Pet Safety Tips for Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night can be a scary and distressing time for pets. According to the RSPCA, almost half of all dogs are afraid of fireworks. Cats and small animals can be similarly affected. Here are our tips for keeping your pet safe on Bonfire Night, plus advice on helping them to deal with fireworks phobia.

Before Fireworks Begin

Preparation for Bonfire Night should start in advance of the main event, especially as it is common for firework displays to happen in the run-up to this. Help your pet to be less scared by following these tips:

• Make sure that dogs and cats have a safe place to retreat to when scared or stressed by fireworks. This could include a designated room or one of their favourite places in the home. Encourage them to use this space in the build-up to Bonfire Night. This reduces the possibility of them trying to get out of the house due to their fear.
• Keep dogs and cats inside throughout Bonfire Night. For dogs, plan your walks during the daytime and encourage them to go to the toilet pre-fireworks so that there is no need to venture outdoors again. This allows you to take steps to limit their exposure to fireworks while indoors.
• For small animals that live outdoors, try to bring them indoors where possible. If you are not in a position to do this, take steps to limit their exposure to fireworks by partially covering their cage or hutch with blankets to muffle the sounds and to block out the visual aspects. Be careful not to cover them completely though as this can be disorientating and distressing. Extras bedding can also offer comfort, especially if you hide treats to keep your pet occupied and distracted.
•  Make sure that your pet is microchipped or is wearing a collar with an ID tag in case they manage to escape during the fireworks. This will help them to be traced back to you.

During the Fireworks

• Turn on the radio or television to disguise fireworks noise or play mid-tempo music. Don’t be tempted to turn this up too loud – this can be even more distressing than the noise that you’re trying to disguise.
• Don’t stress on behalf of your pet – they will almost definitely pick up on this and you risk increasing their anxiety as a result of this. On a similar note, fight the urge to comfort your pet. This will only reinforce the idea that it is “right” for them to be scared and experts agree that it rewards fear.

Tackling Phobias

Most pets dislike Bonfire Night but for some, it is part of a wider fear of loud noises. Fortunately, this can be treated via animal behavioural therapy and involves desensitising tactics. If you are worried that your pet is suffering from this type of phobia, speak to your vet as a first port of call.

[Photo Credit: Ghengis Fireworks ]

Preparing Outdoor Pets for Autumn and Winter

Now that the weather has turned colder, it’s time to think about preparing outdoor pets for colder weather. You need to prepare conditions for pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs for the months ahead. Ideally, you will want to move their accommodation indoors or into a shed during the autumn and winter but if this is not possible, it is even more important to take steps to keep them protected. Here are our tips for taking care of outdoor pets at this time of year.

Protect Them Against the Elements

If you can’t bring your rabbit’s hutch indoors, cover it with a tarpaulin to keep the worst of the cold out. Where possible, try to move it to an area that is relatively sheltered and face it away from the wind. Make sure that there are no gaps that could let in the elements and check carefully for signs of damp or rotting material. Ideally, the hutch should be protected with a pet-friendly coating every couple of years to safeguard against these type of problems.

Blankets and even carpet cut-offs can also used to line the outside of the hutch and you can also put extra straw, hay or shredded paper inside to make it feel warmer.

Don’t forget to protect their water supply too. Dehydration can still be a problem in winter, not least because water bottles are prone to freezing when the weather gets cold enough. Wrapping them in bubble wrap can prevent this. If their water bottles do freeze, be sure to defrost them as soon as possible so that your pet can still access their water supply.

If you do move your pet’s hutch indoors, do not relocate them to the garage if you use this to store your car(s). The exhaust fumes can be extremely dangerous and could even prove fatal.

Feeding Tips

Giving outdoor pets a little bit more food will help them to build a layer of fat to protect them against cold weather. Your pet will burn more calories than normal in trying to keep warm during the autumn and winter months so this additional boost will mean that they do not lose body weight as a direct result.

Don’t go overboard with this though or your pet is likely to pile on the pounds, especially as they will be less active in comparison to the spring and summer months. Offering a small amount of extra hay on top of their usual day-to-day diet is recommended, for example. Their calorie intake can then revert to their normal levels once this is no longer needed.

[Photo Credit: jpockele ]

You can help your tortoise to hibernate

With summer now behind us, your tortoise will be getting ready to hibernate. In the UK, cooler temperatures will encourage tortoises to start hibernating from around the first week of September but this is much earlier than they would do in their native Southern Europe. As a tortoise owner, it is therefore your responsibility to make sure that your pet can hibernate safely despite the different conditions. Here are our tips for helping your tortoise to hibernate during a UK autumn and winter.

Preparing for Hibernation

In the wild, tortoises will hibernate from their first year as a hatchling but experts do not recommend following this pattern, especially if you are not an experienced tortoise owner. Instead, they advise that hatchlings are kept in a heated vivarium until they are least three years old.

Temperatures can start to drop from the beginning of September, which is far too early for tortoises to go into hibernation. In their native environment in southern Europe, summer is longer and hibernation spans a relatively short period. Conditions in the UK are quite different and can encourage your tortoise to hibernate for longer than is healthy. Using a heated vivarium can mimic their natural habitat so that they will hibernate at the correct time, and will also provide more stable temperatures for coming out of hibernation in spring. Without this, springtime temperatures will not be conducive to encouraging your tortoise to start eating again or to safely recover from hibernation.

Towards the end of October, start to reduce the day and night time temperatures in the heated vivarium gradually over the course of a couple of weeks. At this point, your tortoise will be discouraged from eating as their body temperature falls. Keep track of when they last ate and after two weeks of not feeding, their stomach should be emptied. It is important to make sure that this has definitely happened before embarking on hibernation as your tortoise will not be sufficiently prepared. If they are still active, you may need to continue with the cooling process for an extra week.

As a vehicle for hibernation, cardboard boxes lined with straw or newspaper are best avoided as they allow air to circulate and could therefore impact on your tortoise’s body temperature. Instead, experts recommend that you use a large plastic box with a robust clip-on lid (with ventilation) and fill it with garden compost or fine soil to around the halfway mark. This should offer some moisture and prevent the likelihood of dehydration.

During Hibernation

Throughout hibernation, the aim is to keep your tortoise’s body temperature at a stable 3 to 7 (°C).  This will stabilise their metabolism and discourage them for burning off calories and losing body weight.

Once your tortoise is ready to hibernate, place them in the box and allow them to get used to the environment. Add a bit more soil around the edges and bank this up at the sides. Don’t be alarmed if your tortoise tries to bury into the soil – with fine earth, there should be little danger of suffocation, particularly as their breathing will be slow during hibernation. Store the box in a place that will be between 3 and 7(°C) (such as an outside garage).

Post-Hibernation Tips

Tortoises generally start to wake up from hibernation around March, as the weather gets milder. Moving your tortoise’s hibernation home to a slightly warmer area at this time will encourage them to become active again. It may take a day or two for this to happen. Once they are active, warm up the vivarium to around 22-24 (°C) and bathe them in lukewarm water to rehydrate them before transferring them back here.

For the next ten days or so, this should be done daily and the temperature should be upped gradually by 1-2(°C) every other day until it reaches 26-28(°C). Keeping your tortoise in the vivarium over spring will avoid the possibility that cool temperatures will encourage them to try to hibernate again. Once they wake, tortoises should stay this way until the next hibernation period. Vivariums will therefore “extend” the summer and reduce hibernation time.

[Photo Credit :peter pearson ]