New Year's Eve: Minimising your Pet's stress
A guide for owners of dogs, cats, birds and small rodents
Firecrackers, rockets, sparklers – for many people, they’re all part of the New Year’s Eve fun. For animals, though, loud noises and flashes of light cause considerable stress. They often react with panic, sometimes showing physical symptoms such as diarrhoea. This anxiety can lead to fearful escape tactics and can lead animals to scale high perimeter walls, get stuck in fences, and end up wandering the streets for weeks.
Why do animals get so scared of fireworks?
Note: Any advertisements that may appear during the viewing of this video are unrelated to FOUR PAWS. We assume no liability for this content.
Cats and dogs can hear a wider range of sounds, and softer sounds than humans. The pitch of a sound is measured in Hertz (Hz) and kilohertz (KHz) the comparative hearing ranges of dogs, cats and humans are the following:
Humans: 20 Hz — 23 KHz
Dogs: 60 Hz — 45 KHz
Cats: 45 Hz — 64 KHz
Cats can hear sounds at least two and a half octaves higher than humans can. Dogs can hear five times more acutely than humans and cats about twice as acutely as dogs. This explains why dogs and cats are so scared by the sound of fireworks.
How to comfort animals during fireworks season
However, there are many simple measures we can take to calm our pets’ nerves on New Year’s Eve.
Here are our top tips for managing your pet:
Tips for Dog Owners
- Create comforting distractions like turning on the television or radio and shut the curtains to limit the noise and flashes from the fireworks. Put on calming music at a suitable volume to minimise the noise of the fireworks and help reduce your dog’s anxiety.
- Desensitisation: Alternatively, films of firework displays on YouTube for example can be played to help desensitise your dog to fireworks, again using a gradual approach to help reduce any sensitivity. These methods should start several weeks and even months before a firework event.
- Going for walks: If you need to take your dog out during fireworks, keep them on a lead – reports of lost dogs increase in firework season. Ensure that your dog is microchipped (and the microchip details are up to date) so that they can be returned to you if lost. It is also important that your dog wears a collar and tag with your contact details.
- Stay at home to comfort your pet if he comes to you for reassurance and remain calm and relaxed.
- Create a safe place indoors for them with easy access but avoid constantly checking on them in their safe hide-away as this can heighten anxiety.
- Early habituation: If you have a puppy or young dog it is important to gradually socialise them with different stimuli and situations including loud noises. This makes it easier for them as an adult dog to deal with loud noises and unusual situations, e.g. Fireworks night, New Year’s Eve.
- Anti-stress jackets: So-called “calming shirts” are proven to have a calming effect on animals. Their design exerts a continual and gentle pressure on the ribcage of the dog and contributes to reducing their anxiety.
- White noise machine: These sound devices provide calming noise. Depending on the device, you can choose between rain, water fall and wind noises to help minimise the noise of the fireworks.
- In the case of stress: If your dog becomes stressed despite all precautionary measures, it is important that they can find a safe place to retreat to, such as under the bed, behind the sofa or wherever they feel most safe. If your dog is anxious it is important that they are not left on their own and that you are there to comfort them if needed.
- Conventional / alternative medicine: There are several medicines on the market that may help your dog during these times, however it is important that you seek the advice of a vet first before purchasing and administrating any treatments. If sensitivity to noise is a new thing for your dog, then it is important that your dog is examined by a vet to ensure that they are medically fit and that nothing else is causing the problem.
- Professional support: Animals that have a deep fear of fireworks and loud noises can be treated for their fears with professional help either by a vet or qualified behaviourist. A carefully developed desensitisation and counter-conditioning programme, which is specifically tailored to address their fear, may help your dog overcome their anxiety.
Tips for Cat Owners
- Preventative measures: All owners are strongly advised to have their cats micro-chipped. That way, if your cat manages to escape and run away despite all your precautions, there’s a better chance that you will be reunited thanks to the microchip. Even after the fireworks have passed their peak, your cat should stay indoors: experience shows that occasional fire crackers, rockets and flares can be set off well into the early hours of the morning.
- Block off cat flaps but be sure to provide an indoor litter tray. To be on the safe side, all windows should be closed and you should close the curtains.
- Create as many hiding places and indoor safe places for them with easy access but avoid constantly checking on them in their safe hide-away as this can heighten anxiety. This means you should open doors to rooms that your cat wouldn’t normally have access to. This may include the bedroom, for instance, which could provide a hiding place in an open wardrobe.
- Stay at home to comfort your pet if he comes to you for reassurance and remain calm and relaxed.
- Calming music: Gentle, relaxing music has a soothing effect on cats. The best thing to do is to try out which music your cat reacts to in a relaxed way, (independently of any fireworks festivities) and to play it more often throughout the year.
- Give variety: Cat owners should keep their animals in a good mood. You usually know which game your house-tiger loves. Best not to force the game though, if they aren't in a playful mood.
- Pheromones: Similar to dogs, some pheromones also have a calming effect on cats.
- In case of stress: A cat showing signs of stress mustn’t be left alone. A human presence can be very comforting at this nerve-racking time. However, exaggerated emotional attention may not be helpful, even if it’s well-intentioned. If your feline friend doesn’t want to be petted, you should accept this. Talking to your cat too much can also be counterproductive.
Tips for owners of small mammals – rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc.
Outdoor keeping: Animals who are usually kept outdoors all year should be brought into the home or some other quiet, enclosed space such as the garden shed on New Year’s Eve. If this isn’t possible, the cages must be arranged so that the bangs and flashes don’t frighten the animals. Placing thick blankets over the enclosure can be very helpful – but make sure there’s enough ventilation.
Housing: Guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. are very susceptible to stress. This means it’s even more important to keep the animals in a very quiet room during the fireworks. Noise insulation should be provided by blankets placed over the cages. Closing the curtains will also protect them from the frightening flashes. Give them an extra layer of bedding so they can hide more easily from any disturbance.
Tips for bird owners and for caring for wild birds
Precautions: Bangs and flashes of light make birds panic. Their flight instinct will cause them to flutter about frantically in their cage, which puts them at risk of serious injury.
For pet birds:
- The most calming environment for our feathered friends is a quiet room with closed curtains, blinds or shutters. The better the windows are covered, the less the birds will be troubled by the flashes of fireworks. Gentle music will also help to calm them.
For wild birds:
- Removing or covering bird feeders and bird baths before fireworks season. Hopefully this discourage birds from being in urban areas and ensures that no ash, debris or other firework residue land in the feeders or water source.
- Cleaning up all firework residue promptly as it could contain toxic chemicals and other poisons that can harm animals that may ingest them.
