Fireworks season and your pets (Especially for dog, cat and rabbit owners)

Let's hide together.

Chinese New Year is here and you are all wondering what to do when the fireworks go off and your pets are all going frantic. Okay, maybe not all of you care so much, but here at Little Earth Gnomes of Sabah we do care. We believe that this is part of our responsibility to make sure that our pets are comforted when the fireworks go BOOM! Animals are afraid of fireworks, since it makes them think that their life is endangered, and also it might cause shocks, just like a thunderstorm, when they hear it, their natural instincts tell them to hide. This is especially true for small animals like dogs, cats, mouse, or rabbits. My fish don’t get bothered by the tremors that have been going around. Anyway, it is our responsibility to make sure they feel secure, like taking care of a baby. Here are some things you can do.

-          For dogs and cats, you can help them create a safe spot before the fireworks season. You will need to make them a small space filled with blankets and their favorite toys, if it isn’t possible, just fill their kennel or cage with some blankets and their favorite toy or some stuff that they really love. This will help them feel at home.

-          Play them some nice soothing music like classics or just some ballads, or if you want to you can switch on some waterfall or beach sounds.

-          Speaking of sounds, you can train your dog or cat to not be afraid of thunders or fireworks by helping them get used to these sounds, if you have a recording or a CD with sounds of fireworks or thunder storms, play it frequently but at a low volume, gradually raise the volume from time to time when you feel that you pet is feeling comfortable and is able to handle it.

-          Talking to your pets and patting them or grooming them slowly can help them reduce stress as well. Talk to them gently; start off by whispering to them. Keep talking to them to drown out some of the firework sounds.

-          Keep your pets indoors. This helps a lot since keeping them indoors will shut out some of the noise and they get to be closer to you. Leaving them outside and they might also be exposed to smoke from the fireworks, which they absolutely hate/fear as well.

There are also things you shouldn’t do, like altering their home too much before fireworks season. Animals like humans need time to adjust to the new environment. So do not change their home way too much or they will feel stressed. By sending them over to a friend’s place is not such a good idea too. Since a new place/environment might give them stress.

Every Chinese New Year in Sabah, KK, there will be a lot of fireworks going off at midnight of the New Year eve. This is what I did for my pet rabbit. I let her stay indoors (she usually lives on my balcony where she gets to run around freely but sheltered from rain and the afternoon sun, she gets the evening sun). Next, I switch on the air conditioning, she loves the cool air with the fan blowing on her; bring in some of her favorite toys (boxes), she plays with them every day, especially the huge ones. Then I shut all the windows to reduce the noises; and turn on the music, I turned on Bjork’s ‘Cocoon’ and let it go on repeat. Occasionally, when the bigger ones go off, she will rise up her ears straight like an antenna trying to find the source of the sound, then after a few seconds, she will continue to run around in my room messing with my stuff, sometimes she will come to me as if to ask me to pat on her head. I will only let her out after the smoke has all gone and I will monitor her even after I let her out just to be sure the air is clean enough for her. My mum handled the dog, she comforts him by talking to him and playing with him, that way the sounds aren’t so obvious.

Remember that we all have responsibilities towards out pets, we must help them overcome the fear of fireworks or to be there and comfort them throughout the season. Love your pets! Oh and if there is anything you want me to add to this, let me know! Or if you want to share what you do to help your pets, let us know and comment. Lastly, Happy Chinese New Year to Everyone!