(Estherville)– Pet owners are being advised to take some extra precautions as we head into the 4th of July holiday period. Kristi Henning of the Emmet County Animal Shelter says the loud noises caused by fireworks can create a lot of anxiety with dogs, especially. She says there are some products available to help out…
“Certainly if you have a question about that reach out to your veterinarian and ask. Also, if you don’t have a microchip in your pet, you can definitely call your veterinarian, call us, call one of the shelters near you and we’ll get you set up for that. If you don’t have time to get that done, though, find some way to make I.D. on your pet. That is so incredibly important if you don’t already have a tag. And please do something more than your rabies tag because the veterinarians aren’t going to be available for us to contact after hours on the weekend. So more than a rabies tag is what we’d like. So an I.D. tag. If you don’t have time to make an I.D. tag just do us a favor and take a piece of duct tape and write your name and your phone number on that and put that around your dog’s collar or if your cat wears a collar. Just put a little piece of tape on there that we can read if your animal gets scared and gets out and gets picked up so we can contact you right away.”
Henning says the best advice to keeping your pet safe is this…
“If you can stay home with them, that’s probably the best. If you can’t, make sure to play the radio or play a t.v., have a fan going, something that’s creating some noise to block out that sound will help them to get some comfort.”
Those shooting off fireworks are asked to be respectful of those with pets and neighbors, including veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
