Pet Proofing: Ensuring your New Pet's Safety

Bringing a new pet - whether adopted or fostered - into your home is more than just fun and games. Of course there will be plenty of time for that later, but first things first, you’ll need to prepare your home to ensure the safety and comfort of your new cat or dog. 

Pet proofing your home for a new pet, regardless of their age, is similar to baby proofing your household. Pets are inquisitive by nature and will be inclined to explore every corner of your house upon their arrival. 

It will be up to you as a responsible pet parent to ensure that every room in your house is a safe environment. Prior to welcoming your new pet, go through all the rooms in the house to get rid of potential hazards and danger zones. You may have to rearrange your home for a while, but this is temporary until your pet gets more acclimated to the new environment. 

Here are a few tips for pet proofing your entire house.

Kitchen

• Store food properly. Make sure all food is locked away and stored inside the pantry and cupboards in containers. Always keep countertops and tables clear of food and cabinets and doors closed. Consider installing childproof latches for those extra clever pets.   Pets can and will get tempted to chew away at any exposed and accessible food including toxic food and packaging.  Many seemingly harmless human foods are toxic for dogs/cats — like chocolate, gum, onions, coffee, grapes/raisins, etc.  When it comes to food, it’s better to err on the side of safety and keep them all away from pets. 

• Secure garbage bins.  One man’s trash is a curious pet’s unlimited buffet! Make sure your trash cans are securely covered so that your pets cannot access potentially toxic substances or things they can choke on or get suffocated by (such as bones, fruit pits, packaging, plastic bags). 

​​Living Room 

• Secure wires and cords.  Tuck away anything that your new pet could trip over or be tempted to chew on. 

• Check for furniture that might topple over to avoid accidents. Make sure you don’t have any unsteady tables or chairs that your pet might attempt to climb or could tip over and hurt your new pet. 

• Store your knick-knacks properly. The living room is the place where we relax, watch TV, read a book, work on hobbies and projects. With a new pet around, be sure to keep the living room space — from the floor to coffee tables — clutter-free so they don’t have access to any potential hazards (like craft items  and small objects — scissors, needles, yarn, glue, batteries, magnets, kids toys, etc). Make sure you put breakable/valuable items (vases, picture frames, albums, books, DVDs, games) that your new pet can destroy out of reach. 

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• Keep plants out of reach. For the sake of both your plant babies and fur babies, make sure your plants are located safely out of your pet’s reach. Some common houseplants are poisonous when ingested. Younger pups and kittens tend to chew just about anything — so do your research to see if any of the plants you have are harmful to pets and store them away or get rid of them. 

Bedroom

• Clear your nightstand. Don’t leave out any medicine, glass of water, lotions or candles lying around for your pet to ingest or topple over. 
• Store everything in closets. When you kick off that good pair of shoes, store them in the closet so that you aren’t angry when you find them with teeth marks later!  
• Inspect closets.  Check that your pet isn’t stuck or sleeping in a closet or drawer before shutting them closed. Keep the closet doors shut so your pet doesn’t have access to shoes and strings and buttons that they can choke on. 
• Secure your electrical wires so your pet can’t access them. 

Bathroom

• Shut the door. Best to keep your new pet out of bathrooms where they can attempt to drink toilet water or shred toilet paper. 

• Lock your cabinets. Keep medicine, bath soap, toothpaste, shampoo, and household cleaning supplies stored safely in a cabinet and away from your new pet. 

Garage 

• Keep chemicals out of reach. Move chemicals up high on shelves or locked in cabinets. Chemicals such as antifreeze/pesticides/lawn chemicals can cause death if ingested. 
• Keep tools stored away. Make sure sharp objects and tools are where pets can’t access them.
• Clear the floor. Pick up nails, screws, tools and other clutter off the floor and make sure it is clean and free from chemicals that your pet can ingest or choke on. 

Yard

• Check your plants. Just like your indoor plants, make sure all the plants in your garden are safe for pets. If anything is poisonous, best to keep your pet away from it to avoid accidental ingestion. 
• Inspect the fence. Check for gaps or holes that your pet might be able to squeeze through. Ensure that the latch on the gates are working properly. Consider installing a lock for the gates -- some pets have the uncanny ability of opening doors and gates! 
• Keep pets off the lawn. If you’ve recently treated your lawn with fertilizer, weedkiller, insecticide or any other chemicals, keep your pet away from the area. Some dogs have been known to chew grass or nibble on mulch, which could potentially be dangerous if they were recently sprayed with chemicals. 

​One last thing, when you're bringing a new pet home, especially a younger dog or cat, know that they will inevitably make mistakes or have accidents. Please be patient -- your new pet needs time to  learn the ropes.  

To avoid unfortunate incidents, make sure they have a safe, secure and comfortable space to call their own - like a play pen or a crate - where you can be certain that they are out of harm's way and unable to cause mischief around the house whenever you're not around to keep an eye on them. 

Once you’ve inspected your whole house and eliminated all potential threats, you can now relax and focus your time and energy on making your new pet feel right at home. 

And, yes, you can certainly bring out all the pet-safe toys and treats!