As your local Wahroonga animal hospital, Fox Valley Animal Hospital gives compassionate care to all our pet patients. But compassion to animals is more than pet healthcare. It’s all encompassing.
Here’s 7 simple ways we can all pay more compassion to animals
Supporting the community
Our work with rescue cats and with rescue groups such as Mini Kitty Commune and others also reminds us that not all animals are that fortunate. There are many family pets that start their lives abandoned, homeless and sometimes even abused. Wildlife in Wahroonga is also common, as is finding scared and injured wildlife and/or their young after falls, car accidents and tangles with pollution via urban living.
We have a commitment not only as a Wahroonga animal hospital but as animal lovers generally to help in these situations where we can.
You can help, too. It’s as simple as considering a rescue cat from us or places like Mini Kitty Commune. Some of the places we work with are featured on our blog.
You can also help by bringing injured wildlife to Fox Valley vets and/or contacting WIRES and/or Sydney Wildlife.
You’d be surprised how much of a difference you can make in an animal’s life through adoption. Or how much of an impact you can have on an animal’s health outcomes by acting quickly when they need help the most.
Love and affection
Photo by Greg Rakozy
At this Wahroonga animal hospital, we’re pretty lucky. We see incredibly loved and looked after family pets and wildlife coming through the doors all the time. Both our vets Dr Alex and Dr Katie also have their own menageries and through the vet hospital, animal advocacy and cattery respectively, our vets spend more than just clinic hours working with animals. Our vet nurses are chosen because they too love animals. So for the most part, seeing animals receive love and affection is a given.
Sometimes though, we think we love our pets when perhaps the kind of love they’d like is still out of reach.
Help by loving your family pet in a positive manner. You can do this by:
Keeping their diet consistent and free from human treats
A lot of the overweight and unhealthy pets we see at our Wahroonga animal hospital are receiving scraps from the table, treats meant for people and so on. While it might seem like we’re depriving those all seeing eyes of the foodie fun, our pets aren’t designed to eat the amount of fat, sugar and salt we eat.
Check out the great range of healthy treats in our store or check out the many blogs on diet we feature for tips on using fruit and vegetables to treat your family pet.
Remembering enrichment and exercise
Cats, dogs, bunnies, birds and lizards- all kinds of pets adore exercise and enrichment. Just as we want to enjoy exercising the body and the grey matter, so too do pets. Coming into autumn and wetter weather, we might get tempted to forego the walks or hunker down in the house into more sedentary activity.
But your pets need activity and exercise to stay not only fit and healthy, but mentally alert and happy as well.
At Fox Valley vets Wahroonga, we do stock a bunch of games and puzzles for indoor play when the weather is bad. We also suggest training your dog to be accustomed to walking in rainy conditions so that they aren’t reluctant to toilet when they need to on bad weather days.
Plus we run a dog day care from our Wahroonga animal hospital so that your dog can socialise, exercise and get all the mental stimulation they need while you’re at work.
The simplest way to maintain empathy to your family pet’s circ*mstance is to watch their behaviour. If they seem bored and unhappy or they want to play and exercise, pets aren’t shy about letting us know.
Follow their cues!
Consider animal related volunteering
There are a great number of organisations and groups that work together to provide animals with care, training, compassion and more. All kinds of places rely on volunteers to help make their work successful.
There are countless pet rescues in the area as we have mentioned before. You can also volunteer for a variety of different organisations such as:
- Helping injured or sick wildlife through WIRES and Sydney Wildlife
- Puppy raising, support and relief care roles with places like Assistance Dogs Australia and Seeing Eye Dogs Australia
- Programs for veterinary health care professionals through vets without borders
- Supporting the RSPCA with their various activities throughout the year- including Cupcake Day, Million Paws Walk and other volunteer activities
- Consider your eating habits and the impact food production has on animal welfare
- Participating in one off events within your local area
- Look for all kinds of animal volunteer roles on places like Seek
- Seeing if animal care is for you as a Featherdale Wildlife Park volunteer
Once you start looking around, you’ll see there are some great places to support. At our Wahroonga animal hospital, we’ve got a few charities we support. Dr Alex has also givenhis time to speak out against circus animal cruelty and to lend a hand with greyhound rescuing. Feel free to ask him or the vet nurses if you want to get started in helping animals as a volunteer but need some ideas.
A good death
Nobody likes thinking of the time when our beloved family pet has come to the end of our life. As pet lovers, we too mourn the loss of the wonderful pets, large and small, we see for many years of their lives.
As animal healthcare professionals, one thing we do focus on during end of life is providing the very best care. We make sure compassion is at the centre at what we do by explaining the options clearly and openly to our pet parents when age, disease, injury and illness strike. We also work with you to support your family pet to pass with dignity, love and grace. Our vets take the time to ensure your family pet is well supported to minimise pain, discomfort and fear.
All creatures, human or animal, want to live long and fulfilling lives with as little stress, pain and fear as possible when our time comes. Our Wahroonga animal hospital does whatever we can to make a good death filled with love and compassion possible once the time comes.
Keep doing what you are doing
The kind of person who is going to go out of their way to read an article about being compassionate to animals is already on the road towards kindness. So thank you for taking the time to consider the ways in which you could help family pets, wildlife and beyond enjoy a happier, healthier and more compassionate life.
