More Pets Lost or Injured During July 4th Celebrations than Any Other Time of Year
 

Our nation’s Independence Day celebrations can be the most stressful and dangerous holiday for your pets. The highest number of lost and injured pets arrive at shelters the days immediately following Independence Day and New Year’s Eve events. The noise and sight of fireworks frighten most of them. YOUR Humane Society SPCA wants to remind you about a few common sense steps to take to protect your pet during the upcoming July 4th festivities.

Fireworks/Household Pets:
• Keep your pets inside or in a secure kennel, especially when you are not home. Extremely loud noises can be quite stressful to animals. With their sensitive hearing, fireworks can cause your pet to panic and some may bolt from their home in terror. Even normally calm pets may bite or scratch out of fear or anxiety.
• Leave a TV on, or play soft music on the radio. This may help soothe your pet.
• Close the blinds/curtains and keep the lights on. Your pet won’t see the bursts of light outside.
• Other precautions should be considered prior to fireworks season, such as Thundershirts, and as a last resort, a prescription for the right dosage from your vet to help calm your pet during anxiety. NEVER give any type of human medication to your pet.
• If you are out of town, make arrangements early for a qualified pet sitter and provide the sitter with emergency contact numbers.

Horses or Livestock:
• Make sure no fireworks are set off near your animals or your barn. Fireworks can ignite a fire or set off a stampede.
• Feeding hay to your livestock during fireworks may help distract them.
• Leave barn lights on to diffuse the bright fireworks in the sky.
• Fans blowing on high in the barn can help buffer loud noises.
• Tune a radio station to a talk show as it may provide a calming human voice.
• Be sure to have an ID on each horse in case it manages to escape.
• If you are out of town, notify neighbors and/or book a farm sitter early and provide them with emergency contact numbers.

Recovery of Lost Pets:
• The highest number of lost or injured pets occurs during the 4th of July holiday. The fear and chaos of the fireworks cause them to try to escape and many succeed. If they have no identification, they have little chance of being reunited with their family.
• All pets should minimally have two forms of ID: a collar with an ID tag, and either a County License or a microchip. Each ID should have an emergency contact number. Any form of current ID greatly increase the chances of reuniting you with your lost pet!
Lost/Found a Pet?
• Contact YOUR Humane Society SPCA at 352-793-9117 and post your pet on our website's "Lost & Found" page at https://www.hsspca.org/lost-found-animals and have your pets enrolled on the free FindingRover.com site should your pet become lost. Contact Sumter County Animal Services at 352-689-4400 and visit their facility to review the lost animals that arrived daily. Be prepared to leave them a full description of the animal and your contact information. They also have a bulletin board there for lost pets.
• Create a flyer with a photo of the lost animal and your contact information. Post it at all local veterinary offices, groomers, pet supply stores, and throughout your neighborhood.
• Tell your neighbors. They may know the pet owner or they may be willing to help you in your search.
• Post your pet's photos & contact info on local social media pages specifically for Lost and Found pets in your county.

Additional Safety Tips During Holiday Cookouts:
• Know your pet’s temperament. If your pet isn’t used to a lot of visitors or noise, or is food/toy aggressive, it’s best to place them in a quiet part of your house until the guests leave. On the other hand, if your pet is a party animal, be sure to ask your guests to not slip them table scraps or take them near fireworks of any kind.
• Do not feed your pet any picnic scraps or bones. Bones can easily break or splinter and cause blockage or perforation within the intestines. Cooked bones are even more dangerous. Be aware that symptoms of a bone lodged in the digestive system may not show up for a day or two. Typical symptoms include loss of appetite, depression, vomiting or diarrhea.
• Do not give your pet alcoholic beverages or toxic foods, such as onions, chocolate, grapes or raisins, and keep them out of reach, as these items can cause accidental overdose, organ damage or possibly death.

YOUR Humane Society SPCA is a 501(c)3 non-profit, no-kill organization helping animals in need throughout the community as Sumter County’s oldest and largest no-kill shelter. Donations directly help to cover the cost of saving, treating and caring for neglected, abused and abandoned animals. Learn more about us at hsspca.org, 352-793-9117, on Facebook or visit us at 994 CR 529A, in Lake Panasoffkee, FL. Office open: Mon.-Sat. 8am-4:00pm. Kennel Pet Viewing: Mon.-Sat. 9:00am-3:00pm. Visitors are always welcome however, due to COVID-19 concerns, visitors are required to make an appointment to come to the shelter until further notice.

Also important for this time of year, in general in Florida:

Walk barefoot on the hot pavement in the middle of a sunny day, from your house to the next door neighbor's house.

How does that feel?

That's how your dog's feet will feel to the dog after walking on the hot pavement around 4 houses away from your house. Their skin is rougher and thicker on their feet - but it can still burn and cause injury.

If it's too hot for your bare feet to go 20 yards away, then it's too hot for your dog's feet to go 100 yards away. Even the white cement gutters at the edge of the streets get hot in the middle of the day.

So allow your pet to walk on the grass, and if you run into a neighbor do NOT linger on the side of the road or in their driveway, without ensuring that your dog's feet have something "not hot" to stand on first.

Yes we mentioned the heat & pet safety in the earlier post. Thanks!