Christmas and New Years affect pets on two levels: they are often the gift under the tree, and even more often they suffer because of fireworks and fireworks. This time I asked veterinarian Kateřina Karásková for you about these December topics.
Animal as a gift
Christmas is approaching and many children wish for a live Christmas present, most often a dog, cat or perhaps a rabbit. But is it appropriate to give an animal as a gift?
I can only recommend it to those people who already have experience with animals and know what care entails. Everyone else should carefully consider a number of things. Among the most fundamental are the financial cost and the time you have to devote to the animal. E.g. the dog should not be walked for more than six hours, and you must walk him even if it is raining, freezing outside or you are sick. Do not rely on children. Someone also has to teach him at least basic commands. And the financial costs only begin with the acquisition: vaccinations against rabies are mandatory for dogs, but I recommend having them vaccinated against a wider range of diseases and dewormed 4 times a year.
In case of illness or injury, you can pay tens of thousands for veterinary treatment, so it often pays to have your pet insured. A dog fee to the city is also mandatory. However, the largest item is feed, which is not worth saving on. In fact, cheap feed can promote the development of a number of ailments. Annual costs for a dog are thus in the order of tens of thousands. In contrast, for example, hamsters don’t mind so much if you go away for the weekend, and children like them. Building mazes is, for example, a popular pastime. Hamsters are small, undemanding and easy to tame, they live for about three years. A cat can be a commitment for twenty years, and a dog also lives to a relatively old age. Small popular breeds live fifteen to seventeen years.
What if the recipient is not interested in such a gift?
Anyone who wants to donate an animal should have an alternative solution. So I only donate animals for which I have a surrogate family or want to take care of them myself. An animal is not a toy and feels pain and sorrow just like we do. If you don’t have a replacement owner, you need to get one quickly and don’t let the animal fixate on you. Dogs in particular are very vulnerable in this and thanks to their devotion, they cannot even understand what wrong they have done that you have excluded them from the pack.
Animals and the stress of Christmas and New Year’s Eve
December means the noise of firecrackers and fireworks that people set off throughout the Christmas season. Many owners deal with this by medicating their dog throughout the critical period. Is it appropriate?
The medication is suitable for dogs suffering from extreme anxiety and fear. However, the preparation for New Year’s Eve actually starts already in the puppy age, or rather during the socialization period, when we should gradually introduce the dog to various sounds and with different intensity of sounds. For example, I start the vacuum cleaner, which tends to be very noisy, in the next room first, and only after a while can I also vacuum in the room where the dog is. He will already know that this noise is not dangerous and will simply leave. On New Year’s Eve, you should take your dog with you, definitely don’t leave it outside, not even a well-socialized one. This will make the noise intensity more tolerable for him. Besides, he will have nowhere to run. Every year, a large number of dogs are searched for in this way, and unfortunately some never return home.
What if I have an animal for the first year and I still don’t know how it will react to these stimuli? Is there any first aid when I find out that the animal is reacting really badly? How to walk a stressed dog who is afraid to cross the threshold of the apartment for several days at a time?
As I said, I do not recommend taking medication as a precaution. It is better to take the animal with you and during New Year’s Eve, when the firecrackers start going off, act as if nothing is happening. Turn on the TV, close the blinds to block out the noise and light effects. The dog needs to see that he is to be calm just like you. Of course, you can also train with the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks released from the player, at first with a very weak intensity. But we have to start training from an early age. It is also good to tire the dog and feed it, preferably with turkey meat, which contains the amino acid tryptophan. It supports better sleep and stress management.
A number of preparations work on the same principle, such as ALAVIS™ Calming, which is good to administer a few days before New Year’s Eve and is also suitable for cats. If you decide on pharmacological help, do so only on the basis of an examination by a veterinarian. Acepromazine, which is often prescribed, can also have a number of side effects. It is also necessary to realize that this active substance rather induces muscle relaxation, i.e. perception is not particularly affected. Above all, more aggressive dogs can, on the other hand, overreact. After administration, you should observe the dog, an increase in breathing and heart rate, a drop in body temperature, salivation, etc. may occur. Other drugs also have their limitations and possible side effects, so keep the number of an available veterinarian handy. For dogs that are afraid to cross the threshold of the house, pharmacological treatment is usually unavoidable. For dogs with a generalized phobia, we usually start dosing gradually from the autumn and then gradually stop the treatment.
About the expert
MVDr. Kateřina Karásková, Ph.D., graduated from the Veterinary and Pharmaceutical University in Brno, where she also received a doctorate in animal nutrition.
