“Saving” time

Ahh, spring in the eastern US. Flowers pushing up, bird songs, spring peepers in the evenings, and the time change.

Somehow the US government still hasn’t gotten their Ish together to discontinue this ridiculous practice. It serves no good and there is lots of research on how bad it is for us as humans. And anybody with a pet knows that they don’t give a crap what your clock says, they know when it’s dinner time.

As harmful as the time change is to us, it certainly isn’t an enjoyable experience for your pets, either. And as of right now, we still have to deal with it if we have any sort of time constraints that are a part of the normal world.

So what do we do? Here’s a few ideas to help you and your pet manage the shift:

✔ Begin a week ahead to shift your pet’s meal time. In the case of the “spring forward” in spring, that means feeding a few minutes later each day.

✔ Another option (if you have enough flexibility in your schedule) is to maintain the same feeding time, despite the time change. So if you were feeding your pet at 7, “spring forward” and feed them at 8 instead.

✔ Give your pet some extra time for walks or potty time outside. They really don’t understand why you are moving around at unusual hours, and so it might take them longer to decide to take care of their business because they don’t have to “go” right then. (Training your pet with a clicker, sound, or reward for going potty is a great routine, but probably not going to be perfected in one week!)

✔ Consider a pet sitter or dog walker to help your pet get extra time outside, or adjust the walker’s time by an hour so that they arrive at the same time that your pet normally would expect them.

✔ Be patient with your pet, and yourself. Knowing that both of your rhythms are going to be a little thrown off and allow some extra time for you and your pet to adapt to the time adjustment.

With a little bit of planning ahead, the coming time adjustment will be easier for you and your pets!