Pet owners: where are your pets during the workday?

[bunnysmom]

I'm feeling some serious pet mommy guilt today, so please bear with me.

This weekend our new furniture arrived and as we haven't pet proofed it yet, today we left our two bunnies in their playpen and our cat in the kitchen. Up until this weekend they had free reign of the apartment and this is the first time they are contained in an area during the day.

I'm feeling really guilty as I want them to have as many space as possible, but we're also thinking of making this a permanent arrangement, as we don't want the whole apartment destroyed (we had to buy the new furniture because the old one was destroyed by the pets).

I'm conflicted by this and I wanted to know what do you do with your pets during the day. Do you let them have the whole house? do you have them in a play pen/cage/specific room? do you think they can still be happy and healthy if they are contained in an area?

[hamster]

At this moment he's either on the couch, the bed, or barking at the mailman.

[mysticmuffin]

Both of our dogs are crated when we leave the house, both for their safety and to prevent destruction.

[steph96]

Jan 4, 2016 13:51:46 GMT -5 mysticmuffin said:

Both of our dogs are crated when we leave the house, both for their safety and to prevent destruction.

This. Sometimes if I'm running a quick errand, I will let them roam the house, but I don't trust them to be out for more than 2 hours.

[v]

I am pretty sure that if we tried to contain them in one room, we'd be evicted in about a week. Boy cat does not tolerate closed doors, and he sure has a pair of lungs on him.

[mich1]

Dog is currently asleep on the sofa, the cat the recliner. When we leave the house, the dog gets locked up in the utility room - only because he tries to get into the pantry (and sometimes succeeds). If the cat's in the utility room when the door gets closed, he stays in there too with the dog.

Fortunately, neither of them are destructive.

[Deleted]

I have two cats and they have free run of the house. From my experience with bunnies, they will be fine in a contained area while you are gone. They feel safer in small spaces and they mostly sleep during the day, but will be happy to see you when you get home. Cats on the other hand, well.... mine would raise holy hell.

[lagom]

He is crated during the day. He appreciates his routine.

[konapoppy]

Kula is crated and Kona has access to the whole house other than the bedrooms.

If they tolerate it, go for it! Kona screams his head off for hours if we crate him, so we let him sleep on the couch all day instead. Kula loves her crate and we love that she loves it!

[mbcdefg]

We have three cats. They pretty much have full run of the house.

We close off the guest bedroom because they've rubbed their asses on the comforter.  Sometimes I find those marks - or the occasional puke/hairball - on the dining room carpet. There's no way to close off the dining room, plus that's the only area in the house where they can get a window view and sunshine (they like to nap in the sunny spots), so we just clean it up and deal with it. Hopefully we'll finally redo the dining room floor this year and get rid of that gross carpet. 

I also find the butt marks on our master bed sometimes, but it's very infrequent and I don't have the heart to close that door since they all love sleeping there together. I just wash the linens. 

They used to pick at the arms of our old living room couches. We covered the arms with throw blankets when we weren't home. We got new couches last year and they don't pick at those since it's a different fabric.

Our friends have a 100-lb. dog and they gate him in their small kitchen when they're not home, and they have a camera in the kitchen so they can check on him from their phones. I also don't think he's allowed upstairs, even if they're home with him, until bedtime. The dog seems perfectly happy.

[icedcoffee]

Our beagle is crated. He loves his crate and will often go in there on his own on the weekends. During the week he runs in there when I pick up my bag to leave the house since he knows he will get a treat. Would he prefer to be out and about? Sure, but he's also happy and healthy being crated. We will continue to do so until we feel confident that he can be left out safely and without destroying anything.

ETA:  He also sleeps in there at night.

[bunnysmom]

Jan 4, 2016 14:05:21 GMT -5 @ruralrabbit1 said:

I have two cats and they have free run of the house. From my experience with bunnies, they will be fine in a contained area while you are gone. They feel safer in small spaces and they mostly sleep during the day, but will be happy to see you when you get home. Cats on the other hand, well.... mine would raise holy hell.

The problem with my bunnies is that they love to be together but they have very different personalities. One of them is super lazy and would sleep all day if I let him. He couldn't care less if I let him in his playpen all day and has has mostly perfect behavior. My other bunny has lots of energy, doesn't stop moving and it's really destructive. Despite having toys, she just likes to bite and scratch the furniture. She also likes to bite the cat, who is old (16 yo) and just wants to be left alone.

DH thinks that they will be just fine in the playpen (which is roomy btw), but I'm feeling guilty!

[dexteroni]

Home or doggy day care. When they're home, they have free roam of the house. They were crated as puppies and then slowly given access as they were house trained, stopped inappropriate chewing, etc.

[dexteroni]

Oh and to answer your question, I think they can be just fine in a contained area. Just customize it so they have comfortable beds and a place to get away from the other animals if they want, and they'll be fine.

[orangeblossom]

Free reign. He does not like to be confined, and for the most part he's good. He's had a few slip ups, especially when settling into a new place, as he has separation anxiety too.

Once he feels comfortable and has a safe place, he's good to go. We just try to pick up any potential targets. He mostly goes for paper and plastic bags anyway.

[hbomdiggity]

The bulldog is sleeping either on the sofa (on his blanket) or on his bed in front of the French doors.

[Balki.Bartokomous]

They usually end up on the window seat in the den looking out the window. They have free reign but are not destructive. If they were, they'd be crated or go to doggy daycare.

[Deleted]

Everywhere. I can't contain six cats. I put a blanket on our bed every morning so they don't get fur on our duvet. We also vacuum every day to keep fur off the couch. Luckily we don't have any major shedders.

Our cats really aren't very destructive, but they can get majorly destructive when we confine them.

mbcdefg do you feed grain free food? I noticed that our cats has pastier poops with grain free and we had some poo streaks. I switched them back to food with grain and haven't had any issues.

[Deleted]

Thread hijack to talk about @mcdefg's cats' butts. If they're dragging their butts that often they might be having trouble with their anal glands. Adding a fiber supplement to their food, or changing their food to a higher fiber food should help stop that.

Oh, and OP, our four cats have the run of the house.

[dexteroni]

Jan 4, 2016 14:50:04 GMT -5 @rennido said:

My boss agreed to let him come to work with his surgery

I thought you were the boss?

[mbcdefg]

papiercherri and @bellakitty - their wet food is grain-free, but their dry food is not. They don't do it very often, but it's frustrating when they do. I'll look into the food and fiber. Thanks

[dexteroni]

Jan 4, 2016 14:55:34 GMT -5 @rennido said:

Jan 4, 2016 14:53:50 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

I thought you were the boss?

I still work for another company part time. :/ 

Oh I didn't realize. I thought the purchase of the PM company involved you quitting your other job. Do you have plans to phase out of that job eventually, or is this a good arrangement for you?

[dexteroni]

Jan 4, 2016 15:00:32 GMT -5 @rennido said:

Jan 4, 2016 14:56:56 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

Oh I didn't realize. I thought the purchase of the PM company involved you quitting your other job. Do you have plans to phase out of that job eventually, or is this a good arrangement for you?

This is currently a fight H and I are having. I'm not comfortable enough to leave my current job. H insists that we are comfortable enough. We are having a discussion about how much money I need to make in order to quit current job. 
It's been a weird long process. Its just really hard to give up the kind of money I'm making right now-and the stability of it. 

I totally understand not wanting to give it up quite yet. And unless it's severely impacting him in some way, it should be your decision, since it's your job.

[bunnysmom]

Jan 4, 2016 14:34:36 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

Oh and to answer your question, I think they can be just fine in a contained area. Just customize it so they have comfortable beds and a place to get away from the other animals if they want, and they'll be fine.

Today I left them with plenty of fresh food and water, toys, clean litter boxes, and their beds.

I know this is probably for the best (with dh we joke that the pets are the owners of the home and we are just guests), but I can't help feeling guilty!

[winnieandwine]

partially contained. winnie is not destructive but has noise phobia and will bark and bark if she has access to the front door and can hear people on the elevator/in the hallways during the day.

for this reason, we keep her in the back 1/2 of the apartment with white noise and a radio -- she has access to the bedroom (our bed, her bed, big bright window), bathroom, hallway (with her crate), toys, and water. we have a dog sitter come check on her mid-day and provide snuggles/treats.

[rageragerage]

The dogs go in to their 'room' every morning. It's the guest room, where I strip the bed and they sleep up there or under. The cat is free range all day, but spends most of his time in my closet hanging out.

[imojoebunny]

Joe Bunny was free range all over the house, from about 1 year, until after we had kids. Before a year, I had to put him in a crate during the day, as he was a bit crazy, and once even got stuck in the Chimney of the fireplace. It took me forever to find him, and he came out black, though he was minimally black and mostly white. When we had kids, we limited Joe Bunny to the dining room, kitchen, and bath, to keep him from the toys and out of the kids rooms, when we were not home. I just thought of it as keeping him safe, which is nothing to feel bad about. Joe was happy no matter the set up. He would always come running up when you came in the door, excited to see us.

[explorer2001]

In the yard or sunroom. He has a doggie door to the yard from the sunroom and there's a 6 foot blobk fence around the yard. It's in the 60s here today so he should be fine in the yard. During the summer, the sunroom has A/C. He also has a bed, blanket, toys and water in the sunroom and more toys in the yard.

[grover]

Both dogs are in crates during the day. Moo could technically be loose during the day, but Max is a counter surfer and will be crated for the foreseeable future. Max also is better in the crate if Moo is in the crate next to him. At night they are now upstairs in our bedroom every night, since we felt bed crating day and night.

[BeagleMama]

The cat is in the kitchen with her bed and the dog has free reign of the rest of the house, minus the bed/bathrooms where the door the hallway is closed. Neither are destructive, but the cat is 18 with a laissez faire bladder so it's best she is contained to the tile floor area. I'm sure at this point in the day, the Beagle is staring out the front window convinced I will never come home from work ever again.