Fourth of July is only a few weeks away, and pet owners know what that means: people “celebrating” weeks in advance by tossing popping, smoking and shrieking devices on the streets and in backyards. No matter that fireworks for personal use are illegal in Long Beach and other cities, including the so-called safe-and-sane variety that can cause damage if mishandled. People will set them off regardless.
“Understand that your pets are extremely terrified at this time of year, and fireworks can cause your pet to do things they wouldn’t normally do: flee, run away—their fight-or-flight kicks in,” said Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS) Manager Ted Stevens in an emergency-pet-safety-preparation video put together by the City’s Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications Department. Always, it’s flight, because the enemy can be heard but not seen.
If you want to be informed about the dangers and distress that fireworks and firework noise can cause to pets and to military veterans as well, read on. If you’re a loving, caring pet owner or a friend or family of a military veteran and you’re at wits’ end both from the intermittent noise and worry about what to do about your pet, this article is mainly for you. You know that the geniuses running around with bottle rockets and things that go bang in the night, or day, don’t care either way about what’s illegal and what isn’t. Mixed into the ruckus are the legal fireworks displays that traditionally mark the Fourth. You’ll have to either put up with it all or head for Norway, where they’ve already celebrated both their days of independence. Besides, they have great cheese.
Signs like these are available on the Military with PTSD Facebook page. Photo courtesy of Military with PTSD.
Likely you’ll be staying here, so prepare your pets in every way possible. Stevens said that more animals wind up hit by cars or in the shelter during Fourth of July’s silly season. He stressed that pet owners make sure that their animals are wearing their identification tags, are current on license fees and information, and have embedded microchips, also up to date. If your cat or dog doesn’t have a microchip, get one. Your vet can insert them; Fix Long Beach provides them free at their monthly clinics.
It’s a bad idea to bring your dog to enjoy the legal fireworks displays. They patently will not enjoy them, and there’s a good chance that they’ll freak out or disappear. A number of them go missing or are found on the beach here or in parks and on streets, sometimes injured or dead. Even if your pets are housebound or you keep your pets indoors around the Fourth of July (highly recommended), there’s always a chance that they’ll slip out. So be certain that they’re completely covered in the ID category.
“Should they get out, if a neighbor finds them, they can instantly be returned home,” Stevens said. “If we find them, we can get them back to you.”
If your pet does get lost, Stevens said, check ACS’s Lost and Found page and the Twitter feed, @LBLostFoundPets, which is updated every 30 to 60 minutes. Facebook lost-and-found-pet pages such as Long Beach/562 Lost and Found Pets, Lakewood and Long Beach Lost and Found Pets and Santa Fe Lost and Found Pets. LostMyDoggie and the locally based 9-1-1 Pet Rescue have gotten lots of results, and Nextdoor, with all its controversial warts, has been very effective.
A safe place to be, such as a room or, if your pet is outside (again, please bring them in around this time), an area where they can’t jump over the fence is a must. Make the room as secluded as possible. Make plenty of treats, food, water and toys available, and turn on the TV or put on a CD of whatever your pet likes (I found this on Amazon–the selections might bore the average human to tears, but it might be just what Rover ordered).
Boarding your pet is also an option. Look into pet hotels online, or ask your vet, pet sitter or friends for recommendations. Check out the facility for suitability before you book a reservation, but do it quickly.
Stevens also recommended talking to your veterinarian if your pet is extra-sensitive to fireworks and needs a tranquilizer prescription. If you want to go the holistic route, be sure to research any possible side effects.
ThunderShirts are garments that wrap around your dog or cat’s body and apply constant pressure, comparable to swaddling a baby. I’ve never used them, but I have friends with dogs who swear by them. It might be worth it to find out. Most of the pet-supply retailers carry them, so it would probably be a good idea to fit them to your pet in person.
The ThunderShirts in this photo are available at this link.
Stevens said to watch for an upcoming announcement about how the community can help shelter pets during the Fourth of July overcrowding. Meanwhile, since you can’t depend on everyone in the area to accept that illegal fireworks means them, too, make sure that your pet can depend on you.
“We really want to keep your pets safe,” Stevens said. “We don’t want them to get injured, we don’t want them to get hit by a car. This happens every year, and we really want to prevent that.”
The Long Beach K9 Officers Association will host a Fourth of July picnic in Long Beach. Donations will benefit the dogs, and there will be no fireworks, of course. Your pet is welcome!
And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!
~ From a traditional Scottish prayer