EDMONTON -- The many pets that were adopted as people worked from home are potentially at risk for experiencing mental issues like separation anxiety as Albertans return to their workplaces, experts say.

When COVID-19 forced many to work from home, Albertans saw this as the right time to get a pet.

The Edmonton Humane Society said more than a thousand people reached out to foster animals around the time lockdown started.

“At the highest we had about 70 per cent of our animals in foster, currently that’s down to about 50,” said Kylie Adams with the Humane Society.

Adams said this is in part due to the fact that it is kitten season so they have a higher volume of kittens in foster care, but the numbers are still higher than in normal years.

Edmonton Humane Society, dogs

The society restarted their adoptions, with revamped rules, at the beginning of June and Adams’ said that animals are still being adopted at a high rate.

“A pet’s lifespan can be 10, 15, 20 plus years and so that’s the kind of scope you need to look at it with and consider when you are bringing a new pet into the home.”

The Greater Edmonton Animal Rescue Society (GEARS) also saw an uptick in adoptions and fostering during the pandemic.

“Having pets is so good for mental health, it teaches us patience,” said Amanda Dobie the Behavioral Team lead with GEARS.

With people going back to work, the disruption to the routine new pet owners have been building with their animals can cause their pets stress.

“Their mentality on time is not the same as ours, an hour to us feels like five to six hours to them,” said Dobie. “So when we’re gone for six to eight hours a day is feels like we’re gone for days on end.”

Dobie advises people ease pets into the idea that they will be leaving the house more, starting by going through the motions of leaving for work.

“Practice leaving, do your normal routine, every single person has a routine they do before leaving their house. They look for their keys, put their shoes on, they turn off lights,” said Dobie.

“Go through those motions and watch your animal to see when you start to see them notice, ‘Oh you’re leaving,’ then you want to start giving them some treats at that point. The next time you do it you’re going to go past that point.”

In addition Dobie said making sure pets have something to keep them busy while you are gone can help prevent them from getting stressed.

“Making sure they have a safe place to stay in while you’re gone, whether that’s a crate that’s big enough that they can move around, a wired pen or if they can free roam making sure that it’s super safe for them, they have stuff to distract them.”

Tim Plamondon and Kristin Swirles, who are adopting a dog they were fostering, found that easing their dog Donna into this new routine seemed to help.

Donna the dog

“The first time we left her home alone was only for 40 minutes while we went out to get groceries and then a couple days later was, ‘OK, we're going to leave her home alone for an hour and a half,’” said Swirles.

They eventually found that they were the ones having a tougher time adjusting to the new routine.

“Before walking her for an hour at 7:30 in the morning was no big deal but now it’s like I have to walk her at 7:30 in the morning then I’ve got to come home, take a shower, make my food and then get going to work,” said Plamondon.

Dobie stressed that “positive reinforcement is the key in everything” when it comes to helping owners get their pets ready for when they return to the workplace.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Carlyle Fiset