Those of you in the UK can't have failed to notice that it was Guy Faukes' Night recently, when we celebrate the fact
that a seventeenth century Catholic terrorist failed to blow up Parliament with several kegs of gunpowder, by burning him in effigy, setting fire to great piles of garden waste and permitting private individuals to play with explosives.
It's been a reasonably good year - none of my patients have been seriously physically injured, though several have gone missing. In previous years I have had a labrador jump through a glazed patio door in his panic to escape from nearby fireworks. Another literally climbed walls, pulling a radiator off it's fixings. More commonly we see dogs and cats run away, often to return a few days later cold, wet, afraid and sometimes with significant injuries. Some, sadly, do not return.
I really really cannot understand why, in this time of antisocial behaviour and anti-terror legislation, we haven't managed to ban the sale of explosive devices to unlicenced private individuals. Fireworks are dangerous. Used carelessly, in back gardens, in the hands of people with no appropriate training and without the recommended safety distances, they cause many injuries each year to adults and children. Used maliciously, they cause fear, distress and injury to members of the public and the emergency services. In the hands of professional pyrotechnics teams, at organised displays, they are an absolute joy. I love fireworks. But I see no reason whatsoever I should be allowed to deploy them in my garden!
Fear of fireworks in pets can be managed in a number of ways - dogs and cats with relatively mild anxiety can be helped by changes in their daily routine - taking them out for their last walk early, while it's still light, providing a safe indoor bolt-hole, keeping the TV or loud music on to muffle the sound of nearby explosions, and trying to behave as normally as possible, avoiding over-fussing or chastising worried animals. Pharmaceutical approaches are available - pheromone diffusers are available for both dogs and cats and can be very helpful in some cases (and absolutely useless in others). A new, non-sedative, anti-anxiety medication has come on the market this year which some of my clients have tried and been very impressed with. Some dogs and cats do very well with the use of herbal remedies such as Skullcap and Valerian tablets, Valerian compound, or Rescue Remedy - but please please consult your vet before giving herbal medicines to your animals, just because they are 'natural' does not mean they are innocuous! For the most seriously affected animals, who are at risk of injuring themselves or their owners, the use of sedatives is sadly unavoidable.
The most frightening sort of exposure to fireworks is a nearby explosion, overhead. Exactly the sort that pets in built-up areas are exposed to when neighbours deploy (not necessarily particularly large or powerful) rockets in back gardens. Be honest with yourself - I know there's a thrill to setting off backyard fireworks, but it's a pretty naff display compared to what you'll get at an organised display. There are fantastic displays, often for charities, in just about every town and village in the country, so there are plenty of opportunities to get your firework fix. Organised displays give the owners of anxious pets a chance to prepare and protect their pets for noise at a specified time, which is much easier than reacting to unexpected nearby explosions.
So, next time you are tempted to buy fireworks, please think again, save yourself a few quid, and go to a wonderful organised display instead. And if you have a pet who was stressed out by firework season, now is the time to contact your vet for advice - we seem to have fallen into a habit in this country of using fireworks for New Year over the past decade, so you have a month and a half to prepare your pet for the next round of pops and bangs. Preparation is key, and starting a programme of noise desensitisation and behaviour modification now may well pay huge dividends come December 31st!
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