New Year's Eve is pretty stressful for most dogs and cats. It's full of noise and flashes of light, which scares them. How can we help them get through this night?
If your pet doesn't tolerate New Year's Eve well, it would be best to take it to a quieter place. If you have a cottage, preferably somewhere secluded, it's best to celebrate there. If you have a cat, you have to consider whether it knows the environment well and how it tolerates travel.
But if you have to stay in the city, don't fret. You can still help your pet. Walk your dog during the daytime, before the fireworks start, and don't let it off the leash. It would be best to put a harness on, or at least to check and tighten the collar so that your dog can't slip out.
At home, try to find the quietest place in the house, like the bathroom or hallway. Move your pet's favorite bed there. It's best to find them a place to hide - like a box or a pet cave, a kennel covered with a blanket, etc.
Close the curtains before midnight and turn up the volume on the TV so that the bangs and flashes are less intense. And, most importantly, stay calm yourself so your pets feel there is nothing to fear. It's best not to comfort your dog, as that would just confirm that they should panic. It may sound insensitive, but if they try to climb onto your lap or start freaking out, it's best if you send them back to their place. This will show them that the situation is no different from any other day and that there is no reason to behave differently than usual. Sometimes the presence of another dog that is used to New Year's Eve celebrations and does not get excited can help. When your dog sees how calm he is, he'll know there's nothing wrong.
The Half Wrap method can also help dogs. This consists of tying a piece of fabric around the dog. The fabric should be at least 5 cm wide and stretchy. This wrap affects the dog's nervous system, making it calmer and feeling more secure. It's not hard to tie, all you need is a sufficiently long scarf. You can find lots of tutorials on the Internet if you enter the name of the method into the search engine.
Soothing medication should be used as a last resort, such as after the previous year's experience when the animal had a really hard time or received a new bad experience. Always consult your veterinarian about their suitability and dosage.
An alternative may be to use bach flower remedies, a soothing diffuser releasing pheromones, or other natural products. Avoid essential oils, however, especially for cats, as they do not have the enzymes required to break them down and they are therefore toxic to cats.
I hope that you enjoy New Year's celebrations with your pets as peacefully as possible.
Kitten Lady describes her activities as kittens’ advocacy and humane education. This all is done by young beautiful Hannah Shaw. She’s a kitten rescuer, spreads the principles of humanity and is an unwavering advocate of animal rights. She decided to...
Several kinds of hedgehog are kept as pets. The most common one is the four-toed hedgehog or an African pygmy hedgehog in other words. This pet which is not very common but is becoming more and more popular can live up to 9 years in captivity and...
More than one artist fell in love with these creatures and looked for inspiration for work in them. One of them was Ernest Hemingway. He is the author of the well-known saying “One cat just leads to another”. He really kept a large number of cats (in...
We have an active and healthy lifestyle. Or at least we try to have. In relation to that, we don’t only think about our own food but also about our dogs’ food. The trend of barfing has already come to the Czech Republic, too. It is a method of feeding...
If you go camping for the first time, it is good to prepare for all various reactions of your furry friend. Do you travel with it by car and by public transport with no problems? Is your dog okay when not sleeping at home, e.g. in a mountain cabin? It...
As the name of this breed suggests, you can’t expect much hair on an American hairless terrier. This small or medium size muscled dog has hair only on its muzzle and eyebrows. But the interesting thing is that puppies are born with an undercoat which...
Let us get this straight, what is monoprotein food? It is wet food (i.e. cans and pouches) which contains only one type of meat, muscles and bowels. And why is it better than common wet food?
A meat bomb in a form of a dog paté or can doesn’t have to be only a reward. If you are planning to go on a long hike – to the mountains or to the valley – you can make the use of a dog meat can. Dogs in move, usually when doing any sport outside, need...
The cause of diabetes is a lack of insulin (a pancreas hormone) or the inability of the body to use it effectively (i.e. the resistance of tissues towards insulin). And it doesn’t matter if you’re a person or an animal. With diabetes, the sugar is...
Runner Dion Leonard could talk for hours about the bond which is created between a man and a dog and also about how an unknown Asian crossbreed dog becomes one of the most famous dogs on planet Earth. He bumped into a dog companion at the ultra-trial...
Even when you cannot or don’t want to take your dog on your holiday with you, you still have many options what to do with it. You can take him to your relatives, accommodate it in a dog hotel, use dog-sitting and other things. It’s not that easy with...
Cats can also be heroes and put their lives at risk to save someone from risky or life-threatening situations. The first cat hero I will introduce you to is Scarlett. She showed her heroism in the most natural form – she saved her kittens. She took...
