4th of July PSA for Animal Owners
While most of us know that fireworks freak animals out, what a lot of people don’t know is what happens if/when a terrified animal escapes. Having worked the July 4th rush last year at an animal shelter (and pioneer day in utah, which is just as many fireworks if not more), I’ll let you in on some tips that might help make this year less stressful for your furbabies, as well as help them get home if they get out in a panic. A lot of this is geared toward new pet owners, or people who are spending their first 4th with their current pet, as many animals have wildly different reactions to fireworks, but I hope it can be helpful to all kinds of pet owners.
Don’t let them outside!! This may seem obvious, but some people out there incorrectly recommend that letting your pup out in the back yard to bark at and “chase” the fireworks will help calm them down. This is just plain wrong. It will only serve to work them up into a tizzy, and when that happens, they can get an adrenaline rush that will both neutralize their common sense and amplify their physical abilities. Meaning your dog who normally stays in the fence might jump it and run off despite you calling him back. To avoid this, walk your dog well before dark, and try feeding him earlier to avoid a late-night poopy run.
If your animal is an outside pet, please keep them in the closed garage or bring them inside. Even animals that are used to gunshots and fireworks can panic if someone sets off a sparkler or firecracker a little too close. Tie-outs don’t suffice, as the adrenaline rush can lead them to snapping it, or worse, injuring themselves on it.
Play some ambient sounds. YouTube has lots of animal calming playlists that I’ve found often work really well. White noise can also be helpful. Anything to help dampen the booms and screams from outside should help, tho.
Try to keep them in one room. Letting them tear around the house often leads to injuries. I had a friend whose dog smashed through a glass-top coffee table and cut herself up really badly because she got too worked up. Whichever room is their favorite, try to keep them in there. This might mean going to bed early and hanging in the bedroom all night, but it can go a long way to soothe the anxiety.
Thundershirts sometimes help in this case, especially if you already know your animal has sound anxiety. They make them for cats, too! Another option is putting a blanket over them, though some animals find this scary, so don’t push the issue.
Try kenneling or crating both cats and dogs. Sometimes the small space can be a comforting hidey-hole in stressful situations. If you know your animal has crate anxiety, however, definitely disregard this one.
Close the windows. The lights can be very spooky, too, even if you’re far from the sound!
Put the animal in another, secured room if you have to open any door to the outside. They get really fast when scared, and will dart out faster than you can catch them.
MAKE SURE YOUR PET HAS ITS ID TAGS AND COLLAR ON. Even if it’s secured in your bedroom, or will not have access to the outdoors at all! This goes for cats, too!!!! Make absolutely certain their collar is on, fitting well, and has current information on the tags. If the unthinkable happens and they somehow get loose, you need this information to get them back home, as well as to avoid a citation. (Many cities and counties will give citations for lacking a license tag, and a separate one for lacking a rabies tag, so please make sure you have both, and that both are displayed on the collar itself. Even if you have it, if it’s not on, it doesn’t count. So load up that pretty little jingler and let Fifi sound like Santa’s sleigh for the evening.)
Don’t panic!! Call your dog or cat calmly and confidently, but loudly. If they hear terror in your voice, it will only serve to increase their own. Try using a command, like “Come” or “Kennel” if the animal is trained. Sometimes that can snap through their panic.
Try several rounds of searching. If you don’t find them in the first hour, wait a bit and go out again. Try again after most of the fireworks have stopped. Sometimes a frightened animal will make rounds and go in circles without realizing how close they are to home, so by going in waves you might catch them rather than by walking 2 miles out and giving up.
If you can’t find them that night, call Animal Control after they open in the morning. They won’t answer the phone at night (usually), and if you leave a message, you’re just one of many on a list to call back later the next day. You’re more likely to get information about your pet if you catch someone in person, so make sure they’re open before you call.
Go to your local shelter/pound/animal-holding-facility the next day, but don’t freak out if they aren’t there just yet. Most of the time, dogs are picked up overnight or early the next day. HOWEVER, cats take a lot longer. Cats’ instincts tell them to hide if they get scared, so if your cat gets loose and gets lost and is scared of the fireworks, they’re going to hide somewhere secure and not come out until they’re less stressed. It’s only once they come out that someone is able to pick them up and take them to the shelter or call on the tags. This usually takes a few days. So while the dog rush is usually the 5th and 6th of July, the cat rush usually starts on the 7th or 8th. So if your dog was there, but your cat wasn’t, don’t panic! Just keep checking back. It can take weeks; we had a little dog come in and when we called the owner, he almost fainted because he thought his dog was dead. She was 13 years old, diabetic, had allergies, and was lost up in the mountains almost a month prior. They had given up on her, and yet there she was in our shelter, waiting for them. Same with a guy’s cat; poor thing was lost for 8 weeks before anyone found him, and when the owner saw him he refused to believe it until we showed him the cat’s signature “funny tooth.” 8 weeks. So PLEASE don’t give up!!!
Check back often! We don’t mind answering your questions a million times, and we’d much rather you call 5 times a day and catch Fifi when she first comes in than wait a week and have to pay a week of boarding fees when she actually came in the hour after you first left. Leave your information with the front desk staff if you can, and come back in person regardless of what anyone tells you over the phone. Sometimes we get a Bichon that looks way more like a Poodle, so if you’re calling looking for a Bichon and we only see a poodle, we then say “No Bichons here” when really, Fifi is sitting there waiting for you. So check in every so often in person, just in case, though calling is a good way to know most of the time when your dog shows up. Notice I said dog. Cats are WAY harder to ID over the phone, so unless it’s a very distinctive breed like Sphinx or Persian, please come in person for cat ID.
Post fliers ASAP. Unless you find your pet in the first or second check of the shelter, please start taking it to your community. You can do paper fliers or post online. Most communities have lost-and-found pages on Facebook, or have yard sale groups you can post a Lost Pet ad on. Craigslist is another great place to post an ad about your lost animal. A tip: Say “Reward”. You don’t have to specify how much, so it could just be $5. But if you say Reward Offered, people are much more likely to call you. There are some awful people out there who will keep an animal without trying to find the owner first, even if they have a collar, and the best deterrent for that is to make it known that your pet is loved, and you ARE looking for them. Fliers are a great way to do that. You can also go door-to-door knocking and asking or handing out your flier and information in person.
If your pet has a microchip, contact the company ASAP and make sure your information is correct with them. Also ask if someone has “called on” your pet’s chip info. The way microchips work is that the scanner picks up the number, which links back to a company. The finder then calls the company with the number, and the company gives them your contact info. Some companies (not all tho) will tell you if someone has called on your chip’s info, thus letting you know if your dog got picked up and scanned. Usually, that’s only one of two places–a vet’s office, or a shelter/pound/animal-control-center (whatever your area has), so your search just got narrowed down by a lot. Most of the time they take the information of the person/agency who calls on the chip (or they should, anyway), so that’s one step closer to figuring out where your pet is!
Most of all, please don’t give up. I said it earlier, but it really is so important. Obviously, you’re the only one who can decide when to move on, but please don’t lose hope right away.
Here’s hoping everyone has a safe and happy 4th with their pets!!
titsay
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
theartofmadeline
prguitarman
