4th of July and your Dog

4 Safety pet tips for the 4^th of July

Like most Americans, you might be planning a day of festivities during the 4^th of July. Besides barbeques and plenty of food, your celebrations won’t be complete if you don’t enjoy a wholesome fireworks display. After all, what better way to celebrate our independence?

Perhaps you are planning a small party for family and friends. While planning your 4^th of July celebrations, you should remember to uphold your pets safety. Unlike humans, pets are terrified by loud noises and flashes common with such celebrations. Pets often tend to panic when they hear loud bangs and whizzes. That said, here are invaluable safety tips for your pets this 4^th of July.

1. Keep the pet indoors

While this might seem obvious, even for pets that enjoy the outdoors, it is advisable to keep them indoors during the celebrations. The loud noises outside caused by firework displays can easily frighten them, and they might run away in the night in an effort to look for safety.

2. Store alcoholic drinks in a secure cabinet

When your pets accidentally ingests alcohol, they might become intoxicated, fall into a coma and can even die due to respiratory failure. For instance, beer contains ethanol and fermented hops that are toxic to cats and dogs. 

3. Leave your pets at home when you shop for fireworks 

Let your pets stay at home as you go shopping for fireworks. You should never leave them in a crowded, noisy and unfamiliar place. A gathering of strangers and loud noises from fireworks can scare your beloved pets and they might escape and seek shelter elsewhere. 

Remember that locking your pets inside your car when shopping for fireworks is not ideal; your pet might suffer from heat stroke and brain damage.

4. Use identification tags

Unfortunately, when your pets run away dead in the night and gets lost, it would be much easier to get them back if they have proper identification. You should consider installing a microchip on your pet for easy identification. 

ID tags are also useful as they can contain essential information like your name and phone number. As a suggestion, you should have a picture album of all your pets if the circumstance requires you to mount signs in your neighborhood.

Conclusion

While you might keep your pets indoors during the 4^th of July festivities, they can easily ingest a foreign material when playing indoors. If that happens, you should visit the vet immediately to get the right treatment.

References: Petmd, Petmd, Military