July 4, 2008

As July Fourth kicks summer into high gear, some safety tips to remember. (Pet Pulse Photo Illustration by Mike Lloyd)

LOS ANGELES -- Holiday weekends pose a lot of risks for pets who are scared by hordes of family and friends invading their home for barbeques and lots of noisy fun.

By paying attention to a few basic safety precautions, you can keep them out of harm’s way and enjoy yourself. Here’s a quick checklist.

FIREWORKS: THE BIG BANG THEORY

Because animals have very acute hearing, fireworks can be extremely frightening to very sensitive cats and dogs causing them to bolt if not kept securely locked up at home.

“There’s always a dramatic increase in the number of requests for assistance in looking for lost pets in the days following July 4th fireworks,” ace pet detective Kat Albrecht of Pet Hunters International in Seattle, told Pet Pulse.

“Most cases involve panicked dogs that have bolted and run blindly due to the noise. Some dogs will run until they find somewhere to hide such as a garage, a shed or under a car. Others run for miles often facing the risk of serious injury or death,” Albrecht said.

“Cats that bolt tend to look for the nearest place to take cover,” he continued. “So if your cat vanishes get permission to search your neighbors’ yards, and look in every nook and cranny.”

A single really negative experience of loud fireworks can have a long-lasting detrimental effect, according to professor Nicholas Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Department at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, Mass.

Dodman, also the author of “The Well-adjusted Dog” says that it’s imperative that pets be protected from such adverse experiences to avoid scaring them and to help prevent the development of noise phobia.

“Dogs seem to fare worse than cats,” he said. “But that may be because they are more demonstrative. Cats tend to hide and quake with fear in private.”

“Close the windows and the blinds and pump up the music,” suggested Chicago behaviorist Steve Dale. “Classical music can be particularly calming especially if it’s slow and deliberate. But actually any music will do as long as it masks the sound of fireworks.

“Never tie your dog up. Those with a fear for loud noises have been known to choke themselves to death. In fact, dogs should never be tethered under any circumstances,” stated Dale. “If you are having friends over, it’s best to seclude animals in a room that won’t be subjected to any foot traffic.”

PARTY LEFTOVERS

Be sure to remove all food leftovers so that your dog can’t get hold anything left on plates.

“Pets eat crazy and bizarre items all the time,” said veterinarian Dr. Sandy Albright of the Crossroads Veterinary Hospital in Raleigh, N.C. “When you’re barbequing and having fun, its easy to be distracted and foodstuffs such as wooden meat skewers, meat bones and corn cobs are particularly dangerous and can be life threatening.”

The slogan “drink responsibly” applies to pets, too. Alcoholic beverages can be poisonous to pets, so never leave drinks unattended. Dogs can get intoxicated causing them to become depressed and even go into a coma. In severe cases, death from respiratory failure can also occur.

FUN IN THE SUN

Outdoor activities such as a day at the beach or hiking can be thirsty work. Be sure to take extra water along to so that your pet doesn’t dehydrate.

On particularly hot days, special collars that can be filled with ice are an excellent idea to keep body temperatures normal.

Be wary of the sun’s damaging rays by applying sunscreen to pets with pink tummies and noses. Special pet sunscreens with a SPF of 30 are widely available from both pet stores and on-line suppliers.

Always check for fleas and ticks after an outdoor excursion and make sure nothing dangerous like glass is lodged in sensitive paw pads.

CARS CAN BE A DEATHTRAP

It goes without saying; never leave your pet unattended in a car -- even for “a few minutes.” You never know when you are going to be delayed indefinitely!

Research conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2005 showed that temperatures inside a parked car could get dangerously high even when the outside temperature is a relatively cool 72 degrees.

Inside a car, the temperature can rise as much as 40 degrees over the course of an hour, with an 80 percent increase in the first 30 minutes. The research also showed that leaving the windows partially open made absolutely no difference.

Pet’s like people, can suffer from heatstroke and irreversible brain damage, in a relatively short period of time.

HOME ALONE

Never leave your pets home alone assuming that by putting down food and water they will be OK on their own.

A sudden attack of ants at the food bowl can make them refuse to go near it. And if you have multiple pets, they often don’t know how to share!

If you’ve left your arrangements for the last minute and cannot get a booking at a pet hotel or a pet sitter, ask a responsible neighbor to come in and check that everything is OK.

LICENSE AND IDENTIFICATION, PLEASE!

Always ensure that your pet is wearing an identification tag. This applies to strictly indoor cats, too -- you never know when they manage to escape.

But remember that collars can be removed so having your pet micro chipped and registered with the respective company’s database is excellent back up. Proper identification is a lost pet’s ticket home.

FOURTH OF JULY MICROCHIP SPECIAL

During July and August, the Home Again Proactive Pet Recovery Network has pledged to donate $1 to the Winn Feline Foundation toward feline health research for every new cat micro chipped and enrolled during this period. Find out more at HomeAgain.com

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