Pet Fireworks Safety Tips

With the Fourth of July holiday around the corner, Woods Humane Society is reminding the community to prepare now to protect their pets from the fireworks.

“While fireworks are a fun display for humans, they’re often dreadful for pets,” says Woods Humane Society CEO Neil Trent, adding that some animal control officials report seeing as much as a 30% increase in lost pets over the holiday. “Cats and dogs have a much stronger sense of hearing than people do, so the explosive noises sound even louder to them, causing many pets to run away out of fear or to suffer from intense anxiety.”

In order to help local pet owners proactively protect their pets in advance of the holiday, Woods has put together the below list of Pet Fireworks Safety Tips, the first of which is to make sure pets have a collar with an ID tag on it as well as a microchip with up-to-date registration information.

Microchips are the size of a grain of rice and are implanted just under the skin of dogs and cats. Each microchip contains a unique code that can be easily scanned by a vet or an animal shelter employee and matched against an identification database online. “If a lost pet doesn’t have an identification tag, the microchip helps us to quickly reunite it with its family. At just $20, microchips are among the cheapest, easiest and best ways to safeguard our pets against the risk of homelessness and suffering as a stray,” says Trent.

Pet owners can make an appointment to get their dogs or cats microchipped at both of Woods’ locations by calling Woods SLO at (805) 543-9316 or Woods North County at (805) 466-5403, or they can find out more information at www.WoodsHumane.org/microchip.

Pet Fireworks Safety Tips:

• Make sure your pet is wearing a collar with an ID tag and has a microchip with up-to-date registration information
• Stay at home with pets and keep them indoors, in a safe, familiar environment
• Secure all doors and windows
• Make sure pets cannot harm themselves by chewing on unsafe household objects
• Drown out external noises and lights by playing the TV or radio and closing curtains
• Intermittently toss high-value treats throughout the fireworks to reinforce a more positive association with the noise
• Consider using anxiety-reducing tools such as the Tellington Touch method or a Thundershirt
• If your pets suffer from severe fireworks-induced anxiety, contact your vet in advance for recommendations regarding anti-anxiety medication

For more information about what to do if you find or lose a pet, visit www.WoodsHumane.org/Lost-Pet-Help.