MACON, Ga. — The celebration of the new year always starts off with a bang, but that can mean a stressful night for your pets.
Dr. Jerry Jordan from the Brantley & Jordan Animal Hospital says that out of 10 pets, 2-3 of them have some kind of noise phobia.
“Thunder, gunshot, fireworks– any of those loud noises can cause anxiety in a pet,” he explained.
Jordan says the Fourth of July and New Years are rough for some of his clients.
“People don't realize how bad they can affect a neighbors’ pet when they're doing fireworks,” Jordan said.
Pets like Ruby.
“She has very high anxiety,” said Barbara Hamrick.
She rescued Ruby at five weeks old. Hamrick said her pup started showing signs of anxiety as she grew up.
“When you get rescues, you find out things about them later. Her eyes get real big, she starts looking for somewhere to hide, and she just gets real moody,” she said. “Fireworks really, really upset her.”
Dr. Jordan says things like that and pacing around are mild signs of anxiety in pets, but it can escalate.
“They can tear up the door frame of the house. They can injure themselves if you have them in a crate. They can bite with their teeth, break their teeth, bloody up their mouth and paws. They can get pretty stressed out,” he explained. “It seems like there are more now than there were 10-15 years ago. They feed off their owners, so if owners have anxiety. Pets can have anxiety, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with that.”
Hamrick said because she lives in a rural area, there wasn’t much she could do about loud, outside noises.
“It’s really sad when your dog is suffering and there’s nothing you can do,” she said.
Jordan says there are some solutions.
He says pets can have a physical calming wrap, like a thunder wrap, that can reduce anxiety, or you can try medications depending on the dog.
“Trazodone, it's kind of like a chill pill. It just kind of takes the edge off. If you make them not care about it as much, they won’t get as stressed out,” he explained. “Gabapentin is good for nerve pain, but it can also have a sedative effect.”
Ruby is on Sileo, which is a calming paste that can be rubbed on a pet's gums.
“It works great. Give it to them 15- 20 minutes before and they just settle out,” Hamrick said.
Jordan says the best tip to keeping your pet calm is to be proactive with tackling their anxiety before it gets bad.
“Anxiety is like walking up a ladder. Every step you get a little worse, a little worse. Well, if you start your therapies like putting on a thunder shirt, or giving medications before they start walking up that ladder, it's going to have a better effect. If you wait until they're at the top of that ladder, it's not going to work,” he explained. "If you recognize what it is, and you're proactive, yes. You can manage it to where it's a less stressful situation."
Jordan says it's hard to control loud noises like fireworks, so it's best to keep anxious pets as far from them as possible.