“Doctor, why my puppy started to have a weird behavior when I came back from vacation?” People often ask me this question and I think that every veterinary has clients that ask him the same question.
I think that is a bit excessive to call this strange behavior depression, and yet, after a time off can often happen that our pets make changes. It happens to my dogs and cats every times.
They can change some attitudes and mostly it take few days, but other times it can last longer and the careful owners, obviously, become worried. Symptoms can be various: reluctance to take the usually walk, less appetite, excessive sleepiness and obsessive compulsive behavior like liking repeatedly his paws or pulling out abdomen fur.
Our pets appreciate some vacation like we do. On vacation, dogs enjoy more time with their owners because they are surely less busy and more relaxed, can take long walks with them and find new smells around. Sea air, mountain air or lake air, they will enjoy every blast. Some of them can even swim, scamper across fields or paths and make new friends without fence or leash.
Cats feel the same way, even if many owners are afraid to loose them and don’t give them too much freedom. However, when they climb trees, sharpen their nails on real trunk and not a simple cord, hunt real quarry that actually run for life and not lifeless mouse, they experiment real happiness.
At this point, we can understand how difficult can be for them too. In case that those symptoms, we talked about at the beginning of this article, show up, it surely is a post vacation syndrome. We have to be patient and, if it is possible, let them gradually accustom again to daily life. In fact I suggest to dedicate them more time, take long walks for more few days and take advantages of sunny days; go to new parks and play with them. In conclusion, I invite you to spend some more time with your little friends. About cats, my advice is to create routes with some objects found during the vacation for example olive wood, it will be a very well-accepted gift.
On the contrary, if symptoms persist and they present other strange behaviors, do not underestimate them. You should take your pet to the veterinary, he can reassure you and in the case there is a real pathology, he can take action.
