What should a responsible pet owner do?
1. Provide his/her pet with:
- Sufficient and healthy food
- Access to clean water
- Safe, orderly, and comfortable shelter
- Complete and timely veterinary care through vaccinations, grooming, diagnosis, and treatment
- Socialization, training, play, and exercise
2. Ensure his/her pet’s safety by:
- Affixing a collar and tag with the pet’s name and the owner’s contact details, even for exclusively indoor pets. That way, if the pet accidentally escapes, there is a chance that it can be returned.
- Keeping cats indoors to prevent them from hazards like speeding cars, stray animals, and cruel people.
- Putting harmful plants out of the pet’s reach.
- Always walking a dog on a leash when out in public as prescribed by the Anti-Rabies Act (Republic Act No. 9842).
- Having a go-bag for disasters which includes pet food, water, and toys.
- Taking a pet along in case of an evacuation.
3. Oppose mutilation of pets carried out for non-therapeutic reasons (i.e. tail-docking, ear-cropping, declawing).
4. Have his/her pet spayed/neutered to avoid overpopulation. This increases the chance that the owner will have sufficient time, space at home, and financial capability to cover the pets’ needs throughout its lifetime.