Minimizing Pet’s Stress/Anxiety on New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrating your achievements, however small, and welcoming fortune in the incoming year. It also means loud gatherings with your friends and families over dinner. However, in between the clinks and fireworks, you must consider the needs of your furry friends. In the general sense, pets are often stressed by loud noises and flashy lights, and often, you may notice them regressing to quitter rooms or becoming aggressive towards strangers. Responsible pet parenthood means you must accommodate your four-legged friends amidst your New Year’s Eve celebration. Here are some tips to minimize your pet’s stress during the festive season.

Dog Owners

1. Habituation and Desensitization: Experts suggest that continuous exposure of your dog to different environments results in a gradual loss of responsiveness. Therefore, you may want to expose your puppy to loud noises and gradually begin to tolerate fireworks and other unusual situations on New Year’s Eve. An easy way to desensitize your dog is playing playlists of YouTube fireworks a couple of months before New Year’s Eve.
2.  House tips: It is highly recommended that your dog remains indoors on New Year’s Eve to minimize stress from fireworks. You may want to play calm music to reduce your dog’s anxiety. You can also get a white noise machine to lessen the noise from the fireworks. 
3.  Reducing Stress outside: on New Year’s Eve, you can take your dog out early for his walk before it gets noisy. The walks also help stabilize his moods, which can help you deal with the stress that may follow hours later. Make sure your dog wears a collar or microchip with your contact details. 

Cat Owners

1. House tips: You should lock all doors and draw the curtains to minimize light and noise penetration. Cats often seclude in the face of stress. Therefore, you should have designated areas where they can hide to make them comfortable. This may include your bedrooms or closet. Like dogs, you may want to play calming music during the fireworks to reduce anxiety. 
2.  Outside: Your cat is far more likely to the runway during this stressful period. As such, it is highly recommended to microchip your cat to reduce your chance of separation. 

Conclusion 

While New Year’s Eve is a time to elevate your moods with celebration and fireworks, this may not be the case for your pets. Therefore, you can adopt some tips in this article to manage your pet’s anxiety.

References: FourPaws, Petbutler