When it comes to pets, it seems one thing most people seem to have a strong opinion on is pets wearing clothes. I always said I would never be a person to put clothes on my animals, then I discovered how much it helped my dog.
When Dameous was a puppy he was never left alone. Schedules changed when he got a bit older and he spent some time home alone. When he would see us about to leave, he would start panicking, whining, and become very anxious. That is when a family friend suggested getting him a Thundershirt to help with his anxiety. A Thundershirt is a shirt fit for dogs that wraps tightly around them and is meant to help with dog anxiety.
Since I thought this would never work, I decided to buy him a normal dog sweater before dropping the $40 on a Thundershirt. I figured I should spend much less on a normal sweater first to see if he would even let me put it on him. He loved it. Surprisingly, it helped calm him down so I figured it was worth my money to see how much a Thundershirt helped. Amazingly, it calms him down even in stressful situations for him such as Christmas when there are lots of people coming in and out of the house. Now if he is home alone or gets anxiety we know how to easily calm him down.
Dameous got to the point that he will bring you his sweater if he is "naked" and wants to have something on him at all times. This also started a bit of a trend and he now is almost always wearing a bandanna and has a coat for when we go outside since his hair is so short.
Here is a picture of Dameous relaxed with his sweater while we are home. My Great Grandma is sitting in the chair so he is lying on the arm of it.
As far as other animals go, I have found no benefit in putting clothing on them. My cats will not even wear bows when they come back from the groomer. We also got collars with little bells on them for when the ferrets run around the house, but to no surprise they have the collars off in less than twenty seconds.
If you have a dog that gets anxiety or gets worked up easily, I suggest trying a dog sweater or even a Thundershirt on them. For any other animal, I would not suggest it.
This is fascinating! Sometimes autistic children prefer heavy, weighted blankets to ease their anxiety.
ReplyDeleteYou are very knowledgable about pet care!
My sister's cat Buddy is a lot like your dog, in the sense that wearing a little jacket calms him down. He's just very hyper and active, so sometimes when my sister and brother-in-law need things a little quieter, they put his jacket on and he immediately becomes their little cuddle Buddy.
ReplyDeleteBut he is not your average cat. None of the other cats in our families will tolerate anything like that.