Firework Season Survival Guide for Pets (Vet-Approved)

Fireworks season is around the corner and I see this every year in the clinic where pet owners come to me and they tell me that their dog or cat, mostly dogs, struggle with the loud noises, the unpredictability of nature of it and they need help. Although fireworks look amazing and pretty to us, it's a spectacular display, our furry friends don't really appreciate it because to them they have no idea why there are loud noises, lights in the sky and they get scared. In fact, some of them have a really difficult time due to unpredictable nature of these loud noises and I've seen the consequences. Last week I had an owner who told me that their dog ran away when it's not even fireworks season yet but they started fireworks for some reason. The dog ran away the moment he heard the noise and they tried to find him all over the neighborhood but the dog turned up at their house an hour later covered in blood with stick injuries because the poor dog was basically thinking there was some kind of threat and trying to run away and hide and got injured because it was dark, you know, and they panic. So there are lots of things that you can do to prepare your pet for these and we'll go through them with each level. Obviously, a disclaimer, at any point you don't have to go through steps one, two, three, you can just speak to your vet because they will know your pet much better than information on the internet. So always, always speak to your vet if you have any concerns. If you are blessed with a calm dog, cat or rabbit or horse or bird, lucky you because some of the animals don't feel so stressed about fireworks. There can be a genetic component to it or how they were brought up but if you have an anxious pet, keep watching this video. Level one is preparation and desensitization. So preparing your pet for fireworks period has to start, you know, at least a few months before. Have safe dens around your house and what I mean by that is have little corners where your animals can hide. It could be a corner of the room where you have like a towel or blanket over like a little den or a little box where your cat can go in to hide and retreat if they're feeling scared and you can combine that with spraying really nice calming smells. Things like your pet remedy sprays or your Feliway for cats, Adaptil for dogs and we'll go into a little bit more about that but having those safe areas means your pet knows where to go when it's afraid and won't suddenly, you know, try and escape from the house and get lost. Noise desensitization. So this is quite important. You can start having the radio on, play some fireworks noise videos on YouTube and TV and see how your pet reacts to it and pets do read your body language so if you are surprised by the noise, you know, try not to act surprised or worried because they may panic and think like, oh my owner looks really worried and panicked, should I react, you know? So those kind of things do matter as well. Then there's also things like thunder shirts and pressure wraps. There is some evidence to say that these thunder shirts or pressure wraps do work but it doesn't work in all cases so it's definitely worth a try but if it doesn't work, you know, there are other methods that we can go into. So level two. Level two is your over-the-counter supplements and your calming smells and sprays. Over-the-counter supplements are things like your L-theanine that your vet clinic may sell or you may find it in pet shops and those natural supplements just try to lower the adrenaline levels in your pets. Sometimes we do use that in pets if they're feeling a bit anxious before coming to the clinic. Depending on the level of anxiety in your pet, for some pets, it does work. For some pets, it does nothing so it's really a trial and error and I'm afraid there's no perfect fix. It really depends on your pet. So similarly, Zilkine is another over-the-counter supplement that contains milk casein that's meant to have calming effects for your cat or dog. Alongside those calming supplements, you can try things that I like to tell owners which are aromatherapy. So you can see here that Pet Remedy has kindly sent some products. In my first job, we use Pet Remedy quite often as a way to create like a calming environment in the clinic. Again, not everything is perfect so it may not work for 100% of your animals but in my experience, a large number of them do. Particularly in a clinic setting, I'm sidetracking a bit but if you work in a vet setting, what I find really useful is for our fractious cats, if they are being sedated, I like to spray Pet Remedy spray on the towel and then drape it over their cage or drape it over the dog's kennel just to calm them down and I do find that they take to the sedation a little better. After having like a dog comes out, I spray the room with the Pet Remedy spray after cleaning of course and when I do notice a difference when the cats come in, they do look a bit more calm. Some cats don't respond to it well. They may be very suspicious about the smell because it is quite a strong smell. Other things like Adaptil and Feliway which are more pet pheromone therapies, these three are the main brands that I recommend pet owners try. So have a read in the literature and evidence and you can decide for yourself but again in my experience, it has done lots of positive benefits for me. As well as moving house, I used Pet Remedy spray to introduce my cat to the new keith, to the new environment and he was really calm. He did have some gabapentin on board so you could argue it was the gabapentin but you know personally, I prefer a multi-pronged approach rather than just a single approach and also at level one and level two, definitely consult with a licensed canine behaviorist so that they can do training with your pet because again, different pets react in different ways. It's more of like a spectrum. Some pets can deal with some noises okay, some pets are really really bad so working with a canine behaviorist, I tend to signpost owners to the APBZ website where they have lots of useful pet articles and also an online behaviorist behavior because it is led by a veterinarian and they use positive reinforcement techniques in their trainings so I trust those two sources. Level three, so now it comes to your veterinary medications that your vet may recommend it to you in a clinic. Again, make sure you speak to them and don't just follow advice off the internet because these medications, they can have different effects on your animal's liver, kidney or heart and things so some pets may not be suitable for it so definitely chat with your vet. I know I say that a lot but make sure you chat with your vet. What do we have? So licensed products in the UK for noise phobias, you have your dexmedetomidine oral mucosal gel which is a gel that you can put onto the gums to help reduce anxiety. It does give them sedation and make them sleepy. The second product is imepitoin which is also used as an anti-epileptic medication. It is licensed for noise phobias. You do need to start it a couple of days before the expected stressful event so it's not as fast acting but it is licensed and I have used that in some of my patients with noise phobias not only fireworks but also with other things and recommended them to work alongside a canine behaviorist. Other ones that are off-license tend to be your benzodiazepines and things like gabapentin and trazodone which are common medications that you may have heard used off-license for anxiety in pets when they come to the vets. One thing that I would try to avoid is using asapromazine for firework anxiety because it acts like a tranquilizer so on the surface your pet may look calm and like sedated but mentally your pet is still feeling that fear. So conclusion, there are so many options to consider and definitely have this chat with your vet early early on if you can. Medications can also go out of stock so make sure you ring in advance to stock up on them and make sure you pick the right one for your pet. Lastly, never be upset with your pet if they look really scared, never scold them, never make them more anxious, you have to comfort them and hopefully we'll get through firework season okay and have a great start to the next year. I hope this helps, resources all linked down below and as always thank you for tuning in and I'll see you in the next video.