The last day of the year is full of celebrations. It’s a way of saying goodbye to one year and welcoming the next. It’s a time of family, friends and fireworks. For your animals though, it could be a time of terror.
Here are some tips for you to help your animals get through this New Years’ as calmly and safely as possible:
- Make sure your pet is microchipped and your details are up to date. When animals are afraid and escaping from scary noises like fireworks they may lose their collars; a microchip is a much safer way of making sure your pet is brought back to you should they get scared and run away. Consider taking your pet to the vet to check his microchip is working properly.
- Keep your animal indoors, and if possible, with you. While keeping them indoors is already much better than leaving them outside where the fireworks sound louder, leaving them alone indoors is also pretty scary, and a dog who is very frightened of loud noises may try to escape the house and hurt themselves. Being with you and being calmly reassured during scary noises is the best option.
- If you know your dog is particularly scared of noises like fireworks, make an appointment with your vet for a check-up before New Year’s Eve, as your vet will need to know your pet is in good health before he/she can give you calming medication that will help them.
- If you will be out, make sure your dog has a safe place to hide if they need to. Consider putting an item of your clothing in their bed in a safe corner.
- Never ever let off fireworks in your own property or anywhere near your animals. Not only is this illegal in a lot of places, it is extremely scary for your animals and can lead to serious injury if the firework goes off near them.
- Remember that although most injuries over New Years’ are seen in dogs, cats and other pets can also become extremely scared by fireworks.
