Animal Medical Center

That’s a Wrap on Our Tips & Tricks to Beat Boredom Series! 🐾

From puzzle feeders and sniffing games to cardboard boxes, foraging toys, climbing opportunities, and everything in between, there are SO many ways to add a little more fun to our pets’ days!

No matter if your best friend has fur, feathers, or scales, enrichment doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive. Sometimes the simplest ideas end up being their absolute favorites. 💚

Now we want to hear from you!

👇What’s your pet’s favorite boredom breaker? Share your go-to enrichment ideas in the comments bonus points for pictures of your pets enjoying them! 📸

You might even help another pet parent find their pet’s new favorite activity. 🐶🐱🐰🦎🦜

Happy 18th Birthday to Lucy! 🎉🐾

Please join us in wishing our kennel assistant, Lucy, the happiest of birthdays as she celebrates the big 1-8! We’re so happy to have her on our team and hope she has an amazing day!

Happy Birthday, Lucy! 💙

Tips & Tricks to Beat Boredom: Bird Edition! 🦜

Birds are smart, curious, busy little creatures, and they need plenty to do!

In the wild, birds spend a huge part of their day flying, foraging for food, exploring, problem-solving, and interacting with their flock. Our companion birds may have a much smaller world, but they still have all those same instincts!

That’s why enrichment is such an important part of caring for them. Foraging opportunities, shreddable and destructible toys, training, climbing, exploring new things, and plenty of safe social interaction can all help keep those busy bird brains occupied. 🧠🪶

And enrichment doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated! Sometimes a cardboard box or a piece of paper you’re actively trying to use is apparently the greatest toy ever invented. 😂

👉 Ready to add a little more fun to your bird’s day? Check out our latest blog post for ideas!

Tips & Tricks to Beat Boredom: Reptile Edition! 🦎

Reptiles might not greet you at the door with a wagging tail, but that doesn’t mean they want to spend every day staring at the same four walls!

Enrichment gives reptiles opportunities to explore and use the natural behaviors that are appropriate for their species whether that means climbing, digging, burrowing, hiding, foraging, hunting, or simply investigating something new. 🌿

Even small changes can make a difference! Rotating enclosure items, offering different textures and hiding spots, changing up how food is offered, or providing supervised opportunities to safely explore can add some variety to their routine.

Of course, enrichment isn’t one-size-fits-all. What’s fun and appropriate for a bearded dragon may look completely different for a snake, gecko, or tortoise!

👉 Wondering what enrichment could look like for your reptile? Check out our latest blog post:

Tips & Tricks to Beat Boredom: Small Mammal edition!🐹🐰

They may be small, but rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets, and other small mammals need plenty to keep them busy!

Digging, chewing, climbing, hiding, exploring, and foraging are all natural behaviors that can be encouraged with the right setup and enrichment. And it doesn’t have to mean buying a bunch of fancy toys, sometimes a cardboard box, hidden treats, or a new place to explore is all it takes!

It’s also important to remember that your pet’s schedule might look very different from yours. Many small mammals are most active in the evening, overnight, or early morning, so having safe enrichment available throughout the day and night gives them something to do when they’re actually awake and ready to explore. 🌙

👉 Want more ideas? Check out our latest blog post for more information

Dr. Keri will be out of the office September 30 through October 2 while attending a veterinary continuing education conference! She’ll be spending a few days learning and bringing some new knowledge back home to our patients and team. 💙

While we will not have a veterinarian in the clinic during these dates, our wonderful Animal Medical Center team will still be here to help!

We will remain open for prescription refill requests, food and medication pickups, future appointment scheduling, and nail trims as staffing allows.

Have a medical concern while Dr. Keri is away? Give us a call! Our team can help triage your pet’s needs and determine whether the concern can safely wait to be scheduled when Dr. Keri returns or if an Urgent Care or Emergency Veterinary Hospital would be a better option.

Because there will not be a veterinarian on-site, our team will be limited in the medical advice and treatment we can provide.

Dr. Keri will return Monday, October 5 and resume seeing appointments.

If you know you’ll need food or medication during this time, we recommend submitting your refill requests ahead of time whenever possible.

Thanks for your understanding, and we can’t wait to hear what Dr. Keri learns! 💙🐾

Tips & Tricks to Beat Boredom: Cat edition! 🐱

Cats may be professional nappers, but they still need things to keep them busy! 😴

When everyone heads off to work, school, and activities, our cats suddenly have a lot more time to themselves, and sometimes they get a little too creative about finding their own entertainment. 👀

Scratching posts, climbing spaces, food puzzles, hunting-style games, window watching, and rotating toys are all simple ways to add some variety to their day and give them an outlet for natural cat behaviors.

👉 Looking for more ideas? Check out our latest blog post for more information:

🌟 Small Business Saturday Spotlight 🌟

This week we're shining a light on Fire Escape in Oshkosh! 🎨

Our team recently attended a fundraiser they hosted benefiting Roger's Rabbit Rescue, Inc., and we had such a great time! Fire Escape did an amazing job putting the event together, giving us the chance to get creative, spend some time together outside of the clinic, and support a wonderful local rescue at the same time.

We had so much fun painting our ceramic projects, check out some of our team’s finished creations in the photos!

If you haven’t visited Fire Escape yet, we highly recommend checking them out. You’ll be supporting a wonderful local business while getting to create something uniquely your own!

Thank you, Fire Escape, for supporting our community and helping make it a little more creative! ❤️

Happy Pet Bird Day! 🦜💙

We LOVE our feathered patients here at Animal Medical Center, so of course we have to celebrate!

Help us fill the comments with feathers and share a photo of your pet bird below and tell us a little about them! 🐦

Tips & Tricks to Beat Boredom: Dogs Edition 🐶

With everyone getting back into their fall routines, your dog may suddenly be spending a little more time home alone and a bored dog can definitely find their own (less than ideal) ways to stay entertained. 😅

Keeping them busy doesn’t have to be complicated! Puzzle feeders, enrichment toys, sniffing games, walks, training sessions, and even changing up how you serve their meals can give them something fun to do and help burn off some of that extra energy. 🐾

Want more ideas? We put together some of our favorite ways to keep dogs entertained and engaged when life gets busy!

👉 Check out our latest blog for more information: https://www.amcvetmed.com/post/keeping-your-dog-happy-tips-and-tricks-to-beat-boredom