As summer begins, we look forward to spending more time outside with our family and some fun summer vacations that include our furry friends too. June is National Pet Preparedness Month, which means it’s time for all of us pet owners to take a little time this month to check out pet’s safety during travel and at home.
Summer Safety Tips for Your Pet
I’ve teamed up with Purina to help remind pet owners of the importance of summer safety and pet preparedness. It should be top of mind and there are many things that can impact our pet’s health and safety during the summer months from what they eat and how they handle eating to reducing anxiety in stressful situations, like thunder or fireworks. To help you get the most out of the summer with your pets, here are a few tips to keep in mind to have fun in the sun with your furry friend:
1.) Summer Ingredient Safety
Fruits and berries contain vitamins, fiber and antioxidants and tend to be low in sugar, so when fed appropriately to our pets, they’re healthy in the same ways they’re healthy for us humans, which is why they can be found in some pet foods. Still, keep in mind that some farmer’s market finds and common summer foods can be harmful to pets. Check out the below infographic to see which fruits are safe for your pet and which fruits should be avoided.
2.) Be Prepared For The Unexpected
Nobody wants to deal with a natural disaster but sometimes we can’t control what comes our direction. Rather than waiting for the unexpected to happen, be prepared, not only with your family, but your pets too.
Preparing for an emergency, like a hurricane or tornado, can save you time and stress if a storm heads your direction. Spend some time learning to better understand how the weather impacts you, your family and your pets so you can be prepared with the resources everyone needs. Reference the below infographic for a few, helpful pet disaster preparedness tips:
3.) Summer Fireworks and Thunder Anxiety Prevention
Fireworks and thunder can cause stress and anxiety in a lot of pets. Below are a few actions we have taken that have helped our dog, Sasha, with her fear of fireworks and thunder that we hope you’ll find useful as well.
- Exercise – Make sure your dogs get exercise early in the day so they do not have a lot of built up energy.
- Comfort – Consider keeping your dog indoors when it’s thundering or if there are fireworks going off in the area. Provide your dog with a safe place to get away from the fireworks. This could include a room with white noise or music playing to help drown out the sound. Consider keeping windows and curtains closed. Not only will this keep them from seeing what is going on, it will help keep things a bit quieter.
- Tags and collars – Make sure your dog is wearing all proper tags and a collar that fits them properly. It’s better to be safe than sorry if he or she would happen to run off.
- Diet – You can help keep your pets feeling a bit more calm when they are faced with fireworks and thunder by feeding them a diet with anxiety reducing nutrition.
Purina has over 500 veterinarians, nutritionists and pet behaviorists who understand and care about the safety, health and wellness of all pets. That’s why Purina is helping educate pet owners about how to get the most out of their summer with their pets. For more great tips about keeping your pets healthy, safe and always prepared head over to www.Purina.com/Expertise.
