Insight: Fireworks can be scary for pets! Keep them safe this Fourth of July

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Fourth of July is right around the corner, and while many get ready to celebrate, don’t forget about your furry friends. Fireworks can be scary for dogs and cats, so Austin Pets Alive! shared tips on how to best prepare your pets for the holiday.

Suzie Chase, the community affairs officer with APA!, spoke with KXAN’s Britt Moreno about steps to take before and during the festivities to ensure your pet is safe and comfortable.

Read an edited transcript of the conversation below or use the video player above to watch the full discussion.

MORENO: One thing we want to talk about is shelter animal counts say that July 5, the day after Independence Day, was the third highest straight intake day for shelters last year, so they received a lot of people’s pets. And if you have a mellow dog at home, trust me I’ve had the ones that are a little bit more spunky, here’s what happens: The fireworks go off, the pets get spooked by the loud noises, and then sometimes, they run away and wind up at the shelter. So you’ve seen this happen in your experience?

CHASE: Absolutely. Yes. So, July 5 is one of the largest intake days for stray animals because people are going in and out of their homes. And for people who have puppies and don’t know that they might have storm anxiety or fireworks anxiety, they’re gonna find out really quickly.

MORENO: Yes, exactly. And when that happens, it can be really scary because the pets are in a lot of stress and duress. And here’s my little puppy right now, if you’re wondering why I have a towel around him is because he’s only seven weeks old. He’s just a baby. So we have to make sure that we take care of them and wash our hands before touching them that sort of thing. But tell us a little bit about how we can prepare our pets ahead of the fireworks, supposing maybe we don’t know how they’ll react.

CHASE: So there are some things that you can do that are really, really easy. First of all, take your dog out to go potty before the fireworks start early. So you don’t have to take them out later on. Also, come up with a plan. Are you going to have your pet outside? If so make sure that you have them on a leash. If they’re inside, maybe you want to have them in a room where there aren’t a lot of windows, so they’re not alarmed by the fireworks by the sound and by the flashing lights.

MORENO: And what happens if you lose a pet?

CHASE: If you lose a pet, you need to do a couple of things so that you can recover your pet pretty quickly. One is to notify your Nextdoor groups or your neighborhood groups. Notify Austin Lost and Found Pets—just post a photo of your animal. Let them know what street you live on and a description of the animal and that you’re looking for him or her. And then you can also call Austin 311. And there’s an app for that as well. And let them know that you’ve lost your pet in case someone else has recovered it.

MORENO: And I suspect if you have lost a pet or maybe you or the one who finds the pet, that’s where you also maybe turn to social media as well?

CHASE: Absolutely, if you can, safely take the pet to a fire station or to a pet store or to a veterinarian. You can see if it’s microchipped, and then the microchip should be able to lead you back to the owner of the pet.

MORENO: Okay, so now let’s talk more about the puppy in the room. So these puppies, these are going to be special Austin FC puppies.

CHASE: They are on July 6, there’s a whole match for Austin FC and so far 67 Austin FC honoree mascots have been adopted. And so we are bringing Quince and Foxglove and some of the siblings to the Austin FC match so all the Austin FC fans can meet them. And we’re hoping that they will add to our number of honorary mascots who have been adopted.

MORENO: And if people at home are looking at these puppies and thinking ‘oh my gosh, I want to take them home,’ there are other puppies over at Austin Pets Alive! and their mom is there. Yeah, so they need some homes and you really need foster families as well.

CHASE: We do and for people who want to adopt we have 50% off of adoptions right now. But we really do want to try and get 250 pets out of the shelter before July 4. And so if we can do that, I know that a lot of people might be concerned about fostering for a long period of time, but even just 48 hours of fostering and getting the dogs and puppies away from the fireworks, which will be less than a mile away, will be really really helpful so they can go on our website AustinPetsAlive.org and find more information.

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