Tasha Cole, Blue Cross Animal Behaviour Coordinator and Ryan Neile, Blue Cross Head of Behaviour Service Operations kindly developed this blog to help raise awareness and give advice to pet owners for Pet Anxiety Month.
Pet Anxiety Month is managed by Ceva Animal Health Ltd, manufactures of ADAPTIL® and FELIWAY®. Ceva Animal Health Ltd donate ADAPTIL® Calm on-the-go Collars to Blue Cross Rehoming Centres, helping to provide pheromone support for dogs in kennels.
Why is raising awareness about stress/anxiety in pets valuable?
Tasha (Blue Cross):
It’s really important for us to help make people aware, how animals show they are stressed or anxious so they can help better support their pets. Sometimes a behaviour an animal exhibits when stressed or worried can be seen as misbehaving or being problematic when actually it is a result of the stress they are under.
If people can recognise the signs then they may be able to help the animal by reducing the stressors, and therefore improve their behaviour, which is beneficial for everyone involved.
What anxieties do you commonly see in cats and dogs and in what situations at Blue Cross?
Tasha (Blue Cross):
In a kennel or cattery environment we can see a variety of stress behaviours. With cats this could be hiding away, retreating into themselves, not able to interact with us, reacting negatively towards other cats they see, inappropriate toileting, defensive or aggressive behaviour.
With dogs we sometimes see barking and howling, chewing items or ripping up bedding, hiding away, alarm barking towards people or dogs, refusing to walk a certain direction or go to a certain area.
How does Blue Cross help pets with anxieties?
Tasha (Blue Cross):
We look at the individual animal needs and try to provide the best environment for them. For cats this may mean using a quieter environment or area away from other cats. We use pheromone products to help reduce stress and look at making the environment feel safe, so providing plenty of hiding areas on different levels for them where they can retreat to if they feel anxious.
With dogs we make the kennel as comfy as possible with toys and chews to interact with. We use pheromone collars to help reduce stress, and we also provide them with opportunities to express natural behaviour, channelling their needs towards appropriate play and training. We also give lots of one on one time and quiet time with us in the offices whilst we are working. We also use our amazing team of foster homes, which is invaluable for animals that find kennels stressful.
Ryan (Blue Cross):
As well as being mindful not to place our animals in situations where they might become stressed or anxious, we also use training to build their confidence, and help them to overcome the challenges that are causing them to be fearful.
We use exciting toys and really tasty food and reward them for learning new things. The skills they learn can help them to feel more confident, and, if approached in the right way, can become part of a behaviour modification plan used to reduce fears and anxieties. Each animal is a unique individual, so our plans will be tailored to suit them.
Please share a cat and/or dog ‘pet anxiety’ success story at Blue Cross.
Tasha (Blue Cross):
Snuggles came to us looking for a new home, she had previously been kept as an indoor cat and was finding this stressful and kept trying to escape out of the house. She found the cattery frightening and initially hid away hissing and growling if anyone came close. We kept her surrounding environment as quiet as possible and moved the other cats away from her.
We had a small team of people spending time with her, without putting pressure on to touch her, we just sat quietly and chatted to her and left tasty treats, so her days became more predictable and therefore less scary. It took several weeks but this helped her to trust us and eventually she became confident enough to come out to eat the treats and then she started interacting with us through play. She then began rubbing against us and asking for touch.
It was important that we read Snuggles’ body language well and let her come to us when she was ready, rather than trying to force her to interact with us as it's likely this would have caused her great stress and been detrimental to our relationship with her. Snuggles found a fantastic new home where she settled in quickly and developed a great bond with her new owners by following the same approach as we had. She has gone on to have a happy life.
Jock, an older West Highland terrier, had a very strong bond with his previous owner. He struggled in kennels, was very nervous and wary of new people. He was also very worried when being handled and yelped when being groomed and sometimes walking. Once we had ruled out any medical or pain issues and given the all clear by the vets, we spent a lot of time sitting in kennels, leaving tasty treats so he got used to one person and very gradually felt comfortable being approached.
Due to Jock’s sensitivity to grooming and his coat becoming matted, he had to be sedated and his coat fully clipped off. We were then able to desensitise him to grooming by using a baby brush, with some high value food and regular, short sessions as his hair grew back. We invested lots of time and work in developing a pattern to help introduce him to new people successfully. As his bond and trust grew over the months, we were able to do more and more with him without him yelping or becoming fearful and were able to demonstrate this to a new owner so they could see what he was able to achieve – once he had bonded well.
We needed multiple sessions to gradually introduce Jock to a new potential owner. They had to be very sensitive to Jock’s needs, take things very slowly and spend time developing a bond of trust. He is now a much happier and relaxed dog, who is having a wonderful life.
What would be your top 3 Blue Cross ‘Pet Anxiety Awareness Month’ tips for cat and dog owners?
Tasha (Blue Cross):