way to live together harmoniously. I’ll be doing some research on how human hormones affect animals, and I’ll let you know what I find.