Keep Your Pets Calm this Summer

While summer is often a fun-filled season of outdoor adventures and parties for us, for our animals it can mean months of anxiety-causing blasts and booms. Loud noises and celebratory commotion can send even the calmest of pets into an anxiety-powered tizzy. Protect your pet this summer with a few simple tricks!

Desensitize Him. This is something you can do before the Canada Day or 4th of July festivities. By making excess noise before the fireworks start or throughout the day will allow your pet to become use to unusually loud noises and will lead to a calmer pet when it comes time to celebrate. However, some cats are anxious by nature so this won’t work for all pet personalities.

Distract Her. Your behavior will often affect your pet’s behavior. By staying calm and treating her the same way as you usually would allow your pet to calmly play through the loud noise of fireworks. If she shows no interest in playing don’t force her—forcing her to play will stress her out even further.

Find a Happy Place. Most pets have a happy place they like to go when they want a good nap or to reflect on the day. Use this spot when you notice your pet becoming stressed out by the noise. This could be in his bed or cat cave, the space behind the couch or underneath a blanket. However, for most pets, their happy place is being right next to you.

Stay Together. For most pets, their favorite place to snuggle is somewhere near their owner. Be it on their lap, next to their feet or curled up nice and close on the couch. If fireworks are going on in the neighborhood and you are simply watching a movie, let your pet watch the movie with you. Often just being near their owner can calm a pet down. Even if there is a party and festivities going on, allow your pet to follow you around as you mingle with your guests and often that will be enough to calm your pet. If you are going out, hiring a pet sitter might be a good idea especially if your pet is an already anxiety-prone.

Be Understanding. It’s important to remember that your pet is acting out of fear. So if your pet makes a mess or is a bit destructive don’t scold him or yell. Your pet is afraid and is finding a way to express this fear or even to escape it. Keep your pet’s collar on so that if he does manage to get away, you can still track him down. Our pets are like family so while we’re having fun, our pets should be too!

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