Animal Welfare Professionals

Happy 4th of July!!

How do you keep pets comfortable, safe and anxiety-free during fireworks and the excitement around the holiday?

As scared and lost pets wind up at local shelters, what measures do you take to account for the expected intake increase and reunite pets with their owners?

Leave your answer in the comments below and we hope you have a safe and fun 4th of July! 

As a cat mom, I can attest that cats have this anxiety as well.  I saw it last night when neighbors were shooting off fireworks.  Today, I am just staying home with them.  

We plan a few different ways to keep our pets safe and sound during this noisy Holiday!

• Volunteers and staff remain onsite for an evening shift to ensure pets are comfortable during the fireworks
• Covered crates are setup in a room with edible enrichment and calming pheromones
• Thundershirts, if beneficial, are used
• Calming music is played throughout the kennel
• Pets with a history of sensitivity to fireworks (noted in intake history) are placed in short-term foster care
• Our Lost & Found Task Force volunteers actively research lost and found pet pages and are notified when strays come into our facility through our database 

Hope everyone had a happy 4th! 

This is a little off-topic, but it's such a cool idea I had to share it. Maricopa County Animal Care & Control had their first-ever "Calming the Canines" event last night and had a huge turnout from the community: 

https://www.facebook.com/MaricopaCountyAnimalCareandControl/videos/10155519039112374/

We offer overnight foster sleepovers for our stressed dogs. You can also provide kongs and other enrichment items to keep them preoccupied. If they are in general stressed and you know fireworks will make it worse, you can ask your veterinarians about trying Zylkene or Trazodone to help them not care as much about the commotion around them.