While preparing for your July Fourth cookout and decking out your yard in red, white, and blue, take time to consider your pet’s wellbeing. Our Fremont Animal Hospital team knows how dangerous this noisy patriotic holiday can be for pets, and we offer tips for ensuring you and your pet have a fun and safe celebration.
#1: Ensure your pet has your current contact information
Shelters see a 30% increase in the number of lost pets during the July Fourth holiday. Startled pets, running from fireworks noise, can easily become lost, and if your pet does not have your current contact information, you may never see them again. To help ensure you can reunite with your pet if they go missing, follow these tips:
- Identification (ID) tags — Ensure your pet always wears a sturdy collar and legible ID tags that have your current contact information.
- Microchip — Microchipping your pet is the best way to ensure they always have your contact information. Our Fremont Animal Hospital team can easily implant a tiny chip under the skin of your pet’s neck. A shelter or veterinary office that finds your pet will scan your furry pal’s chip to access your contact information. Ensure you always keep your contact information updated with the microchip registry, so whoever who finds your pet can easily notify you.
#2: Keep your pet safe in the house
Noisy crowds, fireworks’ booms, and excited children’s shrieks can easily spook your pet, and keeping them inside is the best way to help ensure they do not run away. To keep your pet safe inside the house during the July Fourth festivities, follow these tips:
- Send your pet to their room — Create a special place in your home where your pet feels safe and comfortable, and confine them to this area during the July Fourth celebration. Your pet’s crate makes a great safe zone, or you can offer them a closet or interior room. Ensure your pet has the resources they need, and also provide toys, treats, and something that has your scent to help make your furry pal feel secure.
- Tell on your pet — If you host a party, tell your guests that your pet isn’t allowed out of the house. Doing so helps ensure that guests will be mindful of unintentionally letting your pet out when entering or leaving your home.
- Lock up your pet — If you leave your pet your home, ensure the doors and windows are securely closed and locked, so your four-legged friend can’t escape.
#3: Ensure your pet stays cool as a cucumber
As you wipe the sweat from your brow on a hot, humid day, consider that your pet doesn’t have this ability to cool themself. Dogs and cats must rely on less efficient ways to cool down, such as panting, to regulate their body temperature, which may not be sufficient during July Fourth’s extreme heat. While all pets are susceptible to heatstroke, a potentially life-threatening condition, flat-faced (i.e., brachycephalic) breeds, senior pets, and those who are overweight have an increased risk of developing this condition. To prevent your pet from overheating, follow these tips:
- Providing a pleasing beverage — Ensure your pet stays hydrated. While at home, your four-legged friend should always have access to fresh, clean water, and when on outings, you should offer them a drink every one to two hours. Take bottled water and a portable bowl to ensure your pet can drink fresh water from a clean source.Â
- Letting your pet take a dip — Put a few inches of water in a kiddy pool in your yard, and let your pet enjoy a cool dip. Your guests will likely find their antics amusing.
- Letting your pet take five — Loud crowds and new potential friends often excite pets, and they may not realize they need to take a break to avoid becoming overheated. Ensure your pet takes frequent breaks from the heat by taking them to a quiet, cool, well-ventilated area where they can be calm and decompress. Â
- Keeping an eye on your pet — Monitor your pet for overheating signs such as excessive panting, lethargy, drooling, bright red mucous membranes, and diarrhea. These signs can indicate heatstroke.
- Letting your pet be a couch potato — If your pet is predisposed to overheating, or the day is especially hot and humid, consider leaving your four-legged friend in the comfort of your air-conditioned home.Â
- Taking action — If you think your pet is overheating, take them to a cool, well-ventilated area, offer them water, and start cooling them by pouring lukewarm water over their body or submerging them up to their neck in lukewarm water. Seek immediate veterinary care.
#4: Keep party food off-limits to your pet
You can’t have a July Fourth celebration without decadent food, but common holiday dishes can cause your pet to become seriously ill. High-fat foods can trigger potentially life-threatening pancreatitis. Cooked meat and poultry bones can lead to gastrointestinal (GI) tract injuries and blockages. Some foods are toxic to pets. To prevent your pet from getting into dangerous July Fourth foods, follow these tips:
- Don’t be a litterbug — Keep your trash in sealed containers to prevent your pet from scavenging.
- Put a lid on it — Keep dishes covered to prevent your pet from taking a taste.
- Be a party pooper — Let visitors know your pet should not eat any party food. Doing so helps ensure your pet doesn’t persuade your guests to give them a bite.
- Be a clean freak — If your guests leave a plate or cup unattended, pick it up as soon as possible to prevent your pet from getting into an off-limits treat.
- Be pet-inclusive — Provide pet-friendly dishes, such as skinned, unseasoned, boneless chicken breast and fresh, seedless watermelon, so your four-legged friend doesn’t feel left out when your guests are enjoying the party food.
#5: Address your pet’s noise aversion
Many pets have a noise aversion to fireworks. The resulting fear response is comparable to that felt by people experiencing a panic attack. This anxiety-provoking condition can negatively impact your pet’s life, leading to issues such as emotional trauma, physical injuries, health complications, and behavioral and other stress-related problems. If your pet has a noise aversion, you and your veterinarian should address the condition to help prevent your furry pal’s extreme fear response, and the best time to seek help is well before the July Fourth holiday. To address your pet’s noise aversion, follow these tips:
- Keeping quiet — Confine your pet to an interior room or windowless basement to help muffle fireworks noise.
- Encouraging your pet’s musical interest — Play your pet’s favorite music to help mask fireworks noise.
- Changing your pet’s perspective — If you start weeks or months in advance, you can use desensitization and counterconditioning techniques to modify your pet’s response to fireworks’ scary booms.Â
- Providing pharmaceutical relief — In some cases, calming supplements, sedatives, or anti-anxiety medications are needed to address your pet’s noise aversion.Â
If your pet has a noise aversion, contact our Fremont Animal Hospital team, so we can determine the best way to address the problem, allowing you and your pet to have an enjoyable July Fourth.
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