Animals just like humans have fears and face stress in their daily lives. Unlike us, they are unable to voice out their feelings, so how can we tell our pet’s are stressed?
Stress-causing situations:
- Lack of social interaction and exposure to the outside world can cause pets to fear other pets, humans and even foreign objects. Their first instinct would be to defend themselves from what they perceive as a threat.
- Significant events/trauma can also cause pets to become fearful. If they were abused and neglected by previous owners they might be distrusting of their new owners or people in general.
- Moving to a new environment can cause disruption in their normal routine behaviours and when that sense of familiarity is lost, it can cause confusion and anxiety to relearn these behaviours.
- Noise phobias (fireworks/thunderstorms)
- Separation anxiety/Habitual anxiety
- Canine cognitive dysfunction and associated confusion/disorientation
- False pregnancy - dog can become anxious and unsettled
- Hyperactive dogs
- Territorial urine spraying in cats
- Skin sensitivity in nervous dogs
- Conditions that are exacerbated by a heightened state of anxiety or nervous excitability
Symptoms of stress and anxiety in pets:
- Barking and howling
- Panting and pacing back and forth
- Trembling
- Hiding in corners of under the bed
- Scratching/Digging the ground/carpets
- Escaping
- Destroying furniture
- Self-harm, including excessive licking or chewing
- No appetite
- Urinating more frequently
- A general inability to settle
As Pet parents we can play a huge role in helping to reduce or eliminate stress and stress behaviours in our pets through consistent behavioural training and a whole lot of patience.
Alongside training, the use of calming agents can also help your pets become more responsive to training. They can come in 2 forms: Consumables or application-based.
Consumables
Dorwest Valerian Compound Liquid
Helps calm frightened, anxious, hyperactive and stressed animals calm quickly. Dropped into the mouth, given on food or even just a few drops sprinkled on a pet’s bedding can result in a more amenable pet, so visits to the vet, traveling or moving house instantly become less stressful situations.
The concentrated herbal extracts used in this liquid ensure that within just 30 minutes a noticeable change in behaviour occurs without causing drowsiness and the effects are quite short lived.
Dorwest Scullcap & Valerian Tablets
Help to naturally relax your pet, with the active herbs naturally supporting the calming pathways within the nervous system, reducing anxiety without immobilizing muscles or causing drowsiness. They don’t make pets dopey or wobbly – in fact they are widely used for agility and show dogs when they need to be alert and focussed, but calm.
For best results, we advise that Scullcap & Valerian Tablets are used every day for a minimum of three weeks, ideally alongside gentle and consistent behavioural work and training. By reducing anxiety levels to more manageable levels, our Scullcap & Valerian Tablets increase the likelihood that your pet will be more responsive to this training.
For ‘one-off’ stressful events, our Valerian Compound is a great short-term, quicker-acting option and can also be used alongside Scullcap & Valerian Tablets for a top-up, if needed.
Application-based
Pet Remedy Calming Range
As compared to Valerian Compound 30ml and Scullcap & Valerian Tablets Pet Remedy offers application-based calming agents. They come in the form of wipes, battery-operated atomiser, sprays, plug-in diffusers etc.
The special Pet Remedy blend of essential oils is valerian based and works alongside these natural relaxation pathways to help calm the nerves of anxious or stressed pets
Pet Remedy works alongside the brain’s natural ‘messengers’ called neurotransmitters, which work by telling the nerve receiving the message either to calm (via GABA pathway) or get ‘fired up’. In times of stress or anxiety the nerves get over stimulated, which leads on to the many different signs of stress we see in our pets.
There is no quick solution to eliminating stress in pets, but with consistency, training and patience, tremendous results can be achieved!
