Lockdowns are lifting. Sightings of masked faces are increasing, and temporarily isolated employees must pack their home offices and say goodbye to the most unexpected of coworkers: their pets.
It’s a sad time for the pets who have been so happy to have us home all day, but some pets (looking at you, cats) are ready for us to get out of their space. Where does your pet fall?
Check out these hilarious memes that define the life of pets in quarantine.
Listen: everyone pulls their weight in this family.
Crouton is all of us.
Lap cats and lap dogs do not get along with laptops.
Where are the lies?
If you haven’t tried it yet, what are you even doing?
You’ve gone too far, Karen.
Working from home from the point of view of my dog pic.twitter.com/jNc1MYRyXG
— Lily O’Farrell (@vulgadrawings) March 15, 2020
The difference between dogs and cats, man.
“How’s nationwide self-quarantine going?” pic.twitter.com/oP7sdQiUPA
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) March 14, 2020
Show off.
I’m honestly surprised the cats haven’t fully taken control of society at this point.
day 6 of quarantine: my dad gave a talk to the cats about covid-19 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/mLdFXzcE2P
— 𝐬𝐨𝐟 (@sofiarudyy) March 21, 2020
The dad is Anthony Fauci and the cats are me.
If your pets are acting funnier than usual, know that this is totally normal. According to Vox, many pets across the globe have been displaying unusual behaviors that their humans don’t normally see.
This is due to a combination of factors. For one thing, when we’re used to being away from home for 8-10 hours a day while we commute and work, we’re not used to seeing our pets’ daily life. We see them at night and in the morning, but in all those hours between, they could develop habits and tics we never even noticed.
The second factor is that having us home all day is weird for pets, too, and the stress of that could cause them to act strangely. Even if they’re ecstatic to have you home all day, the drastic change in their routine can psych them out a bit.
“It’s really important that as owners we try to stick to ‘business as usual’ when it comes to the daily routines our pets are used to, and to ensure that they still have quiet, undisturbed places they can go throughout the day,” Lauren Finka, a cat behavior researcher told Vox. “Their normal routine will be disrupted, which can cause anxiety because their sense of predictability and control may be challenged.”
Professor of veterinary behavioral medicine M. Leanne Lily told Vox, “Just like people, pets can respond with a wide variability to any change…[It]does increase the number of opportunities for interactions a pet may not feel comfortable with…Everyone being out with their dogs can make dogs feel much less safe in their homes.”
So, if your pet is acting a little whacky, try to give them a sense of normalcy and comfort. When lockdowns are officially over, you might miss kitty paws walking across the keyboard and messing up your email, or a dog tail whacking you during an important Zoom meeting!
