Monday, July 2, 2012

Twitter Pet Anxiety Chat

Last night, I had the privilege of sitting in on a very informative Twitter Chat about Pet Anxiety. With summer storms with lots of thunder popping up daily and the 4th of July on the horizon, what a great topic to be covered

It was hosted by @Pet360 of Pet 360, Guest speakers were @PatrickMahaney a holistic veterinarian specializing in acupuncture/pain management & @Thundershirt for dogs and cats to help relieve their anxiety and calm them down during stressful situations

Here are some of the questions and answers of the night:

Why does thunder scare dogs?
     *Loud noises, including thunder, stimulates a dogs basic instinct to flee for saftey.


Why do dogs start pacing long before the thunder starts?
     *Animals are keenly sensitive to environmental & barometric changes 


Are there certain breeds/pets that are more prone to anxiety
    *Yes in both dogs and cats
          -Terriers, Retrievers, Sporting, (Weimaraner, Viszia, etc) & working dogs
           (Border Collie, etc) are the most prone in dogs.
         - Cats that are relatively "wild" like Bengal, Occicat & Savannah don't do 
           well with stress of domestic confinement.


How can I relieve this stress or anxiety?
    * Exercise, distracting sounds, massage or medication.
         -Medication should be used as part of the treatment for anxiety and should 
          never be the sole therapeutic option


What are some non-medication alternatives?
    * Behavioral stimulation, including: exercise, environmental enrichment, acupuncture, acupressure, Chinese medicine food, therapeutic herbs, massages. etc.


What is considered environmental enrichment's?
    *Interactive training, distracting toys...

How do pets develop these loud noise anxiety? Is it inherent fear or developed early in life?
    *It is instinctual but can develop with repeated exposure


If one dog is afraid of thunder and the other one is not, should you separate them during a storm?
    *It depends on how severe the anxiety is, especially if removing the companion dog makes it worse I wouldn't.


Don't those wraps help dogs with Thunder?
    *Thundershirts can help pets with any type of anxiety

Is is safe to leave Thundershirts on for long periods of time?
    *Yes many clients leave them on all day while they are at work


This is not all of the questions from the night but a basic recap. If you would like to learn more about Thundershirts you can click on this link
Learn more about Thundershirts 

3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for posting this!

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  2. Thank you for posting this. I used it as a basis for a follow up blog on my website (and linked back to you).
    http://www.patrickmahaney.com/animal-treatment/dr-mahaney-teams-with-pet360-and-thundershirt-for-pet-anxiety-twitter-chat/

    ReplyDelete