What is calming pets during fireworks?
This may seem like a silly place to start but it is important to understand that anxiety in pets from fireworks can have more effects to your pets than just shaking in severe cases.
I don’t know about you but ever since I got my dog Brie, she has made me hate fireworks. I actually used to like watching them but now I just dread the whole night while I try to keep her calm.
We have actually come up with a wonderful way to help her cope with these loud explosions and I will be giving you all of my experience a tips with this.
Understanding Pet Anxiety
When considering how to calm you pets during fireworks, we need to first understand pet anxiety and the effects it can have on our pets. Every pet that experiences anxiety can show these signs in different ways.
If you are questioning whether you need to calm your pet during fireworks, I would recommend speaking to your veterinarian about how your pet reacts when fireworks or other triggers happen.
You may notice some pretty obvious signs in your pets like shaking, panting and hiding. Other pets show less obvious behaviors like destruction or urinating inappropriately.
No matter the signs your pet is showing, calming your pet during fireworks will help your pets with an easier recovery.
I named a few signs of anxiety but a few others you may notice are that their hair will stand up on their neck or back or your pet may pace.
Creating a Safe Environment
Alright, so lets get into it. How do we create an environment that will calm our pets during fireworks? It all begins with before the fireworks happen.
I know what you’re thinking, I live in an area with people who like to set off fireworks randomly throughout the year. How will I know when fireworks occur? Well yes, that is the tricky part.
We may not be able to predict every firework that happens during the year but we are able to predict a few things.
It is very likely that fireworks will happen on July 4th and Memorial Day. So lets plan as if there will definitely be fireworks on those days.
Fireworks only happen during warm months, mostly summer in locations with seasons.
5 Must Try Hacks to Calm Your Pet During Fireworks
Ok, so your are assuming that fireworks are going to happen on a specific date. What do you do? When calming pets during fireworks, we need to plan and set everything up ahead of time.
All of these hacks should happen at least an hour before the stressful event.
Visit Your Veterinarian
Visit your veterinarian and discuss the effects that fireworks have on your pet. There are medications that can be prescribed to help!
I have my dog on a strong regimen of medications because she has a very hard time during fireworks and for a week after. It’s a lot of fun. I am not going to go into every medication that pets can be on to calm your pet during fireworks but I will mention one of my favorites.
Its called SILEO and it is specified for noise phobias in dogs. It is by prescription only but I have found a lot of success with it with my pets and with my patients.
Not every medication will work for every animal so it is best to discuss the right choices for your pet with your veterinarian. Often times, your veterinarian may recommend trying the medications ahead of time to see how it effects them before the big event.
If your pet is prescribed medications, to calm your pet during fireworks, it is important to start the medication regimen ahead of time.
I know its hard to predict when the fireworks will actually begin but we know they start at night so what I do at home is give my dog her medications about an hour before it gets dark enough out for fireworks.
I do this because we do not want the medication to wear off too soon but we do want it to have enough time to take effect
Distractions
Before you expect the fireworks to begin, you can offer your pet a distraction, like their favorite treat in a kong or a puzzle food dispenser. I like to fill my dogs kong with her canned food and freeze it.
She has irritable bowel disease and is on a special diet so this works well for us. Some people also like to fill a small amount of peanut butter in a kong.
I wouldn’t suggest putting a lot of peanut butter in there but a small amount for a pet for calming pets during fireworks could help in these circumstances.
You can also fill it, like I do, with your dogs food and freeze it. Keep in mind, if you have never given your dog a kong before, they likely will need to figure out how to use it first before you freeze it.
For cats, I like to drill holes in plastic Easter eggs and put treats in there or there are other food dispenser toys.
Props
Oh the props… Some work wonders and others don’t do much. This is again a trial and error type of tactic. Let’s talk about my dog again.
She has a thunder shirt that we put on her ahead of time and we also have ear muffs for dogs. I have found success with other dogs using cotton balls in their ears to help muffle some noise.
I have also found that some dogs like blankets or just to be in a quiet place like their kennel. There are also scents like Adaptil or Feliway that can help with calming effects.
I find Feliway usually works more than Adaptil but you can always try it and see! I have provided paid links to the items that I use and have had a lot of success with.
Music
I also personally like to turn my dogs favorite jazz music on before and during the fireworks. It helps to keep her relaxed but she only likes one channel so if you are using this technique I would look ahead of time what your pet likes.
Some pets like jazz more and others like classical. I’m not kidding!
Exercise
Have you ever taken your dog out for a very long hike, threw them a ball or swished a feather toy for your cat? Did they sleep for a while after?
Well this could be a good way of calming pets during fireworks. This would need to happen ahead of the event. We want your pets to be indoors during this stressor so there isn’t a risk of them getting lost.
So, way before the possible event, tire your pet out with how you know will do so.
Keep Your Pet Indoors
When you know fireworks are going to happen or if you think they may happen, plan to have your pet indoors before it gets dark to avoid losing your pet.
There are some ways to tools you can use to help identify where your pet is including pet trackers and microchips just in case your pet runs away. Microchips are not foolproof but do help locate your pet if someone finds them and takes them to a veterinary hospital.
Make sure to always register your pets microchip and occasionally ask that your veterinarian checks that the microchip is still working. It just takes a quick scan of the microchip scanner.
Pet trackers are good as well or airtags. That way you can locate them with your phone.
If your pet got lost and you think they may have an emergency, talk to your vet and learn more here or you can visit me here if you have any questions you would like answered about your pets.
