A Stress Free Festive Season

We aren’t able to explain to our beloved pets what the festive season means in terms of day to day and the difference in routine. While the big shiny tree with lots of fun things to play with might be a welcome change for your furry friend, all the routine changes might get a little stressful for them.

You might usually have quite a quiet house or even just a predictable house that your pets can track and understand what a regular day looks like. At Christmas, they won’t understand why lots of seemingly strange people are popping by. You might have extended family visit who you only see once or twice a year and in this event, they are relative strangers to your pets.

Everyone tends to get much more social over Christmas, you usually see all of your friends in quite a short space of time to exchange gifts and catch up before the year is over. You may be planning a Christmas dinner for the whole family or even hosting a get-together before the event itself. All of this can be a bit much for your pets.

When pets are faced with stressful situations, one of the best things you can do for them is give them an escape. If you know your house is going to be full of people, make sure to set up someplace safe they can go to get away from everyone and have some time to themselves. Giving a pet a safe space is just a case of picking a room out of the way and giving them a nice quiet area to settle.

A dog crate can feed into a dog’s natural instinct to find a comfortable den to hide away in and cats like closed spaces too when it comes to trying to feel safe. You can either give them a small crate to sleep in or even a cat carrier if they have one and you can make it nice and comfortable for them. They should have the freedom to come and go from their safe space so you can leave the door open unless you know they would prefer to be shut away from all the people if you’re having a particularly busy occasion.

If they are going to be spending time in one area you can even plug in a calming diffuser like the Beaphar Canicomfort Calming Diffuser or the Feliway Pheromone Diffuser to fill the room with calming pheromones and help them to settle.

Our pets love their routine. They enjoy knowing when to expect food, when their walks might be and when they get to have cuddles on the couch in the evening. They may not be able to tell time like we do but our pets will often come and ask for food at dinner time and you’ll find them waiting at the door when you get home from work.

Anything out of the ordinary can cause their anxiety to peak. Be it your pooch gets their walk earlier in the day because you have to go out in the evening or your cat finds themselves getting less cuddles because you’re so busy. It might not seem like much to you but to them, it can really alter their day.

If you know Christmas is going to be a busy time, you can plan ahead and sometimes that means giving a little helping hand in advance. Most calming medication needs at least a week to work like these VetIQ Serene-UM Calming Tablets for Cats and Dogs. Packed with vitamins, minerals and amino acids, Serene-UM tablets are a natural dietary aid that supports calmness in pets. They are non-medicinal so don’t have a sedative effect but they just help to take the edge off any anxiety they might be feeling.

You can also find calming treats for your canine companions if they’re not a big fan of taking tablets. Vetiq Calming Treats are for puppies over the age of 4 weeks old and contain ingredients like lemon balm, chamomile, and the amino acid L-Tryptophan that naturally soothe your fur baby when they might be experiencing stress. Keeping your cat calm can mean lots of treats too, just to distract them from any big changes.

Between Christmas and New Year can be a noisy period with parties, loud music and fireworks going off at all hours when people are celebrating. Loud noises can be scary for our pets as they can’t be warned that they’re going to happen or have them explain away easily. Fireworks can be especially scary for our doggy pals. We can usually just keep our feline friends indoors when we know there are going to be fireworks and they can bunker down somewhere nice and calm in the house. However, even as we rush to get an early walk out of the way while it’s quiet, you can still be caught off guard by the odd noise.

The Karmawrap Dog Anxiety Coat is a great tool for keeping our pups calm and the smaller sizes will even work on cats too. The anxiety coat goes around vital pressure points so when it’s worn it will feel like they’re having a nice cuddle. Giving them this constant cuddle using an anxiety coat will help them to feel much more secure and calm so you don’t need to worry about giving them as much comfort when things are a little loud.

While Christmas might feel like it’s over in a blink, the days tend to be longer just because there’s so much to do. You might be out shopping and going to bed later because you’ve been wrapping gifts. During periods of change like this, our pets tend to cling to us so while we’re getting a late night, so are they. One thing we can do for our fur babies is make sure that they’re getting plenty of rest as being sleep deprived can cause a surge in anxiety.

There’s nothing like a good bed to roll into after a busy day of visitors and getting ready for Christmas. A calming bed like the Charcoal Grey Calming Bed Large has nice high sides so your pup will feel like their being cuddled in. Cats love to feel safe and completely covered, it’s why they so often try to get under the covers with us so this Beddies Brown Sleeping Bag Bed is ideal for giving them somewhere cosy to sleep.

To further relax them you can also provide soft toys to cuddle up to like the Rosewood Aromadog Calm Laying Down Dog Toy which contains a therapeutic blend and lavender-based essential oils to help with relaxation and sleep.

Christmas can be a stressful time for everyone including our canine companions and our feline friends. Understanding how to spot when they’re stressed is a vital part of being the best pet guardian you can be and having some tricks up your sleeve to help them relax is important too. To keep your fur babies calm and happy over the festive period, visit us in store and online.